Grumman WF (E-1) Tracer

I was in RVAW-120 from 1970-73 working on the FUDD and Hummers. Loved the E-1B, great little airplane. I flew in them as a Maint. Aircrew. We had to take a pair out to the USS JFK when the E-2's were all down for prop problems so the ship could do their ORE. 2planes to replace 4 and we made all our commitments. Good old reliable product from the Grumman Iron Works.

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I flew in one of the first two WF's delivered to the Navy at Patuxent river sometime in 1959. We had a marine radar operator who did most of the testing on the radar. I was attached to Electronics Test division of the Naval air Test center from October 1957 to October 1959.

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I was a flight tech with RVAW-110, NAS North Island, from 1968 to 1970. We then flew the the E1B. Can anyone please provide me with the tail letters and nose numbers for our squadron aircraft at the time?

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Any other Marines besides me ever fly the E1?

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I flew the "Fudd" at VAW 12 from 64-68. Boring airplane, but great people...

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I was a flight tech on Nas North Island RVAW 110, 1969-72 and worked on the radar. The radar had 1 Million Watts of power! A great airplace.

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I flew, as an NFO, with the second last active detachment on the west coast off the Coral Sea, and as noted above, the E-1B was not an exciting plane compared to other carrier aircraft. However with that said, it was a stable and extremely reliable AEW platform and a "bird" that got the job done with little fanfare or sophisticated systems. In fact in the early /mid 70's while Grumman was still de-bugging the E-2 airframe and systems, many of the tactical squadrons preferred working with us versus the E-2's simply due to our reliability to meet carrier ops commitments. Even in it's closing days the E-1B served well during Operations Eagle Pull, Frequent Wind and the Mayaguez Recovery. Farewell to Fudds, simplicity at its best!

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the e1 was a modified c1a trader, i worker on the proto type at quonsit pt in the early 70's it carried more fuel than tha s2 tracker. the tracker, trader, and tracer were similar aircraft but the s2 was not modified to a e1.

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Bill ( Skids- another story ) Godfrey lost an engine over the North Atlantic off 'Wasp' during the late sixties. The venerable ( PIG ) steadily lost altitude coming back to the ship for recovery until it got into ground /water effect and mercifully it stabilized at about 30 feet- 20 feet below deck level and unable to climb. Bill had a hard time hearing the radio transmissions as he had the overhead hatches open so he closed them. Eureka!! The E1 climbed a bit, enough to get above deck level and make shallow turns. Bill established a long straightaway, at near full power and on getting the cut signal, the aircraft swerved a bit and his left wing impacted the left pylon and knocked about six feet off. The plane was trapped in the net and all was well. OK (a little left for lineup) barricade.

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