Stoofing Around (Warning, lots of pics)

A grand old work horse the Grumman Tracker, she served many countries both on land and at sea. But she is seldomly spoken about, sortta out of sight-out of mind. Well lets bring her back, I am sure that many people here share a fond memory of her in service, I know I have a couple of memories.

It is good to see that some are still going strong today. So without further ado, here is the Stoof.

Starting off we have an American one, done in the Colours of VS-22

The USN operated many Trackers off various carriers including the dedicated ASW carriers known as CVS’s, during the Vietnam conflict it became apparent that operating dedicated carriers was an impractical and very costly excercise and thus many CVS’s and their opposing attack versions (CVA’s) soon retired and air groups on the remaining carriers became a mixed bag.

Another Carrier operator of the Stoof was Australia, The RAN bought two batches, one of E’s and one of G’s in which they operated off the carrier HMAS Melbourne (R-21 CVL).

Here is Navy 845, she featured in the TV show “Patrol Boat” and actually nearly took the mast off HMAS Advance- which you never got to see on film (the honour for finally doing the job was later given to a Skyhawk who flew so low that he didn’t have enough time to pull up and took the navigation radar out).

At the same time the Stoof was flying off the deck of Melbourne, Canada had tem flying of the deck of their carrier HMCS Bonaventure (R-22 CVL).

In Canadian service they were known as the CP-121’s, this is my favourite pic of the Tracker ever.

Brazil also had a Majestic class carrier like Australia and Canada, SAN Minas Gerais (A-11), though they too redesignated their Trackers, they called them ther P-16E’s

When the MdB finally retired this carrier, it sounded the death knell for the Tracker in Brazilian service, but not the end of Trackers on the deck of a Brazilian carrier.

Argentina Flew Trackers off the deck of the Glory Class carrier Vientencinco de Mayo.

When this carrier was finally struck off the list. Argentina upgraded their Trackers to Turbo prop models and struck a deal with Brazil to keep their carrier pilots current by using the new carrier twice a year.

Note the top window in the open position, many pics I have seen and all of them have the windows in the open poition, can anyone offer explanations? Safety perhaps?

South America proved to be a gold mine for the Grumman corperation, Venezuela operated some from land bases.

As did Uraguay who have four in service still.

Another area that proved to be good for the Tracker was Asia. Japan bought a few to operate from shore bases. But after service they ended up back in the US and being scrapped.

Taiwan of the Republic of China Navy currently operates 26 examples from Pingtung airbase. They have a very unique colour scheme and are using the same four baladed props as the USN’s C-2 and E-2 fleet.

You7 can see the difference against this old example now preserved at Chiang Kai Shek International airport

There is an uncertainty surrounding this example in Seoul of a South Korean model and I can not find any reference as to the RoKAF or RoKN ever operating these planes, yet here is one, it is almost completely unmarked.

Not giving up there, Thailand is another operator of the Stoof in Aisa, the RTN still has six on charge though they are getting tired now.

Over in Europe though, the Stoof had a little success, Italy was an early operator and has some flying from shore bases, though there are not many in AMI markings still around,m this example being preserved in a museum but clearly needs work.

Turkey also had a handfull of these planes in their naval service, and this example in open storage at a museum does it no justice at all.

The Dutch also operated them but not from their carrier, they sold their carrier just before the Stoof came, though Ironically the carrier did end up with Stoof when she became the Argentinian carrier mentioned above. Here a rather dramatic shot shows a Dutch model that is now in a museum, though looks like it is on a carrier.

And here is another machine side on on a normal day, giving you a good look at the markings worn by the Dutch machines.

Note also that the wings are in the flight position.

Today there are many in civil markings, most working for various Fire Services like this French Securite Civile example.

And here is one in the Dutch Airline colours, KLM operating these ex Dutch Navy Trackers (and also Neptunes and Havards) to help keep their maintranence operators up do date on their logs.

In all it’s not bad for a plane that was designed at the closing of WWII as a replacement for the Avenger. She travelled far and wide and is still flying on today.