Old Navy bomber makes its last run at sea By JANE MEINHARDT © St. Petersburg Times, published June 30, 2000 LARGO --

Decades after it was mothballed, an old Navy bomber went airborne one last time Thursday. For nine years, the Lockheed Neptune P2V-3, No. 122944, soared in the wild blue yonder off California, Japan and Texas in its hunt for submarines. This time, it was a short-lived flight over a field and bayou near St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.

A crane hoisted the old aircraft off the ground, swung it over bushes and grass and gently deposited it on a rusty barge. With pumps running to keep it afloat, the barge was towed by a tugboat out into Tampa Bay, starting the first leg of a journey that will take it and the bomber out into the Gulf of Mexico to a new artificial reef named Military Park. The barge, with the bomber chained to its deck, will be sunk Saturday to become the first piece of the reef.

The bomber was donated to Pinellas County by Phil and Bud Brouchard, owners of the Florida Military Aviation Museum. Once located on property adjacent to the airport, the museum is dismantling its collection of aircraft and moving to a site near Wauchula. With a wingspan more than 100 feet, the 40,000-pound airplane could not be moved and was too badly corroded to salvage. Volunteers removed its wings and tail. Students at nearby National Aviation Academy removed the two large piston engines to use in training. The engines were hoisted onto a truck. Puffing on a cigar, crane operator David Smith was the pilot for the aircraft's last flight. In his 30 years at the controls of a crane, he has hoisted many things, but "this is one that's a little different." Once Smith lowered the bomber onto the barge, crews hauling on ropes rolled the airplane back until its wheels slid into precut holes in the deck. With the bomber chained in position, a McCally Marine Services tug began the long tow out into Tampa Bay. "The bomber would have been cut up for scrap metal," said Jim Pochurek, a member of the Hurricane Pass Anglers Club who began the reef project three years ago. "I think this is its highest and best use."

Dr. Heyward Mathews, a marine biologist and adviser for the county's artificial reef program, spent Tuesday night keeping the pumps running on the barge, which was donated by Misener Marine. He planned to be aboard the barge with its historic cargo as it travels south in Tampa Bay, up the Intracoastal Waterway and until it is sunk at the reef site about 12 miles west of Hurricane Pass. "With the wings and tail removed, we can go through the bridges," he said. "If we have any problems, we can just run the barge aground. The bottom of the barge is like a colander." The Tampa Bomb Squad is scheduled to place explosives along the outside of the barge once it gets to the reef. The explosives will be detonated about 10:30 a.m. Saturday, causing the barge to sink in 43-foot-deep water. An American flag will be placed on a buoy at the reef, and a bronze plaque will be placed on the gulf bottom. The plaque will read, "This reef is dedicated to the men and women of our armed services whose service and sacrifice have made America what it is today, the home of the brave and the land of the free."