CONVAIR Privateer (N2871G)

very nice picture of a rare bird

1945 CONSOLIDATED VULTEE P4Y-2

Actually, it's a PB4Y-2. P was the Navy's prefix for Patrol. B was the Navy's designation for Bomber. 4 indicates it was the 4th "bomber" design the Navy bought from Consolidated Vultee, and Y was the manufacturer's code for Consolidated Vultee (C was already taken, for Curtiss, and V was Lockheed). The -2 meant it was the second production version delivered to the Navy. In the old days, you could tell a lot about an airplane by the Navy's designation. Incidentally, the "1" was usually dropped on first of a series; hence the Catalina was a PBY, not PB1Y, for Consolidated Vultee's first Navy Patrol Bomber. A beautiful photo of the ex-navy Privateer!

B-24C with engineering mods for the Navy...