Warbirds and Airshows - Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon Photo Gallery

Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon and PV-1 Ventura Photo Gallery
The Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon is one of the forgotten warbirds that served with the US Navy during WWII. Below are the ones I have seen on my various journeys around the United States. Only three Harpoons are currently flying.

RAF Ventura II which became a USAAF Model 37 Restricted, not an RB-37 as thought by the Air Force Museum and consequently the Pueblo Aircraft Museum.

Location: Pueblo Aircraft Museum, Pueblo, CO
Date: May 26, 2010
Owner: National Museum of The United States Air Force, Dayton, OH
FAA Registration: None
Lockheed Serial Number: 137-4449
RAF and US Army Serial Number: AJ311

Records at the museum (see pictures of them in the photo gallery) show that the Air Force Museum believes this to be an RB-37. I disagree. If one references Rene J Francillon's "Lockheed Aircraft since 1913", 1988 page 202 and 203 one will note that 264 Lockheed built Ventura II, Lockheed Model 37-27-01 aircraft went to the USAAF as Model 37s and not as B-37s. Eighteen B-37s were built under a separate contract with the USAAF with US Army Serial Numbers and used for reconnaissance and observation, which met they could have been designated RB-37s, but this is unlikely because these type aircraft carried either an F- or L- designation with Army Air Force during WWII. This aircraft carries RAF Serial AJ311 and is marked with 4449 which would be the matching Lockheed Serial Number. These aircraft were also given the designation Model 37 R for Restricted in October of 1942.

It would therefore not have been difficult for someone at the Air Force Museum to misidentify this as an RB-37 mistaking this for the Model 37 Restricted it actually was, which was a really oddball designation for the USAAF along with the RAF serial number AJ311 that came along with it from the British. If it is actually an B-37, then the numbers are wrong, it is painted incorrectly, and should have a USAAF Serial Number between 41-37470 to 41-38019 along with R-2600-13 engines. The Ventura II /Model 37 had the more powerful R-2800-31 engines.

According to the docent at the Museum this warbird has been in limbo ever since it arrived at the Museum in 1980. Due to the fact that the Air Force Museum owns the the Ventura and keeps promising to come and get it, the Pueblo Museum has not spent any money for upkeep and it will not be placed in the new hangar that will be right behind the aircraft. One can see where the ground was cleared for the new hangar right behind the Ventura. All of the other aircraft the Museum had outside with the exception of this aircraft and the B-47 which was too large will go in the new hangar, which became operational in late 2010. I was lucky to be able to get all of the following photos because the evening before I was at this location a rain and hail storm made it impossible for the contractors to work. I had to cross the construction area to get to this.

The end of the wing has broken off and is being held on by 2x4s and cargo tie downs.

After WWII the aircraft was to be transferred to Brazil, but that did not transpire. Instead it went to the Lightening Transient Research Center in St. Paul, MN for static only tests between 1960 and 1970. Then in 1980 it was trucked to Pueblo. This is the original glass nose for the location of a bomb aimer for the RAF or a bombardier for the US. Note the Plexiglas window in the bottom to look straight down.

This is where the ventral turret would have been located. It appears that it was replaced and this possibly an opening for a tow rope to come out of .

If there is a silver lining in the fact that this Ventura has been neglected is that it appears to have the original paint and some of the equipment inside. So while it does not look pretty to the uninitiated observer to the warbird enthusiast this is an unfiltered look back to WWII. I spent about a half hour just walking around it taking photo and inspecting its features. It was one of the high points of my 3 week warbird/aviation drive-about to California in May 2010.

The nose art is a recreation. PV-1s and PV-2s had typically had Disney art work on the fuselage rather than the nose. Due to the fact the aircraft were built in Burbank, CA near the Disney Studios it was the artists from there that came over to the plant to paint the artwork. Walt Disney gave permission to use his cartoon characters on the planes to help support the war effort.

The bomb bay. This differs from PV-2 Harpoon bomb bay in that on the Harpoon it does not have the "shelf" down the center.

The markings on the props seem to be original.