anti-sub a/c

Yes!
That clears it up. The "F" was for Grumman. Not for: A, B. C......F. Those
were the days when you could picture the a/c by its designation. If you read
the "F" you could picture the big Grumman tail.

"Alan Erskine" wrote in message
...
"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
m...
Alan Erskine wrote:

Oops. ;-) I meant, why wasn't there an S-1? Was it due to the 1960's
nomenclature change?


The first purpose-built ASW aircraft was the Grumman AF Guardian, it
preceded the S designation for such aircraft. The second purpose-built
ASW aircraft was the Grumman S2F Tracker. It was designated S2F because
it was the second ASW aircraft built for the Navy by Grumman. With the
Tri-Service designation system the S2F became the S-2. Why not S-1?
Probably just to keep things as simple as possible.

I think the AF was already out of service in the USN by the time the
designation system was changed; that might explain the abscense of the
"S-1". Thanks Steven.

"niceguy" wrote

Yes but no S-1. AF -- S-2.

Nope....AF -- S2F-(1-3) -- S-2(A-G)

The location of the (-) makes a difference.

Bob Moore
S2F-1T NAS Kingsville 1959

"Alan Erskine" wrote in message
...
"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
m...
Alan Erskine wrote:

Oops. ;-) I meant, why wasn't there an S-1? Was it due to the 1960's
nomenclature change?


The first purpose-built ASW aircraft was the Grumman AF Guardian, it
preceded the S designation for such aircraft. The second purpose-built
ASW aircraft was the Grumman S2F Tracker. It was designated S2F because
it was the second ASW aircraft built for the Navy by Grumman. With the
Tri-Service designation system the S2F became the S-2. Why not S-1?
Probably just to keep things as simple as possible.

I think the AF was already out of service in the USN by the time the
designation system was changed; that might explain the abscense of the
"S-1". Thanks Steven.
The Grumman SF-1 was a version of the Grumman FF-1 fighter built in 1932-33.
It had a 2 man cockpit that was reconfigured to make it a scout plane (SF),
instead of a fighter (FF). After WW2, Grumman built the TB3F for ASW work.
They worked in pairs AF-2W (hunter) and AF-2S (killer) because the equipment
was too large and heavy for 1 aircraft. In 1953 they began replacing the AF
with the S2F (because there had already been an SF). In 1962 when DOD
started renumbering the aircraft to have a common number in all services,
the Navy aircraft stayed with the number the aircraft already had (P2V-5 and
P3V-1 became P-2E and P-3A). If two aircraft had the same number, one was
changed (F3D and F3H became F-10 and F-3; F4D and F4H became F-6 and F-4).

Alan Erskine wrote:

The first purpose-built ASW aircraft was the Grumman AF Guardian, it
preceded the S designation for such aircraft. The second purpose-built
ASW aircraft was the Grumman S2F Tracker. It was
designated S2F because it was the second ASW aircraft built for the
Navy by Grumman. With the Tri-Service designation system the S2F
became the S-2. Why not S-1? Probably just to keep things as simple
as possible.

I think the AF was already out of service in the USN by the time the
designation system was changed; that might explain the abscense of the
"S-1".


That sounds like a good reason not to redesignate an aircraft to me, but the
DoD didn't agree. The Convair F2Y Sea Dart was redesignated F-7 under the
Tri-Service designation system, five years after the program was canceled.

AF was the largest single recip-engine a/c ever built.
They worked in pairs because they had different roles.
The 'W' was the 'hunter'' Long range RADAR with large dish.
The 'S' was the 'killer'. Localization equipment and weapons.

"Mike Henley" wrote in message
g.com...

"Alan Erskine" wrote in message
...
"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
m...
Alan Erskine wrote:

Oops. ;-) I meant, why wasn't there an S-1? Was it due to the 1960's
nomenclature change?


The first purpose-built ASW aircraft was the Grumman AF Guardian, it
preceded the S designation for such aircraft. The second purpose-built
ASW aircraft was the Grumman S2F Tracker. It was designated S2F because
it was the second ASW aircraft built for the Navy by Grumman. With the
Tri-Service designation system the S2F became the S-2. Why not S-1?
Probably just to keep things as simple as possible.

I think the AF was already out of service in the USN by the time the
designation system was changed; that might explain the abscense of the
"S-1". Thanks Steven.
The Grumman SF-1 was a version of the Grumman FF-1 fighter built in
1932-33. It had a 2 man cockpit that was reconfigured to make it a scout
plane (SF), instead of a fighter (FF). After WW2, Grumman built the TB3F
for ASW work. They worked in pairs AF-2W (hunter) and AF-2S (killer)
because the equipment was too large and heavy for 1 aircraft. In 1953 they
began replacing the AF with the S2F (because there had already been an
SF). In 1962 when DOD started renumbering the aircraft to have a common
number in all services, the Navy aircraft stayed with the number the
aircraft already had (P2V-5 and P3V-1 became P-2E and P-3A). If two
aircraft had the same number, one was changed (F3D and F3H became F-10 and
F-3; F4D and F4H became F-6 and F-4).

I believe there was already an F-2: The Beechcraft F-2 'Expeditor'.



Beechcraft F-2 'Expeditor'

niceguy wrote:

AF was the largest single recip-engine a/c ever built.


The AF was significantly smaller than the XTB2D.

niceguy wrote:

I believe there was already an F-2: The Beechcraft F-2 'Expeditor'.



Beechcraft F-2 'Expeditor'


The Beechcraft F-2 Expeditor was a USAAF photoreconnaisance aircraft based
on the civil B18. It was the McDonnell F2H Banshee that became the F-2 in
1962 under the Tri-Service designation system.

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:06:25 -0600, "Steven P. McNicoll"
wrote:

Alan Erskine wrote:

The first purpose-built ASW aircraft was the Grumman AF Guardian, it
preceded the S designation for such aircraft. The second purpose-built
ASW aircraft was the Grumman S2F Tracker. It was
designated S2F because it was the second ASW aircraft built for the
Navy by Grumman. With the Tri-Service designation system the S2F
became the S-2. Why not S-1? Probably just to keep things as simple
as possible.

I think the AF was already out of service in the USN by the time the
designation system was changed; that might explain the abscense of the
"S-1".


That sounds like a good reason not to redesignate an aircraft to me, but the
DoD didn't agree. The Convair F2Y Sea Dart was redesignated F-7 under the
Tri-Service designation system, five years after the program was canceled.



See
http://www.designation-systems.net/u...ns.html#_Note5


"5. The F2Y Sea Dart was included in the redesignation process,
because a single YF2Y-1 had not yet been formally stricken from the
Navy's inventory by June 1962 (when the process of selecting the new
designations for all existing aircraft had already been completed)."
------

Robert

Uncommon Aircraft: http://fire.prohosting.com/hud607/uncommon