Neptune.

This is coolbert:

"B-52 Stratofortress during that period of the 1950's even making a famous round-the-world flight non-stop. NO point on the planet immune from the B-52."

FROM AMERICAN NAVAL AVIATION ALSO!

Competitions between American naval aviation and the U.S. Air Force at one time not an uncommon event.

Such was the flight of "The Truculent Turtle" immediately in the aftermath of World War Two.

Naval aviation PV-2 Neptune. Long-distance mission, non-stop, NO re-fueling.

"The third production P2V-1 was chosen for a record-setting mission, ostensibly to test crew endurance and long-range navigation but also for publicity purposes: to display the capabilities of the US Navy's latest patrol bomber. Its nickname was 'The Turtle'"

"Loaded with fuel in extra tanks fitted in practically every spare space in the aircraft, 'The Turtle' set out from Perth, Australia to the United States. With a crew of four. . . the aircraft set off on 9 September 1946, with a RATO (rocket-assisted takeoff). 2 1/2 days (55h, 18m) later, 'The Turtle' touched down in Columbus, Ohio, 11,236.6 mi (18,083.6 km) from its starting point. It was the longest un-refueled flight made to that point . . . This would stand as the absolute un-refueled distance record until 1962 . . . and would remain as a piston-engine record until 1986"

The "Turtle" stripped of all armaments and I might think too all associated anti-submarine-warfare [ASW] electronics, a minimal crew and many additional AVGAS tanks, NEEDING ROCKET-ASSISTED TAKE-OFF!! NOT a conventional Neptune on a conventional mission.

NONETHELESS a remarkable achievement and a demonstration of reliability, done almost without a care!!

coolbert.