Grumman S-2D Tracker

Nicknamed "Stoof," the S2F, later redesignated S-2, was the first carrier-based aircraft able both to search for and attack submarines, combining roles that had previously required separate aircraft. S-2s carried multiple sensors, including search radar, sonobuoys deployed from the engine housing, a magnetic anomaly detector in a retractable tail boom, and a searchlight, while an internal weapons bay held torpedoes, mines, and depth bombs. The S-2D version featured a longer and wider fuselage, larger wings and tail surfaces, and longer engine housings to carry additional sonobuoys. Its design also became the basis for the E-1B Tracer airborne early warning aircraft and the C-1A Trader carrier onboard delivery aircraft. The last S-2 squadron was disestablished in August 1976. S2F Bureau Number 149240 was manufactured on 20 March 1962 and flew at NAS Patuxent River with the Naval Research Laboratory's Flight Support Detachment. After logging 5175.2 flight hours in meteorological and oceanographic research, it was retired in February 1981 and transferred to PRNAM in 1982.

Maryland · United States