Grumman | ||||||||||||||||||||||
AF Guardian
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Photo: Robert Deering
4/18/2015 National Museum of Naval Aviation NAS Pensacola (NPA) Pensacola, Florida |
||||||||||||||||||||||
Some of Naval Aviation's earliest missions involved
searching for and sinking enemy submarines. Shore
and tender based patrol aircraft had limits to being
on time and on station to support either convoys or
task force formations at sea, with aircraft
operating from escort carriers playing a vital role
in anti-submarine warfare during World War II. As
world war gave way to the Cold War, the Navy
remained committed to carrier-based anti-submarine
warfare and sought a replacement for the TBF/TBM
Avenger that had served so ably in that role. When
replacement was needed, Grumman first proposed a
purpose-built twin engine design that proved too
heavy to operate from
Essex-class carriers. A modified
twin-engine F7F fighter, intended for use on board
Midway-class carriers, had greater
shortcomings in weight and landing speed. Grumman
eventually received an order for three prototypes of
an updated design designated XTB3F-1, one of which
included a Westinghouse turbojet in the tail for
quick escape, a feature that was not incorporated in
operational aircraft. The prototype made its first
flight on 19 December 1945, with deliveries to the
fleet beginning in 1950.
With provisions for carrying various configurations
of torpedoes, bombs, or depth charges in an internal
bomb bay and under wing rockets, the eventual
production version of the aircraft, called the
AF-2S, was used as one element of a two-aircraft
team to carry out anti-submarine warfare. The other
was the AF-2W version of the Guardian fitted with a
large ventral radome housing an AN/APS-20A search
radar. In fleet service, the pair of aircraft
operated together, forming hunter-killer teams that
were a mainstay into the mid-1950s. An AF-3S that
added a Magnetic Anomaly Detector boom also reached
limited production.
The Museum's aircraft, an AF-2S version, entered
squadron service with Air Development Squadron (VX)
1 at Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, Florida,
where it served as a flight test aircraft until
February 1952. Between 1952 and 1956, it flew with
various Naval Air Reserve Units. Stricken from the
Navy inventory in December 1956, the aircraft saw
civilian employments until 1978. Fully restored, it
was acquired by the Museum in 1980, and carries
VS-25 markings. The "30" painted on the cowling has
no military relevance; it stems from the aircraft's
days as a fire fighter, with the call sign "Red 30." |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|