[Llarry]

Although the Boeing PBB Sea Ranger did not get a production contract, the Navy later flew large Boeings in the P for Patrol category. But they were not mainstream patrol aircraft.

In the days after World War II, the services found themselves with thousands and thousands of aircraft that were surplus to their needs. Not long after the war, the U.S. Navy got a small batch of Boeing B-17G Flying Fortresses with the intent of using them as land-based airborne early warning planes. The Navy designated them as PB-1W. It took a few years to complete the modifications, which notably included a large radome/radar in the area of the bomb bay doors which were sealed closed. By 1950 or so they were operational with the fleet in two airborne early warning squadrons. A total of 22 aircraft were transferred and modified. By 1956 they were gone -- replaced by Lockheed Super Constellations with extensive radar installations.

In 1947, the Navy also got four Boeing B-29 Superfortresses for experimental work and designated them P2B-1. One was the mother ship for the experimental supersonic jet- and/or rocket-powered Douglas D-588-2 Skyrocket, which would be taken to altitude and dropped before igniting the rocket engine. The D-588-2 set a number of speed and altitude records in the late 1940s and early 1950s.