Warbird Information Exchange

My parents recently went to Florida on vacation and took some pictures of 3 or 4 trackers behind a fence parked in some field. All of them appear to have been there for some time and have faded military markings. Just wondering if anyone knows the story behind them.

That must be the one that shows up on ebay from time to time. I cant believe that those S2F's are still there!! I was there in 92 and they were parked across the road from the airport in a fenced in area..........no engines and wings folded.

_________________
Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

Rob
Is this the Guy that fly around in a C-1 in the late 80s early 90s? I remember him at Geneseo and Schenectady airshows. For some strange reason I aways like those a/c.

Maybe it is the round engines and tail hook

_________________
www.tailhookstudio.com

I used to see them at Lemoore NAS all the time I remember the COD with the American Flag on the tail.

Wasn't the guy at Geneseo with the Tracker (I swear I remember it was an S-2...) Dean Martin?

Jim

I'd have to check to see what was at Geneseo, if I even have a picture of it. I very well could be wrong on that one.

the Schenectady NY show I'm thinking of was a C-1 (75% sure). It had a large American Flag on the tail. I have more info at the house on it.

_________________
www.tailhookstudio.com

Thanks for the info guys, and yes, they're still sitting there exactly as you described.

Hey,

There were two Grumman types flown around these parts back then.

Dean Martin did attend a bunch of shows in the area back in the days.
He had an S2-F with a blue stripe with stars on the fuse. I dont remember the S.N. of the aircraft but I did have a pic from The 88 or so Hanscom Show.

The other one is Chris' airplane. N6788/S.N.136788 and is listed on the data plate on the cockpit bulkhead as a TF1-Q. The airplane was one of a few original EW versions of the C-1 with 42 antennas mounted all over the place. There is a real good pic on the Quonset Air Museum brochure with all the toys on it. Later in life it was converted to standard C1-A equipment and all the holes were filled and a 9 pax interior installed.
What a fun airplane to load up for a $500 hamburger. Unfortunately it has not flown in a few years. It was run a few times last fall and an attempt to fly it to a place to jack it and do gear swings did not happen. Hopefully it will come out of hibernation soon! The props were done last year (AD) and like I said it has run but not flown. The tail wheel was used for most of the winter due to the snow on tipping it back on it. You cannot see it from the road where he has it parked.

Here is another great story from flying with him years ago:
While at an airshow a few years ago, Chris was visited by a pilot who had attended the show the day before. After reading the S.N. of the aircraft he went home to look in his logbook. Returning the following day, logbook in hand, he showed Chris the entry from when he flew his airplane from Quonset to Brunswick while in the Navy. Chris looked at the dates and asked if he would like to do it again. They planned the trip for the same date 30 years to the day! Got all the PPR #s and completed the flight.
Same Pilot, Same A/C 30 years to the day! Great Story!

O.K. one more:
Plattsburg, NY. Their last airshow. The Air force Academy jump team was supposed to jump from a C-130 but it broke. They asked Chris if they could jump from his airplane, "SURE!" Off came the door and out they came!

_________________
"Hindsight is usually 20% off!"

I guess if you take pretty pictures it isn't really trespassing...

http://miragebym.blogspot.com/2009/02/a ... ne-01.html

_________________
Donate to support WIX here:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/donate.html

The eight S-2's are located here:

29 56 40.98 N 81 20 18.73 W


Walt

_________________
If God had intended airplane engines to have horizontally-opposed cylinders, Pratt & Whitney would have built them that way.

I don't see any snakes in those pix

_________________
GOOD MORNING, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Press "1" for English.
Press "2" to disconnect until you have learned to speak English.

The Trackers in question were owned by Sam Goldman of Ocean City, MD. Sam owned a company by the name of Chesapeake Airways in Salisbury, MD. Chesapeake Airways was considered to have the largest Grumman inventory in the US. Sam passed away 12/26/07.
Jay Wisler