44 AH JULY 2018
etrated Soviet defenses and survived, return to
ditch alongside the ships, since they had no tail-
hooks. The one concession to this maneuver was
a “hydro-flap” that extended down from the belly
forward of the wing leading edge, to help keep the
nose up during a ditching.
These weren’t the only P2Vs armed with nuclear
weapons. “Sometimes we carried nuclear depth
charges,” recalls Boslow. “If you got within half a
mile of a Soviet sub, you’d be sure of killing it. Of
course you’d probably kill yourself too.”
Among the most unusual Neptune variants were
the seven heavily modified P2V-7s redesignated as
RB-69As and given Air Force markings. Like the
U-2, Lockheed’s Skunk Works actually built them
for the CIA as spyplanes. The “Sacred Seven”
operated over both central Europe and mainland
China from 1957 through 1964, and some of their
pilots were civilians.
Though the RB-69As were capable of every-
thing from leaflet-dropping to aerial delivery and
retrieval (via Skyhook) of behind-enemy-lines
agents, their main mission was gathering elec-
tronic intelligence. They called it “perimeter aerial
reconnaissance,” the perimeters being the Iron
and Bamboo curtains, and there were times when
the RB-69As actually crossed those borders. TheChinese shot down five of the seven, and nobody
seems to know what happened to the two survivors.
An “RB-69A” is on display at Warner-Robins Air
Force Base, in Georgia, but it is actually an ex-Navy
P2V painted in Air Force colors.
The Army was the third U.S. service to operate
Neptunes. Six P2V-5s, redesignated as AP-2Es,
served in Vietnam as radio-signal snoopers and
jammers. Robert Cothroll was a voice-intercept
operator aboard one of those AP-2Es from May
1970 through 1971, working for the intelligence
staffs of Army ground units. “We flew over the
Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos,” says Cothroll, listen-
ing to short-range tactical radio transmissions by
the North Vietnamese Army. “We usually flew at
around 130 knots, about as slow as we could. We
made lazy ovals, never the same way twice. There
was a lot of triple-A in the area, plus a couple of
SAM sites. We weren’t shot at that often. One
plane had a round go through a wing fuel tank,
but it exploded well above the aircraft. I think
because we were passive—no armament—and
were often with F-4s, they didn’t expose their gun
sites to us. And they were holding their SAMs
back for someone more important.”
One thing Cothroll particularly remem-
bers about those 13-hour missions was that the
Neptune lazed along in such a nose-high attitude
that “Guys would complain that our buttocks
were going to be disproportionate—one cheek
bigger than the other—because we sat sideways
and were always leaning slightly to the left.” Look
at any side-view photo of a Neptune and you’ll
see the substantial downward thrust line of the
piston engines. This is an airplane that obviously
was designed for loitering patrol flight, when the
increased angle of attack would have put the
engines at a normal attitude.
That side view also makes apparent one of the
Neptune’s most distinguishing features: its oversize
vertical tail. Some might assume the big tail fin
was designed to enhance control during single-
engine flight, but the rudder—the crucial engine-
out control surface—is actually relatively narrow.
The huge vertical stabilizer, however, creates great
stability in low-altitude turbulence. “We got turbu-
lence during monsoon season,” Cothroll remem-
bers, “but nothing so bad you’d lose a cup of coffee.
It was a pretty comfortable ride.”
“You have to be very aware of the crosswind
component because of that big fin,” Russ Strine
warns. “When you land and put the props into
reverse, suddenly there’s no airflow over the fin,
and the crosswind really grabs hold of it. They
landed us at Oshkosh one time with a quarter-
ing tailwind. Jesus, what a scary episode that was.
We lost control of the airplane momentarily and
almost went off the runway. Went into reverse
again and the airplane turned even harder, took
out two runway lights.”INTO THE SIXTIES
An SP-2H examines
the Soviet helicopter
carrier Moskva in 1968
(top). One of four
Neptunes converted
in 1968 for ground
attack as AP-2Hs flies
a mission over South
Vietnam (above).