The "Truculent Turtle"

[Moses03]

On Sept 29th 1946, a Lockeed P2V-1 named the "Truculent Turtle" or "Turtle" took off from Perth Australia with a full crew, one baby kangaroo and as much avgas as they could muster and set down in Columbus, Ohio 2.5 days later on Oct 1st. They covered 11,235.6 miles non-stop in 55hrs 18min setting an all-time record for piston engined aircraft.

The record stood until 1986 when Dick Rutan circled the globe in his experimental "Voyager".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Voyager


The whole story here:
http://p2vneptune.com/turtle.shtml

 

[PRB]

Non-stop?

EDIT: (Read the story, PRB...)

 

[Moses03]

I should have mentioned that it was non-stop. (Edited first post).

 

[PRB]

Amazing. (Eyes the Alphasim P-2...)

 

[Helldiver]

The AlphaSim version of the P2V does not resemble the Truculent Turtle. It was an very early mark with out the the radome underneath. Although I'm suprised that people don't know about her. It was one of the aviation highlights of 1946. I believe that she is now in the Smithsonian.

 

[Moses03]

I like the earlier versions without the tip tanks and jet pods. Has a much "cleaner" look.