GRUMMAN AF-3S "GUARDIAN" - 1953

Description

During the 1950s, the AF-2 Guardian anti-submarine aircraft were operating from the US Navy carriers in so-called Hunter-Killer pairs which consisted of one machine of the AF-2W version performing the Hunter role using its volumous, belly-mounted AP-20 search and early-warning radar to locate enemy’s submarines while the other member of the team was an AF-2S which was the Killer, carrying a variety of offensive anti-submarine weapons, such as torpedoes, depth charges or rockets in the bomb bay or beneath its wings. The prototype AF-2 (which was the radar-equipped Hunter version) first flew in November 1948 while the AF-2S performed its first flight in January the following year. A year later, the type entered service with the US Navy, later to be joined by a third version, the AF-3S which was basically a AF-2S with a magnetic anomaly detector fitted. The AF-3s were operated both from land bases and aircraft carriers. During the Korea War, the type was used to defend US Navy vessels in the combat zone. The Guardian was removed from front line service in 1955, remained just with US Naval Reserve units up to 1957. The type became the very first US Navy carrier-based aircraft to be specially built for anti-submarine warfare. It also holds the record for being the largest single-engined, piston-engined aircraft ever to be flown from the US Navy carriers. (Scale : 1/48e)