S-2 Turbo Tracker
ICAO S2TA Cold War submarine hunter given a second life as a firebomber. Live S-2 Turbo Tracker positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No S-2 Turbo Tracker is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Grumman
- Role
- Aerial firefighting and former anti-submarine warfare
- Class
- L2T — Landplane, 2 turboprop engines
- Crew
- 1 to 2
- First flight
- 4 December 1952
- In service
- 1954
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the S-2 Turbo Tracker
The S-2 Tracker was the US Navy's carrier-based submarine hunter for decades — a fat, twin-engine aircraft packed with sonobuoys, radar and a magnetic anomaly detector, operating from decks in an era when hunting submarines meant flying low over the water for hours.
It left naval service, and then something unexpected happened: California bought a fleet, replaced the piston engines with turboprops, and turned them into air tankers. The S-2T now drops retardant on Californian wildfires, and CAL FIRE operates the largest fleet of the type left flying.
Almost everything on this page will be a Californian firebomber, which makes the type a summer regular on the feed.
Callsign prefixes
- TANKER
- CAL FIRE air tanker operations
- COPTER
- State firefighting coordination
How to recognise it
- —A high-wing twin with a deep, rounded fuselage and a tall single fin.
- —Turboprop conversions have three or four-blade props and slimmer nacelles than the piston originals.
- —CAL FIRE aircraft are white with a red stripe and carry a large tanker number.
Common questions
+ Was the S-2 a military aircraft?
Yes — it was the US Navy's carrier-based anti-submarine aircraft from the 1950s, and served with many other navies. The firefighting fleet is a second career for surplus airframes.
+ What is the difference between the S-2 and S-2T?
The T is the turboprop conversion. Original Trackers had piston engines; CAL FIRE's aircraft were re-engined with turboprops, which improved performance and reliability substantially.
+ How much retardant does it carry?
Around 1,200 gallons — modest by air tanker standards, but the aircraft is fast, agile and able to work from small airfields close to a fire.