The Grumman C-1 Trader is a
carrier onboard delivery
Carrier onboard delivery (COD) is the use of aircraft to ferry personnel, mail, supplies, and high-priority cargo, such as replacement parts, from shore bases to an aircraft carrier at sea. Several types of aircraft, including helicopters, have ...
(COD) variant of the
Grumman S-2 Tracker. It was replaced by a similar version of the
Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye, the
Grumman C-2 Greyhound
The Grumman C-2 Greyhound is a twin-engine, high-wing cargo aircraft designed to carry supplies, mail, and passengers to and from aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. Its primary mission is carrier onboard delivery (COD). The aircraft p ...
.
Design and development
The C-1 Trader grew out of a need by the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
for a new
anti-submarine airplane. In response to this
Grumman
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 ...
began development on a prototype twin-engine, high-wing aircraft which it designated the G-89. In 1952 the Navy designated this aircraft the XS2F-1 and flew it for the first time on December 4 that year. During the rest of the 1950s three major variants emerged, the C-1 Trader being one of them. The C-1 (originally the TF-1) was outfitted to carry nine passengers or of cargo and first flew in January 1955.
Operational history
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the C-1 Trader carried mail and supplies to
aircraft carriers on station in the Pacific Ocean during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
and also served as a trainer for all-weather carrier operations. Over its production life 87 C-1 Traders were built, of which four were converted into EC-1A Tracer
electronic countermeasures
An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...
aircraft. The last C-1 was retired from USN service in 1988; it was the second-to-last radial-engine aircraft in U.S military service (The last
C-131
The Convair C-131 Samaritan is an American twin-engined military transport produced from 1954 to 1956 by Convair. It is the military version of the Convair CV-240 family of airliners.Gradidge 1997, p. 20–21.
Design and development
The design ...
wasn't retired until 1990). As of 2010, approximately ten were still airworthy in civil hands, operating as
warbird
A warbird is any vintage military aircraft now operated by civilian organizations and individuals, or in some instances, by historic arms of military forces, such as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the RAAF Museum Historic Flight, or th ...
s.
In 1956 the U.S. Marine Corps Test Unit Number 1 (MCTU #1) tested the concept of using the TF-1 variant as a vehicle for inserting reconnaissance teams behind enemy lines. “On 9 July 1956 MCTU Recon Marines became the first to parachute from a TF-1. Less than three weeks later, four recon parachutists launched from the
USS ''Bennington'', which was 70 miles at sea, and jumped on a desert drop zone near El Centro California, some 100 miles inland. For the first time in Marine Corps and Naval Aviation history, the technique of introducing recon personnel off a carrier sea base to an inland objective had successfully been tested.”
In August 2010,
Brazilian Naval Aviation
Brazilian Naval Aviation ( pt, Aviação Naval Brasileira; AvN) is the air arm of the Brazilian Navy operating from ships and from shore installations.
History
The Brazilian Naval Aviation branch was organized in August 1916, after creation of ...
announced that it would buy and modernize eight C-1 airframes to serve in
carrier onboard delivery
Carrier onboard delivery (COD) is the use of aircraft to ferry personnel, mail, supplies, and high-priority cargo, such as replacement parts, from shore bases to an aircraft carrier at sea. Several types of aircraft, including helicopters, have ...
(COD) and
aerial refueling roles for use on its aircraft carrier
''São Paulo''. In 2011 contract was signed with Marsh Aviation to convert four ex-US Navy C-1A Trader airframes into KC-2 Turbo Traders. The first KC-2 prototype flight was expected for November 2017 and the delivery of the first operational aircraft was scheduled for December 2018.
Variants
;TF-1
:Carrier Onboard Delivery version of the S-2 Tracker with enlarged fuselage for nine passengers, redesignated C-1A in 1962, 87 built.
;TF-1Q
:Electronic Countermeasures conversion of the TF-1, redesignated EC-1A in 1962, four conversions.
;TF-1W
:Airborne Early Warning project that was developed in the
WF-2 Tracer.
;C-1A
:TF-1 redesignated in 1962.
;EC-1A
:TF-1Q redesignated in 1962.
;KC-2 Turbo Trader
:
Marsh Aviation
Marsh Aviation is an aircraft engineering, design, maintenance and re-manufacturing company, situated on East Falcon Drive, at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona. The company often works as a sub-contractor to well-known brand-name aerospace compan ...
modernization project for Air-to-Air Refueling, requested for the Brazilian Navy.
;G-101
:proposed 10-12 seat passenger variant
;G-104
:proposed tanker variant
Operators
;
*
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
;
*
Brazilian Naval Aviation
Brazilian Naval Aviation ( pt, Aviação Naval Brasileira; AvN) is the air arm of the Brazilian Navy operating from ships and from shore installations.
History
The Brazilian Naval Aviation branch was organized in August 1916, after creation of ...
Surviving aircraft
;Airworthy
* BuNo 136752 - based at Lauridsen Aviation Museum in
Buckeye, Arizona
Buckeye is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is the westernmost suburb in the Phoenix metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census the population was 91,502, up from 50,876 in 2010 and 6,537 in 2000. It was the fastest-growin ...
.
* BuNo 136766 - privately owned in
Carson City, Nevada.
* BuNo 136773 - privately owned in
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
.
* BuNo 136778 - based at
Champaign Aviation Museum
The Champaign Aviation Museum is an aviation museum in Urbana, Ohio. It is situated on the north end of Grimes Field municipal airport, roughly a mile from central Urbana. The museum is known primarily for its ongoing restoration of a B-17 Flying ...
in
Urbana, Ohio
Urbana is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Ohio, United States, west of Columbus. Urbana was laid out in 1805, and for a time in 1812 was the headquarters of the Northwestern army during the War of 1812. It is the burial place ...
.
* BuNo 136781 - based at
Pacific Coast Air Museum
The Pacific Coast Air Museum, in Santa Rosa, California, is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and preserving aviation history through the acquisition, restoration, and display of historic aircraft. The museum displays a varied collec ...
in
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...
.
* BuNo 146027 - privately owned in
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
.
* BuNo 146044 - privately owned in
Eskridge, Kansas
Eskridge is a city in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 439.
History
Eskridge was laid out in 1868. The town experienced growth in 1880 when the railroad was built through it.
Eskr ...
.
* BuNo 146048 - privately owned in
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
.
* BuNo 146052 - based at
Lone Star Flight Museum in
Galveston, Texas.
;On display
* BuNo 136754 -
National Museum of Naval Aviation
The National Naval Aviation Museum, formerly known as the National Museum of Naval Aviation and the Naval Aviation Museum, is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.
Founded in 1962 and moved to its curr ...
,
NAS Pensacola
Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United State ...
,
Pensacola, Florida.
* BuNo 136790 -
Grissom Air Museum
The Grissom Air Museum is a military aviation museum at Grissom Air Reserve Base near Peru, Indiana with over twenty aircraft on display.
History
The museum's origins date to 1981, when the Grissom Air Force Base Heritage Museum Foundation was for ...
,
Grissom ARB (former
Grissom AFB
Grissom Air Reserve Base is a United States Air Force base, located about north of Kokomo in Cass and Miami counties in Indiana. The facility was established as a U.S. Navy installation, Naval Air Station Bunker Hill, in 1942 and was an active ...
),
Kokomo, Indiana.
* BuNo 146034 -
Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum
The Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum in Horsham, Pennsylvania is a museum dedicated to preserving the aviation history of the Greater Delaware Valley including NAS Willow Grove and Harold F. Pitcairn. It is owned and operated by the Delaware Val ...
, former
NAS Willow Grove
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove or NASJRB Willow Grove was a Naval Air Station owned by the U.S. Navy and located in Horsham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States four miles (6 km) northwest of the ce ...
,
Horsham, Pennsylvania
Horsham is a home rule municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 14,842 at the 2010 census. Horsham is located entirely within Horsham Township, and it is home to the Horsham Air Guard Station at the form ...
.
* BuNo 146036 -
USS Midway Museum
The USS ''Midway'' Museum is a historical naval aircraft carrier museum located in downtown San Diego, California at Navy Pier. The museum consists of the aircraft carrier . The ship houses an extensive collection of aircraft, many of which we ...
,
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...
.
"Grumman C-1A Trader/146036."
''USS Midway Museum.'' Retrieved: 27 April 2016.
Specifications (C-1A)
See also
References
External links
{{USN trainer aircraft 1948
C-001 Trader
1950s United States military transport aircraft
High-wing aircraft
Carrier-based aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1955
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft