Grumman AF Guardian

The original design concept for the aircraft that would become the Guardian, the XTB2F of 1944, was for a twin-engined aircraft with a warload and a range of . This was considered to be too large for practical use from an , and was cancelled in 1945, replaced by a modified Grumman F7F Tigercat, the XTSF-1. and another alternative, the internally developed Grumman Model G-70, was selected instead, being given the Navy designation XTB3F-1. This was designed as mixed-power aircraft, with a Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp radial engine in the nose and a Westinghouse 19XB (J30) turbojet in the tail. The hunter aircraft would not carry any armament, but instead two additional crew members and a ventral radome for AN/APS-20 search radar and electronic countermeasures (ECM) consisting of an AN/APR-98 countermeasures receiver and AN/AP-70 bearing indicator. This aircraft, the XTB3F-1S, first flew in November 1948. The "killer" deleted the cannon of the torpedo bomber, but retained the bomb bay, added a third crewmember, a searchlight, and short-range radar, and (as the XTB3F-2S) first flew in January 1949. ==Operational history==

Redesignated as AF-2W (TB3F-1S) and AF-2S (TB3F-2S), the Guardian entered fleet service on 27 September 1950 with three aircraft delivered to VS-24, with full service introduction shortly after A total of 193 AF-2S Guardians were built. The Guardian saw service in the maritime patrol role during the Korean War, however it proved unpopular with pilots, being underpowered and heavy on the controls; the aircraft suffered from a severely high accident rate. The last AF retired from active service on 31 August 1955, but it remained in service with the US Naval Air Reserve until 1957. ==Variants==

; XTB3F-1 :Prototypes of two-seat torpedo bomber powered by one R-2800-46 engine and a Westinghouse turbojet; three built. ; AF-2W :Hunter variant with search radar in a ventral radome, 153 built. ; AF-3S :Hunter/Killer variant similar to AF-2S with retractable MAD boom, 40 built. ; Grumman Model G-90 : Proposed combined AF-2S/-2W version, cancelled. ==Operators==

; • United States Navy • Aero Union ==Surviving aircraft==

After disposal by the U.S. Navy five Guardians saw many years service with Aero Union based at Chico, California, in the forest firefighting role, the last being retired in 1978. ;On display ;;AF-2S • 123100 – National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida. It was the seventh AF-2S produced. The aircraft was operated as a firefighter until 1978. It was acquired by the museum in 1980. It is displayed in the colors of its first Navy assignment, though still carries the number "30" on the cowling, which for many years was the aircraft's call-sign as a firefighting aircraft; • 129233 – Pima Air and Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona. This aircraft is displayed as it appeared while serving as an aerial firefighter with Aero Union in California. During this period the distinctive empennage with twin vertical stabilizers on each horizontal tail were removed to make a more conventional appearance. • 126731 – Static display at the Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum in Mesa, Arizona, as a memorial to VAdm James B. Stockdale, who flew this aircraft early in his Navy career. • 123088 - Chico Air Museum, Chico, California. This aircraft was owned by Aero Union in California until its purchase by a private owner some time in the mid-1970s. After suffering major damage in a crash on 20 September 1981, it was grounded until being donated to the museum on 14 September 2010. It is currently undergoing restoration. ==Specifications (AF-2S Guardian)==