CP-121 Tracker

The Grumman, deHavilland Tracker, CAF designated CP-121, was built in Downsview, Ontario, as a Canadian version of the Grumman Tracker anti-submarine aircraft after the Royal Canadian Navy, drawing on Canada’s experience in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War, concluded it needed an effective anti-submarine force. The Royal Canadian Navy acquired the aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure, and de Havilland of Canada manufactured the aircraft, which was equipped with a retractable magnetic anomaly detector boom, a retractable radome, a powerful search light, and sixteen sonobuoys, and could carry homing torpedoes or depth charges in the bomb bay and under the wings. Ninety-nine Canadian-built Trackers entered service beginning in 1956, and after HMCS Bonaventure entered service in 1957, they operated from the carrier until it was decommissioned in 1970, after which they flew from shore bases. Shore basing limited the Tracker’s effectiveness as an anti-submarine aircraft, so the planes were modified for shipping and patrol duties, a role they continued in until their retirement from active duty in the 1990s. The Museum’s Tracker was one of the first built in Canada; after entering service, it was stationed on HMCS Bonaventure, later transferred to land-based squadrons, eventually served with every squadron in the Canadian Navy, was retired in June 1993, passed into the ownership of Mr. Byron Reynolds, and was donated by him to the National Air Force Museum of Canada in 2003.

Ontario · Canada