Aircraft of the ADF – Grumman S-2 Tracker

The next definitive model was the S-2D, of which 100 were built from 1960. The S-2D had an enlarged forward fuselage, increased tail surfaces and wingspan, additional fuel capacity, and enlarged engine nacelle bays for up to 32 sonobuoys. This model also incorporated upgraded ASW electronic equipment.

The S-2E was basically the S-2D with improved magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) equipment and the ASN-30 automated tactical navigation system. The S-2E also featured a retractable belly radome and ventral blade antenna. A total of 252 of this model were built, with the final 14 off the production line being the aircraft delivered to the RAN. Total Tracker production of all versions amounted to 1284 aircraft.

Australian procurement of the Tracker was complemented the following year by an order for 10 A-4G Skyhawk attack aircraft, with delivery of both types planned for 1967. The first RAN Tracker accepted was Bu 153595, handed over in the US on July 27 1967. HMAS Melbourne subsequently transported the Trackers and Skyhawks to Australia.

The Trackers, like the Skyhawks, were delivered in standard USN colours of Gull Grey with Gloss White undersurfaces. For the duration of their RAN service, both types retained their US bureau number serials, with the N12 prefix added for the S-2 and N13 for the A-4. The Trackers were serialled N12-153595 to N12-153608, and coded 840 to 853.

In addition to the 14 S-2Es, another aircraft, an S-2A, was also acquired. Tracker Bu 133160 had already been delivered in November 1966 as an instructional airframe, and saw out its service with the Apprentice Training Centre at HMAS Nirimba, at Schofields, NSW. Another instructional airframe was located at HMAS Albatross.

816 Squadron was commissioned with Trackers on January 10 1968, and in line with the new Navy policy, the unit was redesignated VS-816 the following year. The ‘V’ of the unit designation followed US Navy practice to indicate a fixed wing platform, the ‘S’ the anti submarine role.

Meanwhile, 851 Squadron was reformed on September 2 1968 with Dakotas and six S-2Es, to provide conversion training for Tracker crews. Similarly, this unit was renumbered during 1969 to become VC-851, the ‘C’ representing the conversion role.

VS-816 and VC-851 also conducted shore based surveillance around Australia’s northern coasts from Darwin and Broome. Three Trackers of VC-851 commenced operations from Broome in March 1975, and this was a role the Trackers were to maintain for many years.

One S-2E, N12-153608, was lost at sea on February 10 1975, when landing on HMAS Melbourne, it missed the wire and ditched. However, this loss paled into insignificance with the next incident to befall the Tracker fleet.

The disaster occurred on December 4 1976, when 12 of the remaining 13 Trackers were badly damaged in a hangar fire at their HMAS Albatross base. Six were totally destroyed, and of those rescued from the hangar, three more were damaged beyond repair. The remaining three from the hangar were repairable, and added to another aircraft that had been with Hawker de Havilland for maintenance, left the RAN with a force of only four S-2E aircraft.

Meanwhile, the S-2G designation had been allocated to 60 USN S-2E aircraft that had undergone an avionics update. (Similarly, the S-2F designation had been applied to the upgraded S-2B.) The main improvement of the S-2G, which entered USN service in 1972, was incorporation of the AQA-7 DIFAR sonobuoy processing equipment, similar to that installed in the USN P-3C Orion. Externally, the S-2G differed from its predecessors by the addition of a three tube smoke marker ejector, mounted on the outer starboard engine nacelle.

To bolster its Tracker fleet, the RAN had already ordered six additional Trackers during 1976, and these were S-2G variants, serialled between Bu 153566 and 153582. As a result of the hangar fire, this order was immediately increased by another 10 Trackers, and 10 earlier S-2Gs were selected (serialled between 152333 and 152837). Such a procurement had been facilitated by the USN withdrawing its last S-2Gs over this period.

The 16 ‘new’ aircraft were picked up by HMAS Melbourne in San Diego during March 1977, and delivered when the Melbourne returned to Sydney on April 5. The S-2Es were then recoded 840 to 842 (843 being left for N12-153600/845, but this was never applied), and the new aircraft were coded from 844 to 859.

When the Melbourne was decommissioned in June 1982, VS-816 was disbanded on July 2, and the aircraft absorbed into VC-851. Some Trackers were retained in service for patrols of the Bass Strait oil platforms until December 1983. These Tracker rig patrols had commenced in December 1980, after a merchant ship had steamed through the Bass Strait oil and gas field and narrowly missed one of the oil rigs. The Australian Government then declared a restricted area around the oil field, tasking the ADF to provide surveillance of the area. In addition to RAAF P-3 Orion sorties, the Trackers flew over 2500 hours on Bass Strait surveillance operations.

After 16 years of operations, on June 30 1984 RAN Tracker flying ceased when Lt Cdr Dick Scott, CO of VC-851, led a seven aircraft formation over Sydney and Canberra. The Tracker was formally withdrawn from RAN service on August 12 having flown more than 67,000 hours on a variety of tasks.

The surviving 18 aircraft were then offered for disposal in 1984, but trouble with the Government appointed agents, who were also handling disposal of the RAAF C-130A aircraft stored at Laverton, saw the aircraft deteriorating at Albatross. Having had no success, the debacle led to the Department of Defence then in 1986 offering the aircraft for sale on its own behalf.

Finally, Hookway Aviation bought the aircraft in late 1991, and gradually ferried them to West Sale, Victoria, for refurbishment. This task was complicated by having only two serviceable engines for the fleet, which necessitated installing the two engines, ground running and air testing, then ferrying an aircraft to Victoria. The engines would then be removed and transported back to Nowra by road for installation onto the next available airframe.

The Brazilian Navy, an existing S-2E operator, was interested in acquiring several of the RAN aircraft, rumoured to have numbered between five and 10. Brazil had already contracted in 1989 to convert 11 of its existing fleet with Pratt & Whitney PT-6A turboprop engines, and was presumably looking for more suitable airframes to upgrade. Similarly, Taiwan modified 32 S-2Es with Garrett TPE331 turboprops to the S-2T Turbo Tracker configuration as did Argentina.

Other Australian Trackers were planned for conversion to water bombers in France or the US, but the economics of this evidently saw such plans fall through. Despite these setbacks, and with the Trackers still sitting at West Sale airfield, Hookway is still hopeful of some sales.

One airworthy survivor is the RAN’s first S-2G N12-152333 coded ‘844’, and registered as VH-NVX with the RAN’s Historic Flight. In addition, the Australian Naval Aviation Museum holds S-2G N12-153582/859 on static display and has S-2E N12-153600/845 as a gate guard to the door of the museum. Other Trackers on display are the instructional airframe S-2A Bu 133160 at the Queensland Air Museum and the instructional airframe S-2E Bu 151646 at HMAS Albatross.