Just a nice picture: Tracker

Just a nice picture that will probably increase the heart rate of some older Dutch spotters. On specific request of the photographer, Henk Schakelaar, the pilot of this Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (MLD, Royal Netherlands Navy) Grumman US-2N serial 159 V kept his plane low while taking off from NAS Valkenburg.

Grumman Tracker 159 entered service as an S2F-1 hence its nickname in the Dutch Navy: ‘Stoof’, which stands for S-two-F. The designation sometime later became S-2A and as such the Tracker was flown from the Dutch carrier H.M. Karel Doorman (with tailcode D) from June 1960.

After a fire in the engine room of the carrier, repairs were considered too expensive and the ship was sold to Argentina.

From that moment the Trackers that used to fly from the Karel Doorman were stationed at NAS Valkenburg (tailcode V).In 1969 this 159 was modernized to S-2N (N for Netherlands) and in 1971 to US-2N and used for towing aerial targets (with the MAD-boom removed).

In January 1976 this Tracker was retired and sent to the Aviodome museum at Schiphol airport. When the museum moved to Lelystad in 2003, 159 was shipped to its new location on a pontoon. It has since then been stored outside and is slowly but steadily deteriorating. The Marine Luchtvaart Dienst museum in Katwijk seemed to be interested but transportation is too expensive and by now the plane is said to be in such a bad condition that transport is virtually impossible.

Photo: Henk Schakelaar