Some 80 years ago today, “somewhere in the Western Aleutians,” 10 April 1945, we get a good look at the bristling nose of the new Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon maritime patrol bomber of the “Vee-Gees” of VPB-139 as it gets ready for a sortie, showing off five forward-firing M2 .50 caliber Brownings. The type had another two .50 cals in a dorsal turret and two in the tail.
Official caption: “Loading machine gun ammunition in Lockheed Harpoon PV in their strikes against the Northern Kuril Islands. Inside the plane. R.W. Medlock, AOMM2, receives a load of ammunition from D.A. Tarkington, AOM2, as they prepare one of the bombers for a strike.”
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U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-32266
Just over 500 PV-2s were built in 1944-45 and were rushed out as replacements for war-weary PV-1 Venturas.
Image may be NSFW.
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As noted in Curacao-based VPB-147’s official history for April 1945: “All of the squadron pilots were checked out in the aircraft before bringing in PV-2s from the States to replace the worn-out Venturas. The old PV-1s were self-destructing as time went on. In May, one Ventura was written off when its landing gear collapsed on landing. A second Ventura lost power on takeoff, settling back onto the runway with its gear up.”
Here is another Aleutians’ Harpoon snap, from the same day and place, showing off not only her gun armament but her underwing rocket hardpoints for 5-inch HVARs as well. They could also carry as many as six 1,000-pound bombs.
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Lockheed Harpoon PVs at an advanced Aleutian air base waiting for action against the Kuril Islands, April 10, 1945. Note the caterpillar tractor as it tows a Harpoon medium bomber along a taxiway. U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-322695
The above photos are from VPB-139, who were on their second tour on the Alaskan front, the first being with Venturas in 1943. Now, the first Harpoon squadron to see combat, they were flying out of Casco Field, NAS Attu, and had just gone aloft on the type’s inaugural attack sorties.
Detailed by DANS:
6 Apr–Jun 1945: Four VPB-139 Harpoons attacked Kokutan Zaki, Kuriles, with rockets and machine guns. On 6 May, attacks against ground targets were stopped on the order of BuAer. Problems with the strength of the wings and stabilizers on high-G pullouts over the targets confined Harpoon squadrons thereafter to patrols and occasional attacks on surface vessels until the HEDRONs and PATSUs made repairs. Throughout May, searches and photographic runs were made over Minami Zaki and the Okhotsk areas in the Kuriles. Little enemy fighter opposition was ever encountered on these missions. AA fire, however, was always present.
On 22 April, Lieutenant William D. See and his crew of five failed to return from a patrol and were listed as missing in action.
On 10 May, a group of eight aircraft attacked radar installations at Minami Zaki, Shimushu, and five of the eight were hit by AA fire. All returned to base with no casualties. In June, the squadron made several strikes on Shimushu and numerous ships in the harbors. Although fighter opposition was often present, few attacks were ever pressed home.
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“Returning from a mission, Lieutenant R.E. Garnett found that the port engine of his Harpoon was losing oil rapidly, possibly because of damage from debris thrown up by his rockets in an attack on a Japanese installation. The oil loss became so heavy that he had to feather the prop on this engine and depend on the other to bring him back 400 miles across the North Pacific to his advanced Aleutian base. He got back – as seen here making a successful one-engine landing, April 10, 1945. U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-322668
According to the Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons, Harpoons only shipped out with 24 units (VPB-100, VPB-130, VPB-131, VPB-135, VPB-136, VB-138, VPB-139, VPB-142, VPB-144, VPB-146, VPB-147, VPB-148, VPB-150, VPB-153, VPB-198, VP-199, VP-900, VP-905, VP-906, VP-911, VP-907, VP-914, VP-916, and VP-917) mostly in 1945-46. With many of these squadrons soon afterward being disestablished as part of the peacetime drawdown, and the new and much superior Lockheed P-2 Neptune entering service in 1947, the lifespan of the Harpoon was limited indeed.
The final squadron to report the PV-2 in inventory was VP-ML-3 (formerly VP-136, soon after VP-3) in August 1948.
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Lockheed Harpoon with Radar Guided ‘Bat’ Bombs