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The Dad Project--Third Installment: Grumman S2F-1 Tracker — Transcript

by The Dad Project · 2,148 words · 346 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:03[Music]
0:08[Music]
0:11[Applause]
0:17[Applause]
0:18[Music]
0:32the shouting wind along and flung my
0:36eager craft through footless
0:41up up the long Delirious burning blue
0:46I've topped the Windswept height with
0:49easy Grace
0:51We're Never locked or even eagle flew
0:56and while with silence
0:58lifting mind I prod the high
1:04untrusted sanctity of faith
1:07put out by hand
1:10and touch the face of God
1:18hi and welcome to the third installment
1:20of the DAT project great to see you and
1:22glad to have you back in this
1:24installment we have Ensign not
1:26Lieutenant JG purpose my mistake having
1:28received his wings at Pensacola and then
1:30receiving his orders to proceed to
1:32Kingsville Texas for further Flight
1:34Training where he will train to fly the
1:36Grumman s2f tracker
1:39but first a quick diversion into the
1:41pre-1962 military naming conventions for
1:45aircraft
1:46in particular the Navies as I said my
1:49father would be training in a Grumman
1:51s2f tracker by today's naming
1:54conventions you would think that if you
1:56were flying the s2f he would be flying
1:58the F model of the S2 the two denoting
2:01the second anti-submarine aircraft in
2:03the Navy and that the S stood for
2:06submarine but you would be wrong
2:08to fully explain the Arcane Navy
2:10aircraft designator's pre-1962
2:14so a quick translation of s2f the s-step
2:18for stood for scout the two was the
2:20second Grumman made Scout plane while
2:22the F stood for Gromit G having been
2:25used for Goodyear and to add to the
2:26confusion the AGA Aviation corporation
2:29that built gliders and indeed Grumman
2:31had built a scout plane before the s2f
2:34and that would be the s1f of which 33
2:37were made
2:38in 1962 a former Ford executive Robert
2:41McNamara who found himself elevated to
2:44the position of Secretary of Defense by
2:45President Kennedy was having difficulty
2:47Discerning the difference between the
2:49Navy's f4h Phantom and the Air Force's
2:52f-110 specter
2:54his confusion would lead to the 1962
2:56tri-service aircraft designation system
2:58that is currently used
3:00this system has its own anomalies but
3:03for the most part is very
3:04straightforward and easy to understand
3:06so my dad would be flying the s2f-1
3:08while in training and in Squadron as
3:11denoted in his log books and then
3:13magically in December of 1962 he would
3:15begin flying the S2s
3:19in any case I did ask my dad why he
3:21chose and I say chosen quotation marks a
3:23multi-engine submarine Patrol aircraft
3:25versus the much sexier jet fighter types
3:29well he said I figured since I wanted to
3:31be a pilot and fly why not fly a plane
3:33that flies a lot
3:36I didn't push him any further but if the
3:37military is anything it's a meritocracy
3:39you're constantly graded on your
3:41performance and your Fitness report
3:43fitrep follows you throughout your
3:45career as a pilot every mile post in
3:48your training is graded and once in the
3:50fleet every aspect of your flight
3:51performance is graded as a carrier pilot
3:54every Landing is created and enough low
3:56scores can end your flight career
3:58so in the training regimen the student
4:01with the best cumulative score gets
4:03first choice and type
4:04typically you would fill out a sheet
4:06with your top three choices but this is
4:09also where the term needs of the Navy
4:10may rare it's ugly head meaning the
4:13first several Pilots of a training
4:15section may get the type they want while
4:17the rest get a type that needs bodies
4:19according to the needs of the Navy
4:22long story short the s2f is not a sexy
4:25beast and not the jet fighter that later
4:27trainees dreamed of after seeing Top Gun
4:30did my father choose the s2f or was he
4:32so far down the list it was the only
4:34thing left or did the needs of the Navy
4:36choose it for him
4:38based on his later flying Arc I don't
4:40think so
4:42I don't think so far down the list was a
4:44reason in any case let's take another
4:46diversion and talk about submarines
4:49while any number of inventors dreamed of
4:51flying like the birds there were also
4:53those that dreamed of swimming like the
4:55fishes and like any innocent dream of
4:57invention it was quickly overtaken by
4:59those who figured there had to be a way
5:01to use that invention to destroy their
5:02enemies
5:05now skipping over years of incremental
5:07invention will go directly to the first
5:09recorded use of a combat submarine to
5:11sync a surface ship
5:13that would be the Confederate State ship
5:15Hundley that attacked the USS Housatonic
5:18that was part of the Union blockade of
5:21Charleston
5:23armed with a spar torpedo a charge that
5:25was extended on a pole attached to the
5:27Huntley the human-powered Huntley came
5:30close enough to detonate the charge that
5:32sunk the Houston tonic but it was later
5:35found that the charge also sunk the
5:37Hundley
5:39it would be World War one that would
5:40introduce the general public to the rise
5:42of the submarine particularly the German
5:44U-boats and the German neighbors Navy's
5:47utter Vassar fleet's most famous and
5:50notorious sinking of the HMS Lusitania
5:53by the u-20 that sinking was a
5:55propaganda gold mine for the British who
5:57claimed the ship was an innocent
5:59passenger liner applying its trade while
6:01the Germans claimed they had
6:02intelligence that the ship was loaded to
6:04the gills with munitions
6:06this argument continues to this day it
6:10would be the rise of the germ U-Boat
6:12wolf packs in World War II that would
6:14again introduce the general public to
6:16the dangers of the submarine
6:19initially the U-boats had the upper hand
6:21and what later would be called The
6:22Battle of the Atlantic that stretched
6:24from 1939 to the very end of the war in
6:271945.
6:29that Advantage would be lost when the
6:31British successfully broke the
6:32mechanical workings of the Enigma Cipher
6:36machine
6:36that allowed the Allies to read the
6:38enemy traffic sent to the U-boats giving
6:41the Allies locations and plans for the
6:43disbursement of the U-Boat fleets
6:47of course it wasn't just the cracking of
6:49the Enigma Cipher machine but several
6:51advancements in radar sonar and other
6:53means to eject submarines submerged and
6:55running on the surface that were
6:57continually being perfected and given a
7:00platform for their use that would
7:01hearken the end of the dominance of the
7:04U-boat
7:06during World War II it would be the pby
7:09Catalina that was used most extensively
7:11for anti-submarine Warfare and was one
7:13of the first aircraft to use a magnetic
7:15anomaly detector better known as a mad
7:18system
7:18to hunt for submarines
7:21these systems compared the Earth's
7:22magnetic signature with the metal of a
7:25ship or submarine that had their own
7:27magnetic signatures to find them and is
7:30still used today
7:31now the Navy's problem was how to load
7:34all the various anti-submarine Warfare
7:36systems on a platform that would fit
7:37easily on the deck of a carrier
7:40Catalina was a non-starter as it was a
7:43large seaplane soon after the war these
7:45various systems were still too large to
7:47fit into one aircraft that would then
7:49fit on the deck of a carrier
7:51the initial solution was a hunter killer
7:54arrangement
7:55by taking the well used and familiar
7:57growman TBF airframe the Navy was able
7:59to fit various anti-submary detecting
8:01devices and a single TBF airframe the T
8:04the TVM 3w2 being the Hunter and the TBM
8:07at 3s2 loaded with Munitions being the
8:10Killer
8:11it would be a circuitous route to the
8:13follow-on hunter killer ASW aircraft the
8:15Grumman af2 guardian and a short circuit
8:18to the s2f
8:20with the exigency of War a replacement
8:23for the Avenger was almost immediately
8:25planned for Grumman proposed their model
8:27G55 a twin-engine torpedo bomber that
8:30proved too large for the existing
8:32carriers so it only made it to the
8:34mock-up stage
8:35with a need for a replacement for the
8:37Avenger in his torpedo bomber role still
8:39required during the war Grumman proposed
8:41the g70 the guardian as its replacement
8:44but with the war in its waning days and
8:47the realization that the Navy would need
8:49a dedicated ASW platform for its
8:52carriers the Navy asked Grandma to
8:53modify the guardian for this purpose
8:56and soon the guardian would beat up the
8:59af-2s and af-2w in a hunter killer
9:03configuration
9:05earlier a modified TBM Adventure was
9:07used as a stop get solution in 100
9:10role until the guardian could come
9:11online
9:13although first one in 1945 with the
9:15Navy's new requirement to morph it into
9:17an ASW hunter killer platform it
9:20wouldn't be until 1950 that it was
9:22introduced to the fleet and a total of
9:24387 guardians of both models were built
9:27operationally the 100 killer approach
9:29proved to be less than ideal the
9:31coordination of the pair was difficult
9:33and problematic also with either hunter
9:35killer aircraft had report emission for
9:37any reason both aircraft would return to
9:39base
9:41as mentioned earlier the hunter killer
9:42solution was initially deemed necessary
9:45based on Carrier size and the size of
9:47the ASW detecting equipment and Armament
9:49but as larger carriers came online this
9:52would no longer be a problem so again
9:55the call went out for a dedicated ASW
9:57aircraft that would fit all the
9:59necessary equipment and Armament into
10:01one airframe
10:02Grandma proposed their model g89
10:05platform and even to the untrained eye
10:07it was at least a fraternal twin to the
10:09model G55 the Grumman had proposed in
10:12World War II as a torpedo bar
10:14on June 30th 1950 two prototypes and 15
10:17S2 F-1 production aircraft were ordered
10:21at the same time
10:22the first flight was on December 4th
10:241952 and the Squadron bs-26 would
10:27introduce the tractor to the fleet
10:30by the time my father took his first
10:32flight in the track on August 5th 1958
10:34it was still a relatively new carefree
10:36and a very capable ASW platform that
10:39could carry two aerial Torpedoes or one
10:41nuclear depth charge in its internal
10:43torpedo Bay it had six underwing
10:45hardpoints for Rocket pots depth
10:47Chargers are up to four additional
10:48torpedoes eventually mounted retractable
10:51radom and extendable magnetic anomaly
10:54detector a diesel exhaust particulate
10:56sniffer and a 70 million candle power
10:58power circulating additionally the rear
11:02of the nasal engine nay cells carried up
11:04to 16 soda boys all this was controlled
11:07by a four-man crew consisting of the
11:08pilot copilot Navigator radio man who
11:11doubles as a mad gear operator and the
11:13radar man who also operates the sonar
11:15gear
11:16Grumman produced 1185 of these Weepies
11:20in a production run that would last
11:22until 1968 and see it entered the
11:25inventories of 16 Air Forces
11:28its replacement the Lockheed S3 Viking
11:30would only see a production run of
11:33188 units but by the time the S3 was
11:36introduced anti-submarine Warfare had
11:39changed considerably on August 15 1958
11:43my father took his first flight in the
11:45s2f-1 for a one and a half hour
11:48orientation flight this was the first
11:50flight that would lead to
11:52166 hours of Total time in the S2
11:56at the time of that flight U.S naval
11:58intelligence reported that the Soviet
12:00submarine Fleet had peaked at 450 active
12:03units in 1957 after the fall of this
12:06Soviet Union was reported that the
12:07Soviet Union had produced 727 Subs
12:12between 1945 and 1991 of which 492 were
12:17diesel electric and 235 were nuclear
12:21with a Metallurgy of capability Second
12:23To None the Soviets were able to produce
12:25the largest submarine ever built the
12:27typhoon class the fastest attack
12:29submarine ever built the alpha class and
12:31the deepest diving sub ever built the
12:33mic class
12:35the Soviet submarine force was very
12:37capable and very dangerous so in January
12:40of 1959 having completed his time as
12:42astute Naval aviator in the naval air
12:44training command he reported to Quonset
12:47Point Rhode Island
12:480.1 arm of the anti-submarine Warfare
12:51force of the Navy
12:53Air anti-submarine Squadron 32 and their
12:56target would be the dangerous and
12:58capable Soviet submarine Fleet
13:00so next time Naval aviator Lieutenant JG
13:03Purvis Academy class of 1957 will
13:06proceed to Rhode Island to begin his
13:07time in the fleet as an fs2f-1 pilot
13:10stage stationed out of Quonset Point
13:13Rhode Island it would continue to hone
13:15his skills along with his crew to detect
13:17and if necessary to sink enemy
13:19submarines he would soon ship out on his
13:22first cruise aboard the U.S Navy's last
13:24straight deck carrier the USS Lake
13:26Champlain cb-39
13:29in any case thanks for joining me for
13:32the third installment of the dad project
13:33I'm still not selling anything or giving
13:37any instruction on how to do anything
13:39I'm trying to tell a story I was hoping
13:41my father would tell me and now I'm
13:43trying to tell it for him so please
13:46subscribe if you'd like to hear more and
13:48until next time thanks for watching
13:50enjoy what life has given you

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