vc3

Grumman RS-2C Tracker BuNo 133341 VC-3 Unit code UF. Side number 1. Circa 1972. Painted in the ‘Engine Gray’, Red and yellow scheme for target tow aircraft belonging to Composite aviation units. The S2F-2/S-2C version was designed with an enlarged weapons-bay to carry the Mk.90 sized nuclear depth charge, and a slightly larger tail to compensate for a higher gross weight. Only 60 were built before the Mk.90 was replaced in the stockpile by the smaller Mk.101 Lulu nuclear weapon, which could be carried in the standard sized weapons bay. Most S2F-2/S-2C were converted to US-2C target-towing/utility aircraft. A single S-2C was converted into a photographic reconnaissance aircraft at NAS Pensacola in 1964. The ASW equipment was removed and camera compartments were installed in an extra bulge in the rear fuselage, which could carry four cameras, two on each side. Another pair of cameras were carried below the cockpit. The RS-2C was a successful conversion, but the Navy had also developed a camera pod that would fit on the wing pylons of any S-2, so the RS-2C never entered production. It served with Air Test and Development Squadron ONE (VX-1) with side number 12 and unit tailcode JA, and was based at NAS Patuxent River Maryland. The cameras and operating equipment were then removed and it was modified to a near standard target towing aircraft. RS-2C Tracker 133341 was then issued to Composite Aviation Squadron THREE (VC-3) based at NAS North Island California until its final withdrawal in June 1972. www.forgottenprops.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/S-2.html www.forgottenprops.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/s2-tracker-1... Grumman S2F-2 (S-2C) Tracker BuNo 133341 1964: Converted to S2F-2P (RS-2C) prototype. 1965: VX-1 as JA-12. 1965: Put into storage at NAS Litchfield Park Phoenix Arizona. 1967: Transported across to MASDC Tucson Arizona. Returned to service as a target tow plane. 1970: VC-3 as UF-14. 1972: VC-3 as UF-1. June 1, 1972: Put back into storage at MASDC. PCN 1S375. March 1, 1976. Sold off to Allied Aircraft Sales, Tucson, AZ. Eventually scrapped and salvaged.

Grumman US-2C 133345 VC-3 ‘Chukar Pups’ or ‘Iron Men’. Unit code UF. Side number 6. For a photo shoot displaying its towed target drogue while flying from NAS North Island, November 1972. Home based at NAS North Island, California, VC-3 subsequently moved to NAS Point Mugu. VU-3 was redesignated VC-3 on July 1, 1965. VC-3 disestablished October 1, 1981 at NAS North Island CA www.forgottenprops.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/S-2.html www.forgottenprops.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/s2-tracker-1... Grumman S2F-2 (S-2C) Tracker BuNo 133345 Converted to US-2C. VC-3 as UF-6. 1976-77: VC-5 as UE-27. Jan 14, 1977: Put into storage at the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center (MASDC) Arizona. Allocated five digit Process Control Number (PCN) 1S659. June 23, 1982. Sold off to Consolidated Aeronautical Corporation, Tucson, AZ. Subsequently scrapped and salvaged.

A DC-130A 158228 with VC-3 It was a former USAF C-130D 55-21 which itself had been modified from a C-130A. There has been a lot of tinkering with Herculeses through the years.... :-) Stig