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[1980.001.001] Aircraft - 'AF-2S Aircraft, Bureau Number 123100' |
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AF-2S Aircraft, Bureau Number 123100
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| Accession Number |
1980.001.001 |
| Accession Date |
15/01/1980 |
| Creator |
| Creator |
Creator Role |
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Manufacturer |
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| Date Created |
1950 |
| Object Desciption |
Accepted by the U.S. Navy 6 July 1950, the museum's AF-2S entered squadron service with Experimental and 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 at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, NAS Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, and NAS South Weymouth, Massachusetts. Stricken from the Navy inventory at the naval storage facility at Litchfield Park, Arizona, on 17 December 1956, the aircraft was eventually sold in 1958 to Clayton Curtis of Frontier Airways. At the time of sale, it had accumulated 1469 hours of flight time. Subsequently acquired by Aero Union Corporation of Reading, California, in 1962, the aircraft served as an aerial tanker fighting forest fires until 1978, at which time it began flying on the exhibition circuit. Fully restored, it was acquired by the museum in 1980
As the seventh AF-2S version of the Guardian built by Grumman, the aircraft was one of the earliest in service and, at the time of its acquisition, it was the only flying example of its kind. Painted in the markings of Antisubmarine Squadron (VS) 25, one of the first squadrons to operate the AF, the aircraft resides in the west wing of the museum. The "30" painted on the cowling is not historically accurate but instead stems from the aircraft's days as a fire fighter. At that it had the radio call sign "Red 30." |
| Place of Origin |
Bethpage, New York |
| Notes |
Some of naval aviation's earliest operations involved searching for submerged submarines from the air, and in the wide-ranging war against German U-boats during World War II, naval aviation solidified a place as a prime instrument of antisubmarine warfare. Grumman's TBF Avenger, along with General Motors-built TBM versions of the company's design, was the primary carrier-based antisubmarine platform during the war, and as combat still raged in February 1945, the company received an order for three prototypes of an updated design called the XTB3F-1, one of which interestingly included a Westinghouse turbojet in the tail for quick escape, a feature that was not incorporated in operational aircraft. With provisions for carrying various configurations of torpedoes, bombs, or depth charges in an internal bomb bay and underwing rockets, the eventual production version of the aircraft, called the AF-2S, was also equipped with radar and a powerful searchlight. Grumman also developed an 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 in the U.S. Navy's air antisubmarine squadrons into the mid-1950s.
Specifications for AF-2S
Manufacturer: Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
Dimensions: Length: 43 ft., 4 in.; Height: 16 ft., 2 in.; Wingspan: 60 ft., 8 in.
Weights: Empty: 14,580 lb.; Gross: 25,500 lb.
Power Plant: One 2,400 horsepower Pratt and Whitney R-2800-48W
Performance: Maximum Speed: 317 M.P.H.; Service ceiling: 32,500 ft.; Range: 1,500 miles
Armament: One 2,000 lb. torpedo or two 2,000 lb. bombs or two 1,600 lb. depth charges carried internally
Crew: Pilot and aircrewman |
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