Role | Maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare |
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National origin | United States |
Manufacturer | Lockheed |
First flight | 17 May 1945 |
Introduction | March 1947 |
Retired | 1984 (military) 2011 (civilian) |
Status | Retired |
Primary users | United States Navy Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Royal Australian Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force |
Number built | 1,177 (total) |
Variants | Kawasaki P-2J |
Normal crew access was via a ladder on the aft bulkhead of the nosewheel well to a hatch on the left side of the wheel well, then forward to the observer nose, or up through another hatch to the main deck. There was also a hatch in the floor of the aft fuselage, near the sonobuoy chutes.
Prior to the introduction of the P-3 Orion in the mid-1960s, the Neptune was the primary U.S. land-based anti-submarine patrol aircraft, intended to be operated as the hunter of a '"Hunter-Killer" group, with destroyers employed as killers. Several features aided the P-2 in its hunter role:
Ceiling
Range
Aircraft Speed
Max Crew
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The Netherlands Naval Aviation Service (Dutch: Marineluchtvaartdienst, shortened to MLD) is the naval aviation branch of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Lockheed P2V Neptune service
During the Vietnam War, the Neptune was used by the US Navy as a gunship,
At the end of World War II, the US Navy felt the need to acquire a nuclear strike capability to maintain its political influence