Built in 1943 as Lockheed PV-1 BuNo 34806. Delivered to RCAF as a Ventura GR.V, 2245. To N10480 in 1955. Converted to Howard Super Ventura by August 1956, conversion number 6, and registered as N711Z to Triangle Conduit & Cable, Morristown, New Jersey until 1961. Registration and titles above the windows read from another photo. Aircraft eventually crashed in Austin, Texas as N446DD on 3 August 1972. Photo by: Joe Scherschel / Life

Slated for the RAF but diverted to the USAAF, Ventura 41-38020 was acquired by the Ejercito de Cuba (214) in 1947. Sold to Babb Company (N1489V) in 1951, the aircraft was bought by Dee Howard in 1954. It was converted to a Howard 350 Super Ventura in 1959 for farm equipment manufacturer Massey Ferguson registered CF-MFL. Sold in the USA in 1971 reverting to N1489V, the aircraft carried later registrations of N4708, N7GW and N8GW. Sadly, like other Lockheed twins, N8GW was involved in drug running. The aircraft crashed and burned near Belle Glade, FL on April 11, 1979 during a smuggling flight.

Built as PV-1 34670 for US Navy in June 1943. Transferred to RAF as FP579 but diverted to South Africa as 6417. Sold to Howard Aero in January 1961 and converted to Howard 500 executive standard. Based in the UK from 1978 until returning to the US in October 2012 the aircraft is operated by Minnesota based TP Aero.

Built for the US Navy as PV-1 48722. Delivered to the RAF as Ventura GR.V JS942 then diverted to the SAAF as 6458. Shipped from South Africa to the USA in 1959 and converted to Howard Super Ventura conversion number 50 N130PL in 1962. Converted to Howard 500 conversion number 500-114 and reregistered as N130P in 1964. Stored at Chandler Memorial as it was known then in 1987. Burnt out by vandals in 2018.

Ordered by the US Navy as 34602 and transferred to the RCAF as Ventura G.R. Mk. V 2226 in 1943. Sold as N10476 in 1955 and converted to a Howard Super Ventura by 1957. Reregistered as N100P in 1957, N130P then N130PL in 1959 and N430PL then N183PL in 1961. Withdrawn from use at Chico, CA by 1978. To the Chico Air Museum in 2005.

This rare machine was left at Chandler when the airport closed in 2007. It gradually deteriorated and became a graffiti billboard before being vandalised and destroyed in a fire.

Any help on the location is appreciated. Date range is an estimate. Photographer unknown

Photographer: Neil Aird.

Delivered to the RAF as Ventura GR.V FP552 and diverted to the South African Air Force as 6409 in 1944. Shipped to the USA in 1959 and converted to Howard 500 c/n 500-111 by 1961 and registered as N456 then N4566, N749G in 1966, N696JB in 1976 and N896JB in 1979. Badly damaged by Hurricane Andrew at Tamiami in 1992. Last noted there in 1993. Probably scrapped.

DND photo.

AE660 seen here with the air force of Eastland , the "enemy from the east" during Exercise Spartan held in the UK in March 1943. Photo from: Imperial War Museums

Built in 1943 as PV-1 33260 for the US Navy but diverted to the Royal Canadian Air Force as serial 2186. It served until August 1950 when it was struck off charge and stored until August 1955 when it returned to the USA as N75384. In 1957 it was converted as a Howard Super Ventura executive transport with the new registration N9060. There is an online photo of it at London Air Port in June 1958 to where it is said to have brought Howard Hughes for a business visit. It subsequently passed through the hands of numerous companies and was last reported stored at Yukon, OK., in 1980.

Seen outside the Dickie Fritz Shellhole in Edenvale in the East Rand just outside Johannesburg, this Ventura was delivered to the US Navy as 34759 and then given the RAF serial FP607. It never served with the RAF, but was transferred directly to the SAAF where it served in various roles including as an instructional airframe. Put on display during the 1980s at the Memorable Order of Tin Hats (MOTH) Dickie Fritz Shellhole, so named after two friends Dickie Dashwood and Fritz von Linsingen who were killed in the Battle of Bardia in the North African Campaign of World War 2. Photo unknown

This Ventura served as Field Marshal Jan Smuts personal plane, seen here as part of the SAAF Museum collection. Photographer unknown

464 Sqn was an RAAF bomber unit that operated out of the UK in World War II. It exchanged the Venturas for Mosquitoes in July 1943 and became famous for precision raids such as breaching the walls of Amiens prison in France and bombing Gestapo offices in Denmark. Photo from: Imperial War Museums[