There was...

...always a rumor, that this plane could not fly,
but fly it did, consistently, but time has passed it by;
the Neptune flew for years, a daily sort of thing,
capable of long hours aloft, with a "middle" wing.

Long before the P3 Orion, came to take it's place,
the P2 put in long hours, in the Cold War race,
protect us all from submarines, a mission not with ease,
the Soviets would often cause things that seemed to tease.

It was a game of cat and mouse, played out around the world,
watch the subs and surface ships, check the flag unfurled,
an often lonely, boring watch, hours spent aloft,
life was good at times too, but not always soft.

We owe a lot to those crews, who far from home,
kept up the watch, and played the game, out there all alone,
hours of time spent in the air, hours of pre-flight too,
and post-flight took some time, they did it all for you.

 A P2 takes off from the USS Franklin, 1952, Jet Assisted Take Off (JATO) or temporary
jet "engines" give an extra boost.

 On patrol over the Atlantic, could be anywhere from Iceland to Bermuda.

Pacific patrol, note the "added" jet engines, they are permanent, they got the crew
on-site quicker, leaving more time to "loiter".