1/48 Grumman AF-2W Guardian "Submarine Hunter"

This is a plastic model kit, which comes unassembled and unpainted. So glue, model paints and other basic modelling tools are additionally required.

Hunter version of the Guardian model consists of seven plastic sprues, clear injected parts, resin and PE-parts. The decals provide markings for two machines, the first serving aboard USS Bairoko, the other flew from USS Badoeng Strait.

During the 1950s, AF-2 Guardian anti submarine aircraft were operating from the decks of US Navy aircraft carriers in Hunter Killer pairs. These pairs consisted of the AF-2W version, which performed the `Hunter' role using its volumous fuselage mounted AP-20 search and early warning radar to locate submarines while the second aircraft of the pair was the AF-2S which was the `Killer' and carried offensive anti-submarine weapons such as torpedoes, depth charges or rockets in the bomb bay and under the wings. The latter also had a small radar attached to the wing.

Development of the Guardian began during the Second World War although the original request from the US Navy had been for a torpedo-bomber. At Grumman, this project was known under G-70 designation while the Navy recognized it as XTB3F and this new aircraft was to have combined powerplants with a P&W R-2800 radial engine driving a four-bladed propeller in the nose and a Westinghouse 19XB jet engine mounted in the tail section. The Westinghouse jet engine was later removed from the specification however before the maiden flight of the prototype which took place on the 19th December 1945. By this time the torpedo bomber role had become outmoded and therefore the US Navy changed its requirements for the new aircraft. On the 24th December 1945 Grumman was asked to re configure the aircraft for the anti-submarine role but because the current AP-20 search radar was too big for a single engined aircraft to carry alongside a weapon load this woud require two separate versions which would fly together, one carrying radar and the other carrying weapons. The result of this were the AF-2W and AF-2S. The prototype AF-2W (which was the radar equipped Hunter version) first flew during November 1948 and the AF-2S (Killer variant) performed its first flight in January 1949. The type also received the name 'Guardian'.

The first Guardians entered service with the US Navy in 1950 in their Hunter Killer pairs and were later joined by the improved AF-3S version which was almost identical to AF-2S but had a MAD (Magnetic Anomaly Detector) added. AF-2 and 3 Guardians flew from carriers and from land bases and during the Korean War they were responsible for protecting the US Fleet in the combat areas. Although the type was removed from front line service during 1955 it continued in service with units of the the US Naval Reserve until 1957 and the Guardian was the first custom built specialized anti-sub aircraft to fly from US Navy carriers. It also holds the record for being the largest single engined piston engined aircraft to be flown from the decks of the US Navy.