Lockheed AP-2 Neptune — one Crazy Cat
Lockheed AP-2 Neptune — one Crazy Cat
31º 19′ 25″ N / 85º 42′ 49″ W
This aircraft, and many more, can be seen at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum in Alabama. Though known for her Navy service the Neptune was also flown in during the Vietnam War by the U.S. Army as the AP-2 in service with the 1st Radio Research Company (Aviation) under the call sign “Crazy Cat” for SIGINT (signal intelligence) purposes.
Left profile showing the hybrid power of the late model Neptunes, piston and turbojet — photo by Joseph May
The AP-2 kept the MAD boom of the Navy’s submarine hunter — photo by Joseph May
The Crazy Cat emblem for the mission call signs — photo by Joseph May
Wing tip pod for the electronics sensor equipment — photo by Joseph May
The Neptune had long range as well as a voluminous fuselage — photo by Joseph May
A web site for the 1st Radio Research Company (Aviation) can be found here
Pasting the museum’s name into the search window will bring up posts about the museum as well as other aircraft there.
Travel for Aircraft 
I hadn’t known about the Army’s use of the Neptune in ‘Nam…..thanks for this!
I share your surprise. There I was one April morning walking the grounds of the Army Aviation Museum, turning the corner of the building and looking at an immense aircraft designed to hunt submarines — quite a juxtaposition 😉
I was in Nam and worked and flew on missions with these birds. 68-69
You were on a rare bird. If you have stories or photos you’d like to share please email me at travelforaircraft@gmail.com — and thanks for your service, Joe
I have “walk around” photos of a Lockheed AP-2 Neptune used in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War. And the 1/72nd scale model I made of it. Interested? I been photographing aircraft for 35 years & have been published. Also I have a cockpit to tailgunners compartment tour a B-36 Peacemaker, which you can’t see now since the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson had painted the windos to cut down the heat of the bomber.
Would I be interested in posting about a unique and historic aircraft along with an excellent model (I saw it in the Fine Scale Modeler website) of it? Of course!
You were fortunate to also be inside the B-36 — you must have a knack for getting to unusual aircraft 🙂
I’ll email you from travelforaircraft@gmail.com with more details, and thanks.
Thanks again,
Joe