As Portugal's overseas territories became the scene of uprisings against colonial rule, so the country's armed forces found themselves engaged in places far from home. Guinea-Bissau was one such, and in 1961 the Forga Aerea Portuguesa (FAP, or Portuguese Air Force) bolstered its commitment to the theatre with some of its latest assets. In so doing, it caused a controversy. The FAP's initial batch of Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune maritime patrol aircraft was assigned to Esquadra 61 at Base Aerea 6 in Montijo, just west of Lisbon, which had previously operated the Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon. The US Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Portugal arranged the transfer of these secondhand aeroplanes from the Royal Netherlands Navy, and deliveries began in April 1960, a dozen having arrived by the following year. The Neptune fleet's main functions were to be maritime patrol and antisubmarine warfare, in support of NATO's defensive strategy, but with the onset of Portugal's colonial wars in Africa, they were dispatched to Lisbon's overseas territories.
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