That Time a Navy Patrol Bomber Was Stolen and Flown Halfway Across the Country

I Swear She Was Here a Minute Ago!

A crew of five from Ferry Squadron THREE (VR[F]-3) out of NAS Norfolk was assigned to fly 131522 from California back to the East coast. The crew flew the Neptune from Lockheed Burbank to NAS North Island in San Diego. There the aircraft was serviced, its fuel was topped off, and it was made ready for the next leg of the journey while waiting for a co-pilot to arrive. On 3 September 1960 the crew chief, Aviation Machinist Mate First Class Robert Harold Swain, proceeded to pre-flight the aircraft, button it up, start the engines, and taxi it to the active runway. After requesting and receiving clearance for takeoff, Swain departed NAS North Island at about noon local time headed for points East. But…Swain was all alone in the aircraft- and he wasn’t even a rated pilot!

Not Quite a Pilot But Quite Experienced

As a P2V Neptune crew chief/flight engineer, Bob Swain had logged more than 1,700 hours of aircrew flight time during his nearly 17 years in the Navy. Swain had observed hundreds of takeoffs, missions, and landings from the flight engineer’s jump seat just behind and between the pilot and copilot of the Neptune. However, he had exactly zero hours at the controls of the aircraft he was now flying. NAS North Island wasn’t aware of Swain’s unorthodox departure in a stolen Neptune until they heard from NAS Norfolk. Meanwhile, Swain’s ability to pull off his theft of one big patrol bomber was explained by his access to the aircraft as the crew’s designated crew chief and flight engineer.

So How Does Just One Man Fly a P2V Neptune Anyway?

Let’s take a moment to acknowledge that the P2V Neptune is a fairly large airplane- larger in fact than a World War II-vintage Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in every dimension. The Neptune also carried a large crew- as many as twelve (sometimes more) on a maritime patrol mission. The crew consisted of Officer pilot, copilot, tactical coordinator, and navigator with enlisted weapons system operators, sensor operators, radio man, electronic warfare specialists…and in every case an enlisted flight engineer/crew chief/plane captain. No other member of the crew was more intimately familiar with the aircraft and its systems than Bob Swain. The crew required to ferry the aircraft from one air station to another was ordinarily considered to be between five and seven. But never only one and certainly never one with zero hours as patrol plane commander.

Putting Down in Louisiana

Somewhere along the route to Norfolk Swain encountered strong northeasterly headwinds that drove him off course. When Swain neared Shreveport, Louisiana his fuel was running low. He made a pass over the field, Greater Municipal Airport (now Shreveport Regional- about 10.5 miles west-southwest of Barksdale AFB) which had a single runway longer than a mile. Swain received permission to land and landed the Neptune successfully about halfway down the runway. He ran off the runway edge at one point but recovered before taxying the aircraft to the end of the active. Rather than taxi back down the runway to the apron, Swain parked the purloined patrol bomber at the end of the runway, shut it down, and made his exit. When asked if he wanted more fuel, Swain replied he did not and then proceeded to the terminal.

Heading for the Hotel for Crew Rest

Swain asked for a phone and contacted the Tanglewood Lodge, a local motel, and made arrangements for a room. He arrived by taxi and paid for the room. He then began talking with the lodger about having just landed a big plane at the airport and that “anyone who can land a plane like that is pretty damn good pilot.” Swain said, “We had to take some people somewhere. They told me to fly some more people to another plane, and you know what I did? I just took that plane and flew it here.” Evidently Swain might have tipped back a couple of libations before telling his story to the lodger.

Busted and Stashed with SAC

Airport officials first found out the Navy was looking for Swain when they received calls asking about the Neptune- now parked at the end of the runway. City and Military Police were notified and traced Swain to the Tanglewood Lodge, where he was taken into custody at about 2030 local time. Because the Neptune contained the latest (highly classified) antisubmarine warfare sensors and equipment the aircraft was guarded by Military Police while at Shreveport. A Navy crew ferried the aircraft over to Barksdale AFB later the next day, Sunday 4 September 1960. Bob Swain was held in custody at Barksdale AFB, where at the time B-52s had just began replacing B-47s for service with Strategic Air Command (SAC).

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