The Harpoon

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Operational Background and Historical Significance of the PV Aircraft

General
The final development of the World War Two Lockheed twin-engine bombers,  the PV-2 was among the most capable medium bombers of the war. Harpoons  saw action with the Navy and Marine Corps all across the Pacific  theater, from the Aleutian Islands in the north to the Solomon Islands  in the south. Bureau number 37396 was accepted by the U. S. Navy in  March 1945 and was assigned to Patrol Bombing Squadron (VPB)-136 in July  1945.
The Harpoon was a slightly enlarged and improved version of its  predecessor, the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura. The improvements included  increased fuel-carrying capacity for greater range, an enlarged bomb bay  to allow a greater ordnance load, and larger tail surfaces for better  handling characteristics. Venturas and Harpoons were fast, well-armed,  and capable warplanes. The Harpoon was mass produced at Lockheed Factory  "A" in Burbank, California from March 1944 to September 1945. Navy and  Marine Corps Ventura squadrons began transitioning into Harpoons upon  their introduction in 1944. With an internal load of up to four thousand  pounds of bombs, depth charges, aerial mines, or a single 22 inch  diameter torpedo, plus eight five-inch high explosive rockets and  another 2000 pounds of bombs on the wings, the PV-2 Harpoon could ruin  the day for an enemy target.
A total of nine 50-caliber machine guns completed the Harpoon’s  armament. There were five guns in the nose, two guns in the top turret,  and two more rear-firing guns in the tail-mounted “tunnel” position. The  PVs also had one of the best airborne radar sets produced during WW2,  the APS-3 radar, installed in the nose. With this radar, PV crews could  spot something as small as a periscope on the surface from miles away.  The radar also gave the PVs the ability to bomb from “above the clouds.”  PVs were often used as lead ships, or “pathfinders”, guiding formations  of non-radar equipped bombers to the point where bombs could be  released.

Harpoon Combat Service—Aleutian Campaign
During the war, Island Doll was assigned to the US Navy’s Fleet Air Wing  Four (FAW-4), which operated out of airstrips on Adak, Attu and Shemya  in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. Two FAW-4 squadrons had taken PV-2s  into action by the war’s end. However, Patrol Bombing Squadron 136, to  whom Island Doll was assigned, was still in the process of transitioning  to Harpoons when the Japanese surrender occurred. Island Doll, like so  many military aircraft that remain from the period, never saw combat,  but she commemorates the combat history of the type. Island Doll, with  the majority of the PV-2 inventory, was transitioned to the Naval  Reserve at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, TX, where she remained  until 1953. When the type was stricken from the Navy rolls in 1953, the  remaining Harpoon airframes were dispersed to foreign military services  or sold as surplus.
The four squadrons of Fleet Air Wing Four, termed the “Empire Express”,  conducted near-daily bombing missions (using both Venturas and Harpoons)  against the Japanese northern home islands—especially the fortress  bases of Paramushiro and Shimushu—from 1944 till the end of the war. It  was a mission that has largely been forgotten, but it was critically  important. Over 15 percent of the Japanese air defenses were assigned to  defend against these attacks on the Japanese homeland. That accounted  for a great many Japanese airplanes, antiaircraft guns, and personnel  who would not be available to defend against American operations farther  south in the Pacific.
This forgotten theater of the war had its genesis on June 3, 1942, when  Japanese carrier-borne aircraft bombed the American installation at  Dutch Harbor on the Aleutian Island of Unalaska. On June 6-7, Japanese  Marines landed on Kiska and Attu islands in the western portion of the  Aleutian chain—the only occupation of American soil during the war. The  Japanese proceeded to construct airbases on Kiska, Attu, Shemya, and  other islands.
On the 11th and 12th of June, the United States counterattacked with  slow-flying PBY Catalina flying boats and a squadron of B-24's. Air  strikes continued until April 1943, when US forces re-took the  Japanese-held islands in a bloody battle. In support of this operation,  Fleet Air Wing 4 was assigned to the Aleutian front at Adak with four  squadrons of PV -1 Venturas.
In the fall of 1943, FAW-4 undertook the first in a long series of raids  against the Japanese northern home islands, with a photoreconnaissance  mission flown by a PV-1 Ventura from VPB-136—the squadron that later  operated our aircraft.
The 700-nautical mile route from the Aleutians to the Kuriles became  known as the "Empire Express" and missions quickly changed from  photoreconnaissance to bombing strikes in early 1944. The "Empire  Express" continued with daylight and night bombing raids, using both  models of PVs, until the end of the war.

Acquisition of N7265C by the American Military Heritage Foundation (AMHF)
Island Doll ceased service with the U.S Navy and Navy Reserves in 1953,  and was placed in storage at Litchfield Park, Arizona in February of  1954.  Master Equipment Company of Cheyenne, Wyoming, (later Ralco)  purchased the aircraft as surplus in 1957.  From that time to January  1986, the aircraft served in an aerial application role, combating the  spread of fire ants in the Southwestern U.S.  In January 1986, the  Historic Aircraft Memorial Foundation of Tyler, Texas purchased her,  they removed the old spray gear and started the process of returning the  aircraft to a military configuration.  In 1989 the American Military  Heritage Foundation acquired her and brought her to Indiana.  Here the  Harpoon was painted with the standard three-color WWII scheme  appropriate for a land-based Navy plane: Navy blue on all the upper  surfaces, sky blue on the sides of the fuselage and nacelles, and white  on all the lower surfaces. The national insignia (stars and bars) is  displayed on the sides of the fuselage and bottom of the right wing. The organization acquired and fitted a Martin 250 top turret, a  component that had been removed and discarded by the previous owner, an  agricultural-spray operation. The turret is a favorite feature of the  plane among airshow attendees, and a popular in-flight seat among  crew-members. The turret contains replica guns, but is non-operational.  An ongoing project is to restore its functionality. Other ongoing  restoration projects include re-fitting the radio operator’s and  navigator’s stations in the cabin to their wartime configuration.
In 2002, NOVA producers came calling on the AMHF. It seems they needed  an aircraft that looked exactly like a PV-1 Ventura for their  documentary, The Last Flight of Bomber 31. In this production, they were  chronicling the story of an ill-fated PV-1 and it’s crew from their  last flight to the discovery of their remains 55 years later.
The scenes of the flying aircraft were shot using Island Doll as a  double for the lost PV-1 The filming was done on a snowy morning at Mt.  Comfort Airport, now renamed Indianapolis Regional Airport, which is  still the home of our aircraft and organization, and the program aired  on national PBS stations for two years.
AMHF is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. In 2009, the aircraft was  certified by the US Department of the Interior as a National Historic  Landmark—a unique honor for a mobile artifact.