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The Lockheed company had established
itself as a major manufacturer of combat aircraft early in World War II
with the "Hudson" ocean patrol aircraft, a militarized version of the
Lockheed Electra airliner. Over 1,500 Hudsons were obtained by the
British, establishing a tradition for Lockheed in the ocean patrol
aircraft business. The Hudson was a blatant improvisation whose main
virtue was simply that of availability, though it did achieve successes
against German U-boats. Lockheed then went on to produce a similar but
"bigger and better" ocean patrol aircraft, the "PV-1 Ventura", based on
the Lodestar transport, which was basically a stretched Electra with
uprated engines. The Ventura led to an improved variant, the "PV-2
Harpoon".
derived from an article by Greg Goebel
