![]() However, the Navy proceeded cautiously and slowly, and the first of an initial order of 40 aircraft did not fly until 1 March 1958. The TF-1W test flights proved the feasibility of the parasol radome concept. The last, designated TF-1W, first flew on 17 December 1956. The Navy took delivery of 82 TF-1s another four of the planes were completed to a TF-1Q electronic countermeasures configuration, and a fifth became the aerodynamic prototype for the WF-2 Tracer. ![]() The new radar -given the military designation AN/APS-82 -was to be housed in a parasol radome atop the fuselage, and the S2F/TF single vertical fin was replaced by a twin-tail configuration. Although based on the S2F design, the TF-1 variant had a larger fuselage, being designed to carry nine passengers or 3,500 pounds of cargo, primarily spare parts and airplane engines, in the carrier on-board delivery (COD) role. 2 Progress was rapid, and by 1956 the Grumman TF-1 Trader had replaced the S2F as the airframe for the AEW proposal. seeking ways to install the new Hazeltine search radar in a carrier plane. Its interest was renewed by avionics engineer Samuel Rogers and aerodynamic engineer Joseph Lippert Jr. and British carriers.Īfter a lapse of two years, Grumman again proposed a carrier-based AEW aircraft. But interest waned and the project was halted in 1953 while AD-4W and AD-5W Skyraiders filled the AEW role on U.S. The Navy ordered two prototypes of the XWF-1, and a partial mockup was built. (All previous AEW aircraft had the radome beneath the fuselage.) 1 The Grumman-proposed XWF-1 was to be a development of the S2F Tracker design, with minor changes and a large radome for the ubiquitous AN/APS-20A radar to be mounted on a pylon above the fuselage. In 1951 both the Grumman and Vought firms sought to develop an AEW aircraft based on their proposals for an antisubmarine aircraft, the XS2F-1 and XS2U-1, respectively. carrier planes, to provide a realistic solution to the problem. It fell to the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp., the major producer of World War II -era U.S. The subsequent AEW versions of the Douglas AD Skyraider -fitted with the same radar -provided improved performance and carrier capability, but their effectiveness was still restricted. These airplanes had major operational limitations, especially the TBM-3W with its restricted cockpit space and the performance penalties imposed by the large AN/APS-20 radar. The first of the new breed were carrier-based TBM-3W Avengers and land-based PB-1W Flying Fortresses (the latter modifications of the Army Air Forces B-17G). Navy began developing airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft, primarily to help defeat Japanese kamikaze attacks against the Pacific Fleet.
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