1957: Naval Type Specification 146

Hello,

Back in 1957 USN's Naval Type Specification 146 was issued to find a
replacement aircraft for the P2V Neptune and P5M Marlin. As you might know
Lockheed's Model 185 (later called P3V-1 Orion and again later P-3A Orion)
was the USN's choice.

Nothing much is known about the other aircraft offered in response to
NTS146. However I recently learned that Lockheed's design was chosen over
those from Martin and Consolidated / Convair.

Do you have any information regarding the proposals submitted by those two
companies? As NTS146 dictated that the new ASW aircraft had to be based on
an off-the-shelf aircraft, it's likely that Martin offered a variant of the
202 or 404, while Consolidated / Convair offered a variant of the 240 or
440. While searching on the internet I found a cancelled Martin Model 238
Anti Submarine Warfare aircraft but no further information.

I would welcome any information on the Martin and Consolidated / Convair
proposals.

Regards,
Marco P.J. Borst
P-3 Orion Research Group - The Netherlands

e-mail:
P-3 website: http://home.planet.nl/~p3orion
MSN Messenger:
subscribe to the P-3 Orion e-mail group:

"The reward of a job well done is to have done it."