When I was in Townsville a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to see a couple of Neptunes along with a couple of Caribou's on the apron. I thought they were long gone from the RAAF.
@kogvos Late reply, but those Neptunes in Townsville are just gate guards. There was talk about getting one of them flying again but that seems to have gone out the window. The Caribous are now retired also.
Thanks for posting this one. My father crewed Neptune's in the RAAF in the 60's. The 10 Squadron unofficial motto was 2 turning, 2 burning. Have a look at the RAAF Association's section on the Truculent Turtle.
A brief snippet
On 1 October 1951 a Neptune, 'the Truculent Turtle', landed in Columbus Ohio after flying 11, 236 miles from Pearce, WA, in 55 hours. To do so it carried 8,600 US gallons of fuel, which raised the take-off weight from a standard 58 000 lbs to 84 000 lbs. What a feat!
minden air in nevada has 2 of these p2v's they have 2-r3350 engines making about 3500 horse power each and 2-turbojets making about 4000 lbs thrust each.ship numbers 48 and 55airtankers!!
When I was in Townsville a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to see a couple of Neptunes along with a couple of Caribou's on the apron. I thought they were long gone from the RAAF.
kogvos 3 years ago
The neptunes are long gone, there are a few still being operated by HARS, who i think has some ties with the ADF.
dan5c 2 years ago
@kogvos Late reply, but those Neptunes in Townsville are just gate guards. There was talk about getting one of them flying again but that seems to have gone out the window. The Caribous are now retired also.
wezza78 1 year ago
Thanks for posting this one. My father crewed Neptune's in the RAAF in the 60's. The 10 Squadron unofficial motto was 2 turning, 2 burning. Have a look at the RAAF Association's section on the Truculent Turtle.
A brief snippet
On 1 October 1951 a Neptune, 'the Truculent Turtle', landed in Columbus Ohio after flying 11, 236 miles from Pearce, WA, in 55 hours. To do so it carried 8,600 US gallons of fuel, which raised the take-off weight from a standard 58 000 lbs to 84 000 lbs. What a feat!
knuckey63 4 years ago
@knuckey63 the max takeoff weight of these neptunes is 80,000 lbs its scary watching them climb out on a hot day.
1Gaumer 10 months ago
minden air in nevada has 2 of these p2v's they have 2-r3350 engines making about 3500 horse power each and 2-turbojets making about 4000 lbs thrust each.ship numbers 48 and 55airtankers!!
doubleslottedflaps 4 years ago
Sounds like a jet-assisted take-off??
a26invader 4 years ago
Yep-jet pods under each wing.
Proplinerman 4 years ago