This was one of a batch of 10 Neptunes supplied to the Aeronavale in 1959, serving 23F and 25F till transferred to 12S in Tahiti in 1983. Stored at Papeete from 1984, it was acquired by HARS and ferried to Australia in July 1999 under registration N8187Z, being allocated VH-LRR after arrival. After some airshow appearances, in September 1999 it flew from Tamworth to Bankstown and next in January 2003 to the then-new HARS base at the Illawarra Regional Airport where overhaul work continues pending return to airworthiness alongside P2V-7 A87-273 (which is once again flying).