The Development of the Lockheed P2Y Neptune: A Paper by a Senior Engineer of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation Describing the Evolution of a New Aeroplane Available to Purchase

BACKGROUND IN the early stages of World War II the U.S. Navy used the Lockheed PV‐1 (Ventura) in considerable quantities as a land‐based patrol plane for anti‐submarine and anti‐surface vessel patrol and attack. Inasmuch as the PV‐1 was the first high speed land based patrol aeroplane used by the U.S. Navy, and realizing that its aero‐dynamic configuration grew out of the commercial Lockheed Lodestar, it can be understood that its tactical utility was a compromise.