Warbird Information Exchange

Great photos! I love the Neptune - too bad one or two are not still operable and going to air shows. I say this knowing that two radials mean a lot of gas and oil but I agree - a water drop air show act would be pretty cool! Roll an old clunker out there - set it on fire and let the water bomber "save" the day.

As an aside, I just cannot come to love the firebomber version of the PBY - I guess the warbird lover in me desperately wants to see the waist blisters, nose and tail turret.

Tom P.

Great shots of the Aero-Union Neptunes, very sleek looking aircraft.

Was it Aero-Union's Neptunes that were scrapped by Government order a few years ago? I remember the horrifying pics of perfectly good Neptunes with lots of otherwise salvageable parts being bulldozed without ceremony.

I hope that kind of fate won't apply to those more recently retired??

On the subject of preserved Neptunes in flying condition, there are two examples flying in military colours with HARS in Australia.

I agree, a PBY without waist blisters looks wrong. Imagine the flush hatches reduced drag a bit, but there were never any concerns about Mach limiting speeds in the PBY.....

It was really sad to see the last of the fire fighting Neptunes retired. I had hoped that at least one example might be preserved to be seen flying at air shows or other events, but alas that did not happen.

Nice that HARS in Australia has kept a couple airworthy. A LONG time ago (1980's/90's) the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Museum in Reading, PA had a flying example (SP-2H/P2V-7) in USN markings, but it has been long grounded. Erickson in Oregon also has one in U.S. Navy markings that has flown more recently, and it may still be "airworthy," but it flies very rarely if at all.

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Jim C.

I was wondering about the MAAM P2V - I have seen photos and it seemed like it was basically a time capsule plane. What grounded her? - just money or something else?

Tom P.

I saw that Neptune several years ago when it was in the blimp hangar at Tillamook. It looked like a real time capsule...so much so I was surprised when they flew it to Madras.
It's a nice example, I hope they do fly it occasionally.

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It is interesting that the Canadian scheme became so widespread in the firebomber Neptune fleet, because, as best I can tell, only three RCAF Neptunes flew in the US as firebombers. All 24 remaining RCAF Neptunes - one crashed in RCAF service - were sold to the California Airframe Parts Company. Most were scrapped and reduced to spare in Saskatoon. Three were purchased by the Flying Fireman of Victoria BC and these moved to the US when it became apparent that the Neptunes could not be operated as firebombers in Canada. All three ex-RCAF Neptunes were destroyed in crashes.

The only Neptune on display in Canada is an ex-US Navy example.

Jim

A few P2 pics from the Butts Rd Fire in Pope Valley from 2014. I had seen the plume of smoke from work, so I got home, grabbed the camera and went air tanker hunting. Found the fire at the north end of Pope Valley, just west of Lake Berryessa. There were a few S2 trackers working the fire and a couple UH-1s. Toward the end of the day the S2s went home, the UH1s had stopped for fuel and it was pretty quiet. Then, off in the distance the sound of a pair of radial engines appeared and grew louder. The wind shifted and suddenly there was Neptune Aviation's Tanker 43 overhead.







He made a few orbits around the fire, then dropped his load and went home. This was the only time I got to see a P2 doing its thing on a fire.

Apologies for the sub par pics. These were shot when I had a low resolution camera and a single 70-300mm lens.

Will

Nice....

Phil

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