Lockheed P2V Neptune

The Lockheed P2V Neptune is often considered to be a cold war airplane. Yet its design roots were during WW2. The first design was in Sept 1941, with a first flight in May 1945

Here's a nice write up its "early years".

p2vneptune.com: In the Beginning, the Vega Model V-135/V-146


Check out this "Vega Model V-146 (XP2V-1) Proposal" booklet.

p2vneptune.com: Vega Model V-146 (XP2V-1)

It was quite an airplane. Still in use as a fire bomber. I saw one last summer fighting a fire near Flagstaff.

I was at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand in 1967. There was a Navy unit there with P2Vs, they were used to make precision low level drops of sensors near the Ho Chi Minh trail.
They had a chopped off tail and small auxilliary jets out near the wing tips.

Of course at the time we weren't given a clue about what they did. We just thought a Navy aircraft at a air force base that far from the sea was strange. One went down over Laos, it's whole crew of 12 still missing.

I never found out about Igloo White and Nakhon Phanoms part in it till years later.