Lockheed AP-2H Neptune, 135620 / 7052, Pima Air & Space Museum
This picture is © Martin Laycock and may not be used or published without permission.
Registration: 135620
Construction Number: 7052
Code Number: SL-1
Model Lockheed AP-2H Neptune
Operator: Pima Air & Space Museum
Airport: Tucson - Pima Air and Space Museum, USA - Arizona
Photographer: Martin Laycock
Date Taken: 10/1992
Date Submitted: 05/07/2009
This is one of four Neptunes modified for interdiction missions over the Mekong River Delta region of Vietnam. The official program involving P-2 airframes was known as TRIM (Trails and Road Interdiction, Multisensor). The four aircraft were highly modified SP-2H airframes carrying a fuselage ASW radome with the MAD boom on the tail being removed entirely. In place of the MAD boom a twin 20MM cannon-armed tail turret and tail gunners compartment was installed. The tail gunner used a Night Observation Scope (NOS) in place of the standard reflector gunsight. Where the ASW radome had been was a large radome housing an AN/APQ-92 search radar. A FLIR and LLLTV sensor was mounted in a large chin fairing under the nose. Side-Looking Airborne Radar, in a pod similar to that used on the OV-LB, was mounted aft of the wing trailing edge on both sides of the fuselage. Additional equipment included a Real Time IR sensor, an airborne Moving Target Indicator, DIANE (Digital Integrated Attack and Navigation Equipment), and a Black Crow truck ignition sensor. Much of this equipment would later be employed on the A-6C TRIM aircraft. All four AP-2Hs carried exactly the same equipment. Deployment came in 1968 when the four AP-2Hs were assigned to Heavy Attack Squadron (VAH) 21 at Cam Rahn Bay. Between 1 September 1968 and 16 June 1969, the four aircraft flew over 200 missions, most being flown against road and river traffic in the âParrots Beak area of the Mekong Delta, but some missions were flown against targets inside both Cambodia and Laos, as well as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This is the only surviving AP-2H and is displayed at Pima courtesy of the National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, Florida. Since this photograph was taken she has been restored and repainted.
Picture ID:1180934