An Asw History Question

[GTX]

Hi folks,

Doing a bit of research into a pair of projects bubbling away in my mind and need a little help.  Does anyone know the first use of either air-dropped sonobuoys or the Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD).

I suspect the Grumman S2F (S-2) Tracker (see below) was the first to use air-dropped sonobuoys, but cannot seem to find a definitive answer.  I have also seen a brief mention to their being developed during WWII but have no specific details.

I have also seen references to both the Americans and Japanese having used MAD during WWII, but likewise, cannot find a definitive answer as to what platforms it was used upon (the Catalina is a strong suspect though as is the Kyūshū Q1W (see below)).  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.





Regards,

Greg

[upnorth]

Prior to the Tracker, many Avengers were retrofitted for ASW and had MAD booms on them.

I found this article that might be helpful to you"

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/asw.htm

It seems they were using Catalinas to experiment with MAD detectors prior to Pearl Harbor and the prcaticality of the expendable sonobouy was proven in 1942 by a K5 blimp.

[GeorgeC]

Early sonobouys were in use by Coastal Command in WW2.  I will dig up more details later.

[B777LR]

On discovery channel, they shwed a program on german submarines once. Apparently, a freight submarine was to transport uranium, jet engines, a Me-262 and a Me-163 halfwy to japan. South of argentina, cargo was transfered to a japanese submarine. The german submarine made its way north to germany, however the japanese sub was seen on the surface by Grumman Avengers. They dropped depth  carges that hit the deck, as the submarine was diving. Some hours later, the avengers returned, and apparently dropped sonar bouys, and homing torpedoes  Apparently this was 1945.  

[Shasper]

Uhh Greg, you do know thats a torpedo being dropped by that Tracker, right?

Shas B)

[Howard of Effingham]

iirc, the maritime patrol version of the douglas B-18 Bolo was fitted with an early
version of MAD in the tail. i have artwork for this in a book about US aircraft in ww2.
this would have been about 1940-41.

[kitnut617]

I always understood it that the tail boom was a development of the large ring which both sides used during WW.II.  Does that count to the question?

[upnorth]

That large ring was magnetic, but it was used for clearing sea mines, not finding subs.

Not sure if it had a part in MAD technology development though.

[Jschmus]

Uhh Greg, you do know thats a torpedo being dropped by that Tracker, right?

Shas B)

Yeah, but there's a MAD boom extended from the tail.

[GTX]

Uhh Greg, you do know thats a torpedo being dropped by that Tracker, right?

Yeah, I know - but it was a cool pic of the Tracker.  

Regards,

Greg

[Jschmus]

I looked back through my stuff last night, and I pulled out Bill Gunston's "American Warplanes", copyright 1986 and found what you're looking for, at least as far as the MAD goes.  I don't recall the exact wording, but it said that in 1942, 35 Douglas B-18As were converted for antisubmarine duties in the Caribbean and southern US waters, and were fitted with the first ever MAD installations.  The converted Bolos were designated B-18B or B-18C.  It also says a number of Canadian Digbys were converted to similar configuration.

[Joe C-P]

On discovery channel, they shwed a program on german submarines once. Apparently, a freight submarine was to transport uranium, jet engines, a Me-262 and a Me-163 halfwy to japan. South of argentina, cargo was transfered to a japanese submarine. The german submarine made its way north to germany, however the japanese sub was seen on the surface by Grumman Avengers. They dropped depth  carges that hit the deck, as the submarine was diving. Some hours later, the avengers returned, and apparently dropped sonar bouys, and homing torpedoes  Apparently this was 1945.

Yes, the USN did have air-dropped homing torpedos during WW2 - it was nicknamed "Fido", and was used as early as 1943.
While many people like to hype the military science advances of the Axis forces, the Allies were just as capable, if not more so. However, their focus was on out-producing the Axis with very good weapons rather than constantly pursuing the next super-weapon, the nuclear bomb notwithstanding, and even it was meant to be "production-lined" if needed.

JoeP

[Sisko]

That was a real strength of the US in WWII.

Once something was proven it could manufactured in vast numbers.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Just found this over on Hyperscale:

FAA Models 1/72nd scale Fairey Gannet Weapons Set

for Trumpeter's 1/72nd scale Gannet AS Mk. 1/4  

[upnorth]

Just found this over on Hyperscale:

FAA Models 1/72nd scale Fairey Gannet Weapons Set

for Trumpeter's 1/72nd scale Gannet AS Mk. 1/4

Yeah, I was noticing that, but you also need FAA's weapons bay set to make it work.

Of course FAA would not have created either set at all if it were not for the fact that I had already scratch built a weapons bay into my old Frog Gannet and settled on a pair of 1000 bombs from my spares pile to arm it with.