E-1 TRACER

The 'E-1 Tracer' was the first purpose built airborne early warning aircraft used by the United States Navy. It was a derivative of the C-1 Trader and first entered service in 1954. It was replaced by the more modern E-2 Hawkeye in the early 1970s.

Contents

Design and development

Radar

Variants

Operators

Specifications

External links

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Design and development

The E-1 was designated 'WF' under the old US Navy system; the designation earned it the nickname "Willy Fudd". Since the S-2 Tracker was known as S2F under the old system, that airplane was nicknamed "Stoof"; the WF/E-1 with its distinctive radome gained the nickname "Stoof with a Roof."

Radar

The Tracer was fitted with the Hazeltine AN/APS-82 in its radome. The radar featured an Airborne Moving Target Indicator (AMTI), which analyzes the Doppler shift in reflected radar energy to distinguish a flying aircraft against the clutter produced by wave action at the ocean's surface. Separating a moving object from stationary background is accomplished by suitable hardware. See also Mercury Computer's explanation of AMTI, provided in the External Links below.

Variants

;'XWF-1'
:Design study for an Airborne Early Warning version of the S2F-1 Tracker, not built.
;'WF-2'
:Airborne Early Warning version of the TF-1 Trader, redesignated E-1B in 1962, 88 built.
;'E-1B'
:WF-2 redesignated in 1962.

Operators

;

★ United States Navy

Specifications

External links

★ Global Security.org page on WF-2/E-1 Tracer

★ Airborne Moving Target Indicator (AMTI) explanation provided by Mercury Computer

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