PV-2D Harpoon 84062 (Tanker 101) comes back to life

[Matt_in_NC]

This thread is AWESOME!!! I liked the Harpoon from the first time I read about one in a warbird book from the early/mid 90s...can't remember the name for the life of me...Anyway, the book had an entire 2-page picture/ story of the late, beautiful N7250C which fatally crashed in 1990. I remember being fascinated by the pictures and somehow I just couldn't comprehend that that beautiful airplane which had gone through such a thorough restoration to nearly stock military condition was gone...along with 8 lives. Anyway, I love this whole thread. Keep up the good work...and keep the pictures coming!

[Taigh Ramey]

Woah EIGHT 50 cals? man I would not have liked to have been on the receiving end of those!

Yes and they had provisions to lock the top turret forward so the pilot could fire a total of ten 50's but wait; that's not all...

Twin 50 gun pods bringing the 50 cal count to 14 forward firing 50's! Not sure how often it was done as I haven't seen too many photos of them installed but they certainly had the capability.




And...from a photo on the wall of Hot Stuff's head quarters...20mm gun pods...oooh cool.



Don't forget the 8 five inch HVAR rockets...that's another project...

[Taigh Ramey]

...the late, beautiful N7250C which fatally crashed in 1990. I remember being fascinated by the pictures and somehow I just couldn't comprehend that that beautiful airplane which had gone through such a thorough restoration to nearly stock military condition was gone...along with 8 lives.

That was Doug Lacy's Harpoon. Doug was a good friend and his PV-2D was the sister ship to our own 84062. His was 84061. A sad day that was. He took his Harpoon from a fire ant sprayer and built her back into a Warbird. My wife used to say she missed Doug's Harpoon almost as much as she missed Doug. We lost a lot of friends that day.

We were trying to get our PV-2 flying again and out of the dust bowl on the 20th anniversary of the day they went down. I was hoping for a resurrection of sorts as a tribute to those who died at Clear Lake about 20 miles away 20 years previous but we missed the date by a week or so.

[mustangdriver]

A great thread. Taigh, I am sure the crew that was lost on that day, are watching with approval.

[K5DH]

Taigh, wasn't Doug's 'poon formerly one of Hugh Wheelless' sprayers from Dothan? Sad loss, for sure. I was stunned when I heard about it.

[Taigh Ramey]

Taigh, wasn't Doug's 'poon formerly one of Hugh Wheelless' sprayers from Dothan? Sad loss, for sure. I was stunned when I heard about it.

I seem to recall that he did get his Harpoon from Alabama but I do not have much information at all about the history of 84061 before Doug got it.

[Travisd80elcam]

Taigh, What is the 9th hole in the middle of the 8 50 cal mounts for? thanks Travis

[Taigh Ramey]

Its a patch over a crudely hacked out hole for something unknown. I should post some of the really special hack job photos. Thankfully there aren't that many but some of them make you wonder about the guy who did them and what the mind set was to create such a thing.

[seabee1526]

[quote="Taigh Ramey"][quote="rwdfresno"] We will use this truck to install the turret in the Harpoon when we are ready but there has to be some conflict by using an Army truck to do Navy work!

All you need are a couple of stencils and yellow paint!

http://www.militarystencils.com/%2F1-PAIR-OF-SEABEE-LOGOS-RIGHT-AND-LEFT-P219.aspx

http://www.seabeemuseumstore.org/item.php?cid=10&id=4448



or if you're an artist....

[cco23i]

GREAT then we have to bring our NAVY stuff to Stockton! Wait, we already do!

Scott

[Jollygreenslugg]

G'day Taigh

Thank you for your continuing updates. They're a fascinating glimpse into what it takes to return such a machine to stock military nick.

Cheers,
Matt

[PinecastleAAF]

Anyone want to donate a 50 or two?

I might be able to help with that. What type do you prefer, steel, aluminum or resin? Resin would probably not hold up well for flying and they don't look nearly as good. Are you going to make new ports for the other 4 holes out of stainless? Love this project btw. 5 thumbs up.

[Taigh Ramey]

Anyone want to donate a 50 or two?

I might be able to help with that. What type do you prefer, steel, aluminum or resin? Resin would probably not hold up well for flying and they don't look nearly as good. Are you going to make new ports for the other 4 holes out of stainless? Love this project btw. 5 thumbs up.

Be still my beating heart! Steel 50's is the preference followed closely by aluminum. I agree that resin probably wouldn't hold up. We are attaching all of the hydraulic chargers, solenoids, feed chutes, gun heaters etc so stronger the better.

The nose guns attach with edgewater adaptors on the front of the receiver. We need a bunch of those too and the rear mounting posts.

Yes, we will likely have to fabricate the last four gun ports unless we can find them. We were beyond lucky to find the four we did but thankfully the upper and lower were the most complex ones which is what we now have. The four in between are simpler to reproduce. The originals look like they were stamped but we will have to weld ours up from stainless tubing. Ken found a local shop that says they will take on the project which is great. Just like your offer to help with the 50's we REALLY appreciate all the help we can get. There is so much to do and we need to get as much done as we can as soon as we can.

Today we are flying the C-45 over a retirement home in Stockton. I am told they have over 80 veterans there many from WWII. After the fly over we are going over there to give a talk and show photos of the PV-2 project. Maybe we might find a vet who remembers the Harpoon.

Thanks again for your offer to help with the 50's!

[Roger Cain]

here's the local news for the Beech's flyover for the Veterans yesterday, very nice, and a vet going for a ride too.
http://www.news10.net/news/article/162612/2/World-War-II-vets-treated-with-flyover

[cco23i]

OUTSTANDING!!

Scott