The last of the P2Vs used as air tankers to battle wildfires were operated by Neptune Aviation and retired in October, 2017, but it was designed as a submarine hunter for the U.S. Navy when it entered the fleet in 1947. It detected subs with radar, sonobuoys, and a magnetic anomaly detector. Some models were equipped with twin .50 caliber machine guns in the nose, and most had a forward observation bubble with an observer seat.

As the United States acquired nuclear weapons the Navy wanted the ability to deliver the warheads, which meant an aircraft needed to be small enough to take off from an aircraft carrier and large enough to carry the bulky early models of the bombs. They outfitted a P2V with jet assisted takeoff (JATO) rocket boosters and began tests in 1948.

The JATO-equipped P2V could not land on the carrier because it was too big and was not reinforced for an arrested landing. Any P2V mission that originated on a carrier would have to either end at a friendly land-based air field or ditch in the sea, hopefully near a Navy vessel.

Other missions the P2V was adapted for included:

• Gathering of electronic intelligence for the CIA in Europe and mainland China in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Two crashed in South Korea and three were shot down over China, killing all crewmembers.
• During the Vietnam War the P2V was used by the U.S. Navy as a gunship, an overland reconnaissance and sensor deployment aircraft, and in its traditional role as a maritime patrol aircraft. It also intercepted low-powered tactical voice and morse code radio signals and mapped air defense radar sites.

And don’t forget, it fought fires.