For the U.S. Navy, the Cold War in large part meant preparing for an antisubmarine campaign against the Soviet Union. U.S. antisubmarine warfare forces developed to counter them included air, surface, and submarine “platforms.” On the air side, the earliest specialized carrier-based ASW aircraft were variants of the Grumman-General Motors TBM Avenger, Douglas AD Skyraider, and Grumman AF Guardian. All of these planes came in two variants: a radar-equipped “hunter” (suffix W) and a torpedo-carrying “killer” (suffix S). These aircraft would be paired for ASW operations, such as an AF-2W working with an AF-2S. The AN/APS-20 radar was used in the “W” variants as a primary ASW sensor in hunter aircraft for detecting periscopes and snorkel masts projecting from submerged submarines.
But air-dropped sonobuoys, “sniffers” to detect diesel-engine exhausts, magnetic airborne detection (MAD), and other sensors were needed. Similarly, ASW torpedoes were complemented by air-launched rockets and depth bombs.
The question thus was asked: could the hunter and killer roles be combined into a single aircraft with sufficient space for all needed sensors and weapons? Grumman Aircraft, a builder of excellent carrier-based fighters as well as the AF Guardian “twins,” proposed a twin-engine, high-wing aircraft with several unusual features. For example, sonobuoys would be carried in the after portion of the engine nacelles; the AN/APS-38 search radar would retract into the after fuselage to provide clearance for carrier landings; and the MAD boom similarly would retract into the tail.
The aircraft began as the XA2F-1, evolving into the S2F Tracker, a 25,000- pound aircraft with twin reciprocating engines. The weight was only slightly more than that of the single-engine AF Guardian. Although designed to fly from escort carriers, the Tracker, with its wing span of almost 70 feet and 42-foot length, was more at home on board larger ships.
The Tracker featured an internal bomb bay for acoustic homing torpedoes, depth charges, or a nuclear depth bomb; under-wing racks for rockets; a wing- mounted searchlight; search radar; and MAD. The crew of the Tracker consisted of a pilot, co-pilot/navigator, radar operator, and MAD operator.
First flight of the XS2F-1 took place on 4 December 1952. When initially delivered to fleet squadrons in February 1954, the Tracker was larger than any other aircraft on board carriers at the time, except the AJ Savage, the North American Aviation-built nuclear-strike aircraft. The first squadron to fly the S2F was Air Antisubmarine Squadron (VS) 26. By this time the plane was known in the fleet as the “Stoof,” derived from the S2F designation.
Joining the Trackers in ASW air groups were helicopters specially equipped for hunting submarines. In combination with S2F Trackers, the helicopters gave the fleet a potent carrier- based ASW force. These squadrons were based on board modified aircraft carriers of the Essex (CV-9) class. As new attack carriers became available, the older carriers of the Essex and Hancock (CVA-19) classes were redesignated and modified to ASW ships. At the time of the Lebanese-Quemoy crises in 1958, 11 ASW carriers were in commission.
Ten of these ships normally operated with four to six ASW destroyers to form hunter-killer groups. In the ASW role, the carriers generally were assigned a 20-plane squadron of S2F Trackers and a smaller squadron of HSS-1 Seabat helicopters. Subsequently they were joined by a four- plane detachment of radar- equipped AD-5W Skyraiders to provide an additional search capability for the hunter-killer group. Periodically, a detachment of fighter aircraft also would go on board the ASW carriers to provide a combat air patrol for the defenseless Trackers and helicopters.
The designation ASW carrier air group (CVSG) was established on 1 April 1960 for aircraft assigned to ASW carriers. That year the ASW air groups were reorganized into two ten-plane Tracker squadrons and a 16-plane helicopter squadron plus the early-warning detachment. Fighter detachments were not carried by ASW carriers from 1960 to 1965; they returned to ASW carriers operating in the Vietnam area, consisting of four A-4 Skyhawks.
Grumman produced 1,169 Trackers from 1952 through 1967, including more than 100 supplied directly to foreign countries under military assistance programs. Another 100 aircraft were built by the de Havilland firm in Canada, with the designation CS2F-1. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia flew Trackers from their ASW carriers; other nations flew them from shore bases.
The U.S. Navy’s Trackers periodically were upgraded with improved ASW equipment, notably the AN/AQA-3 Jezebel passive, long-range acoustic search system and the associated Julie explosive echo-sounding equipment. Sixty of the S2F-2 models had enlarged bomb-bays to carry the Mk 90 nuclear depth bomb. A planned turbo-prop update was not pursued, although some other nations did provide similar engines to their Trackers.
The demise of the specialized ASW carrier came in the early 1970s, as the older ships began to require replacement- No funds were available to construct new CVS-type ships. Accordingly, the decision was made to merge ASW and attack aircraft on the same flight decks—the so-called CV/CVN multimission carrier concept. A part of this concept was the “swing-wing” idea, in which a large carrier entering an area of high submarine threat would fly off some attack aircraft and increase the number of ASW aircraft. Alternatively, the Tracker squadron and ASW helicopter squadron would be offloaded in favor of more fighters and attack aircraft.
In a demonstration of the swing-wing concept, in October 1971 the carrier Saratoga (CVA-60) operated 37 ASW aircraft—21 Trackers and 16 SH-3D Sea Kings—plus 20 fighters, 9 attack aircraft, and 8 special-mission aircraft. This was an unusual experience, as CV/CVN carriers generally kept the standard attack- ASW aircraft mix.
The last CVSG was decommissioned on 30 June 1973. The end of the Tracker in the U.S. Navy was not far behind. In February 1974 ASW squadron VS-41 accepted its first S-3A Viking aircraft. Larger and more capable than the “Stoof,” the Viking replaced the Tracker on board U.S. carriers with the last carrier deployment being VS-37 on the Kitty Hawk (CV-63) in 1975.
Utility, training, and cargo variants of the Tracker continued to fly from U.S. naval shore bases until 1986. The excellence of the aircraft led to several variations. These were the S2F-2P photo plane; S2F-2U utility aircraft; TF Trader carrier-based cargo plane; TF-1Q electronic countermeasures aircraft; the WF-2 airborne early warning aircraft.
Other nations found the Tracker an invaluable short-range reconnaissance/ASW aircraft. At the beginning of the 21st century, “Stoofs” still were being flown by Argentina, Brazil, Taiwan, and Uruguay—almost 50 years after the first flight of the XS2F-1 prototype.
Author’s Note: In 1962 the S2F was changed to S-2 under the Department of Defense aircraft redesignation policy.
Also please note that the final paragraph of this column in the August 2001 issue should have read: Although the P-80 never saw combat with Navy or Marine Corps markings, it played a key role in producing U.S. naval aviators in the early decades of the jet age. And some of those men with wings of gold did fly Shooting Stars in combat while on exchange duty with the Air Force during the early stages of the Korean War.