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| When in August 1957 the US Navy needed an advanced ASW/maritime patrol aircraft, the urgency was highlighted by the fact that they were prepared to accept a development of an off-the-shelf civil aircraft to meet the requirement. Lockheed proposed a developed version of the L-188 Electra, gaining an initial research and development contract on 8 May 1958. The third Electra airframe was modified as an aerodynamic prototype for early evaluation by the US Navy, flying from Burbank in August 1958. This was followed by the Lockheed YP3V-1 operational prototype, late named Orion, which first flew on 25 November 1959. The first production P3V-1 was flown on 15 April 1961, with initial deliveries being made to US Navy Patrol Squadrons VP-8 and VP-44 on 13 August 1962, by which time the type had been redesignated the P-3. Retaining the basic airframe structure of the Electra, the new aircraft differed by having a fuselage shortened by 2.24m and modified to incorporate a large weapons bay together with new avionics an,d utility systems. Mines, depth-bombs, torpedoes or nuclear devices can be accommodated in the weapons bay, and there are 10 under-wing pylons for a variety of stores. The major changes in the 30 years since the Orion entered service have been in avionics equipment and capability, and more than 640 have been built to date, with the type continuing in production (now at Marietta, Georgia) until 1995/56 for South Korea, who ordered eight P-3C Update Ills in December 1990. Other Orions are in service in Australia, Iran, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain and in the USA with the Navy, the Customs Service, NASA and NOAA. Potential operators, probably of surplus USN aircraft, remain Thailand and Greece. Following the assembly in Japan of four P-3C aircraft from Lockheed-built components, over 100 of the type is being licence-built by Kawasaki for the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force. In addition, 21 examples of a derived version known as the CP-140/140A were delivered to the Canadian Forces.
| MODEL | P-3C "Orion" |
| CREW | 10 |
| ENGINE | 4 x Allison T56-A-14, 3661kW |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 64410 kg | 142000 lb |
| Empty weight | 27892 kg | 61492 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 30.38 m | 100 ft 8 in |
| Length | 35.61 m | 117 ft 10 in |
| Height | 10.27 m | 34 ft 8 in |
| Wing area | 120.77 m2 | 1299.96 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 761 km/h | 473 mph |
| Ceiling | 16460 m | 54000 ft |
| Range | 7700 km | 4785 miles |
| ARMAMENT | 9000kg of weapons |
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Was assigned to WST at Patuxent River during the development of the the P3. The YP3A had no bomb bay, as the luggage compartment was still in place. Then engines and props where still of the Electra. It was a daily grid to get all the test done on the YP3A, before the arrival of the 1st P3A and the establishment of things like the NATOPS manual and weight and balance establishment. One flight was from Patuxent River, New York, to the west coast over the Worlds Fair, to Burbank, to Jacksonville Fl then back to Pax River. 4 souls on board, and rubber water tank inside the fuselage to simulate, weapons, electronics and a full crew. Another flight went around the world, testing Horizontal Discharge wicks in place of the standard nylon carbon impregnated type. I could go on, but it was a great tour with P3's in VP-44, Iceland and VP-45. reply | | Gary Bishop, e-mail, 10.05.2012 21:59 I flew as Plane Capt. on SP2H, something over 1,000 hrs VP24 based at NAS Norfolk we transitioned to P3Bs and moved to Pax River. I was FE on crew 8 LR8 2,000 hrs with deployments to RR Puerto Rico, Lajes AFB Azores and Keflavik Iceland. 1966-1969 reply | | Marcus Hill, e-mail, 21.03.2012 20:48 AWC (in the end) VP-31 staff(70,72), VP-17(72-73), VP-9(73-77), VP-94(77-90) 4000 hrs. I can't imagine a better job or a better airplane to do it in. Talk about search lights. So back in '74 we are about 3 hours into a pilot trainer flight. I'm sitting in the strbd aft bubble when the FE comes back and peers out my window. Asking me if I remember if there was a search light there when we took off! No I didn't recall one way or the other so we finished the flight wondering where the damn thing had fallen off. It seems that after the '73 gas crunch they took the search lights off of our P-3B's but didn't really tell anybody about it. Scary thing was that none us noticed on preflight that it was missing!
Or the time I made a twenty mile radar run in on what turned out to be a floating palm tree on the IO-1 track.
Or on my last cruise in '90 we had a Soviet SSBN cut the sonobouy cable. Closest CPA I ever had. What a trip.
Cubie /U-Tapao '73, break off my legs rip out my arms but don't send me back to U-Tapoa.
Naha '72 got left behind in the barracks for Typhoon Rita.
Started out as a Julie operator and switched to JEZ when I got to VP-17 and then they traded their A's for B's in the fall of '72 and I upgraded to SSII with George Lyons as my SSI and moved up to SSI the next year.
Anybody remember the FLIR kit for the B model. An A-4 droptank with a bucket hanging down and the scope for it was at the Stbrd fwrd observer station. The drive for the bucket was underpowered, if you tracked around to look aft and you were making more than 180knts it didn't have enough power to turn the bucket around to the front. Flight deck had to slow down before you could look forward again.
Lots of fun, I'd do it all again if they asked. As much as we pissed and moaned I can honestly say those were the best years of my life. reply | | Nick Cercone, e-mail, 08.03.2012 18:45 My intro to aviation....26 years in the USN /USNR and 22 of those years where in the FE seat, 5000+ hrs and I remember alot of it!! Dear friends made and lost.... P3A /B /C update III's. Was fotunate to go out to the West Coast and pick up the "New" ones in 88. I still remember taking the plastic off the seat!! reply | |
| | Mike Swan(Australia), e-mail, 24.02.2012 05:32 I did three tours on P3,s. 11sqn with P3B 1970,s and 492 sqn P3C,s 1980,s. Went all over the world from Australia. Still think it was the best I ever worked on. A real armourers airplane. reply | | John Abel, e-mail, 23.01.2012 08:08 William Clark,Barbers Point is where I bought the 80 plus searchlights and the actual Carbon arc elements were made by Union Carbide. reply | | John Abel, e-mail, 23.01.2012 07:54 The carbon arc searchlight was an AN /AVQ2C.It was also used on the S2 with a different housing.In the early 80's our company bought over 80 of them from a Navy surplus auction.We sold parts from them for a good ten years mostly to the Turkish navy but the UK'S Nimrod jet also had it and we sold parts to them also. reply | | Barnie Burns AO1 (Ret), e-mail, 23.10.2011 02:54 A friend turned me on to this site and I was really impressed. The max alt. number is a little off but other than that I like it. Did over 8000 hours in the plane and she always brought me home, sometimes on 3 engines, but I did get back. Started out as an inflight ordie and ended up in the centerseat as an engineer. What a view and I got to run the systems.The pilots kept us in the air and did a great job of it. All of my time was out of Nas Jax in hanger 1000. Always interested in swapping lies,I mean sea stories, so drop me a line. reply | | William Wadlington, e-mail, 18.10.2011 04:15 VP-17 Radio Operator /IFT 1973-1976 Crew 12 When You Care Enough, Send the Very Best We're Always at the Top. Deployed to Cubi point - 1973; Naha /Kadena - 1975.
P-3 always brought us home. reply | | Pete Landon, e-mail, 30.07.2011 17:09 VP-47 Storekeeper Material Control,Began my tour with VP-47 Sept 1965 thru May 1969 at Nas Moffett Field went to Nas Naha Okinawa,Sangley Pt.PI,Camhran Bay Viet.Utapao Tieland,Aguna Guam.Them P-3s are tuff birds.I was never on a crew but had quite a few hours in them going on different deployments and Market times over Vietnam in the 60s.Great plane and a great bunch of guys.I sure miss it now reply | | Michael (Sarky) Sarkisian, e-mail, 06.07.2011 02:39 10,000 hours as a FE. 12 deployments, 1 UNITAS, and uncountable DETS. VP-30 1975 (Second Mech School @ PAX River) VP-8 1975-1977, VP-30 1977-1978 (FE school, JAX) VP-44 1978-1984, VP-26 1984-1986, VP-8 1986-1989, FASO SERE 1989-1994. Started out flying the oldest Alphas in the Navy then trading them in for the oldest Bravos. Finally got new update IIs in VP-44. It brought me home every time and that says it all! reply | | Zane Pulliam retired USNR LDO, e-mail, 25.05.2011 02:24 saw many names I recognized in the notes, my brother and I both flew in the P-3 Orion.. My brother John Henry Pulliam AWCS... at the time he made chief (at that time- 1972) was the youngest chief in the Navy (26 years old) when he made AWC. He was in VP-5, VP-16, VP-24 and I think one other .. I was in VP-46 and reserves in VP-62. Sadly we lost John Henry to a heart attack in 1991. reply | | RC Craemer, e-mail, 04.05.2011 00:15 2400hrs in P2V7s 1963-67 VP-23. 3000hrs + in P3A /P3Bs 1971-77 VP8. Great airplane - the A model needed the -14 engines. What a change - pressurization, APU, 320kt cruise. I don't think you CAN ice up a P-3! Not as much fun at 500' without a bubble in the nose to look out,but a lot more plane. Lockheed did it right. reply | | William Clark, e-mail, 01.05.2011 21:24 Flew as a P-3 Flight Engineer with VP-22 Blue Geese out of Barbers Point H.I. 1988 thru 1991. reply | |
| | shawn, e-mail, 23.04.2011 03:41 my father CPO Jack D. Kelly flew on these planes, dont remember what squadrons he was in, but reading all the stories sounds like him taliking. And it reminds me of taking tours of his planes as a child. always remember the sound of the orion flying out of Moffett Field. thanks for the memories. reply | | Lloyd, e-mail, 18.04.2011 13:22 Attended P3A flight radio school NAS Pax River Maryland October through mid December in 1967. Due to shortage of Radiomen i graduated early and left for Rota Spain to meet with my squadron VP-16. I was on Captain's crew and we deployed to Bermuda, back to Jax, our home base, North to Argentia New Foundland for 3 months starting in mid Deember of 68. I recall how cold and how much snow there was since it reminded me of my home state Idaho with the exception of dealing with the humidity and cold. I did my two year tour and was discharged in November of 1969. I felt a deep sense of concern for each member of our crew. They were the best and at last count i could only find 3 of us still kicking. The P3A is just a safe, productive plane that is still in use today some 54 years after it left the Lockheed grounds for the Navy Air Bases around the world. What a great time and what a great ride. reply | | Gordon Helm, e-mail, 15.04.2011 04:54 I was an AW3 in VP-46, the Grey Knights, from 1968-71. I was the Jez operator in Crew 7A during our deployment to Cam Ranh Bay, RVN, and to Adak twice. The P3B was a tough, but forgiving airplane, able to carry us and all the gear we needed to track subs, patrol coasts and shipping lanes, and even survey the Arctic ice flow. We broke a couple engines, lost the flaps once, and even took some pretty severe lightning strikes in heavy weather, and came home each time. A sad sight is the hundreds of P3s awaiting their fate in desert storage at the aircraft boneyard next to Tucson's Davis Monthan AFB. reply | | Charles CJ Jones, e-mail, 18.03.2011 09:28 retired ADC,I work maintenance and quality assurance, maintaining propulsion systems and related systems, outstanding aircraft,dependable,reliable in all situations,made various deployment to misawa, okinawa,cubi pt,adak, keflavek,from 1978-1990. one of the best aircraft in the navys inventory. reply | | Walt Johnson, e-mail, 04.03.2011 02:36 I was with Comfairwing 5 / Comfairwingslant from 1964 to 1967 as a radioman and we held comm for some of the VP's out of Norfolk (24 & 56) / Pax River (44 - 49) and loved the P3A. What a great sight.....would loved to gone up in one... reply | | Doug Mitchell, e-mail, 01.03.2011 18:58 Beautiful Aircraft...I was a 15 year P3A /B /C Flight Engineer 1968 - 1983 and 12 year CWO /LDO Maintenance Officer 1983 - 1994 on P-3 Aircraft. 10,000 Hour Certificate signed by Lockheed's Finest Jay Beasley (RIP). Made 14 Deployments Total to Keflavik, Rota Spain /Lajes Azores, Sigonella, Bermuda, Adak Alaska, Phillipines, Kadena /Misawa Japan and many many Detachments around the world. reply |
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