Fleet Defender

[PR19_Kit]

Fleet Defender

'Falcon Four-Five, RTB and expedite'

The radio call came somewhat as a surprise to the crew of the Grumman S4-B Sentinal that had just started a slow descent toward the surface of the blue Mediterranean Sea some 15,000 feet below prior to starting a regular patrol in search of any submarine was that was foolish to cross its path. Only about 20 minutes before they'd catapulted from the deck of their carrier, USS Saratoga (CV-60) and had not expected anything other than normal radio traffic for quite some while on that Autumn day in 1978. Unless, of course, their sensors had made an unexpected submarine contact and precipitated further investigation. Lt. Cdr. Hal Galvin, the aircraft commander, turned to his right.

'Did they say RTB, Dave?'

'Sure did, Boss' replied Lt. Dave Korowski, the Sentinal's copilot.

Galvin keyed his mic. switch.

'Falcon Four-Five, say again'

'Four-Five RTB and expedite' A slight pause, 'Firewall the throttles Hal, Air Boss ain't joking.'

Galvin ignored the break with strict radio protocol, but got the implied message and responded.

'Four-Five'

The Sentinal checked its descent, the twin Allison TF-35s taking on a deeper tone as Galvin complied with the radio call and gave them full throttle, pulling the stubby nose of the S4-B up into a climb back to their cruising altitude of 25,000 feet and turning onto the new course that his co-pilot handed him from his kneepad notes. Meanwhile Korowski was advising the other two crew members that they were having an early day today. Little did he know how wrong he was.....

Their mount, the Grumman S4-B Sentinal, was the primary anti-submarine aircraft of the US Navy during the '70s, equipping 10 of the Navy's VS squadrons, the other two using the much delayed Lockheed S3-A Viking. The S4-B version had only just entered service in 1978, and VS-22, Galvin's Squadron, was the first operational unit to be equipped with the type, although by now they were well into their training syllabus and Galvin, who had been flying the earlier S4-A for 4 years, felt entirely at home with the potent weapons system they were flying.

The S4-B version of the Sentinal was much modified from Grumman's original gestation of its first jet ant-submarine aircraft. The S4-A had some obvious commonality with Grumman's  E2 Hawkeye mini-AWACS that had been  in service with the Navy since 1964, using much of the earlier aircraft's cockpit and fuselage assembly, although the lower fuselage had been converted to a large weapon's bay and only four crew positions remained, clustered in the nose. The Hawkeye's quad fins were replaced by a tall single fin, with a tee tail assembly mounted on a small bullet fairing. The wings and engines of the S4 were totally different, comprising shallow swept wings, with full span flaps and leading edge devices, with twin TF-35 Allison turbofans mounted either side of the fin in stubby pods. The undercarriage, not having the E2's engine nacelles to retract into, extended from bulged fairings either side of the fuselage.

The US Navy ordered both the S4-A and the Lockheed S3-A Viking during 1969, and Grumman flew their prototype on Christmas Eve 1971, just ahead of the Lockheed aircraft. It soon became apparent that the Viking had complex aerodynamic problems, its unstable behaviour in the tight landing pattern of a carrier being totally unacceptable to the Navy's evaluation team. BuAir therefore ordered the S4-A into full production, although the Grumman aircraft did not completely fulfill the requirements of the VSX specification, most notably in range and in sensor capacity.

VS-41 was the first squadron to equip with the new jet, and took over the training responsibilities for all the active duty squadrons who were steadily converting from the piston engined Tracker as the Sentinals came off the Bethpage production line. VS-22 was fourth in line for this process and embarked on the Saratoga for its Atlantic cruise in September '75, but was only to use the original version of the Grumman aircraft for 2 years. In order to fulfill the VSX requirements, Grumman had embarked on almost a total re-design of the S4, and originally this had been funded entirely by the company, as the Navy showed every sign of using the S4 only as a stop-gap until its Lockheed competitor could overcome its problems. Grumman were determined that their position as the Navy's primary anti-submarine aircraft supplier was not usurped by their West Coast competitors, and the S4-B was the result. The Navy, after studying Grumman's proposals, funded the prototype and ordered the new build S4-Bs and S4-A upgrades that followed.

The -B version used an entirely different wing, embodying super-critical principles, and was much more highly swept than the S4-A, having marked anhedral and taper and a thick, highly cambered root section. The full span flaps were replaced by a segmented design although the full leading edge devices were retained. The wing fold hinges were asymmetrical so that the port wing panel folded in front of the starboard one, and each wing had two full load hard points built in order to retain similar weapons carrying capacity to the earlier version. This was because the fuselage weapons bay had been limited to the area forward of the undercarriage bay, and although a 9 foot fuselage extension had been inserted forward of the wing, the total capacity was not as much as the S4-A's. The former bay area was used to rectify the lack of sensor capacity, the unorthodox General Dynamics Linear Ejection Sonobouy System (LESS) being fitted to give the Sentinal a much more efficient and versatile sensor capability.

The LESS comprised a massive circular drum magazine carrying some 108 sonobouys, or other ejectable sensors, fitted just forward of the main undercarriage bay, and a conveyor track that carried the sensors to the rear of the aircraft where they were ejected into the air-stream. The conveyor was fitted externally on the underside of the S4-B, covered by a long box-style fairing, which in turn carried a number of antennae and sensor areas. The fairing extended both fore and aft of the twin u/c pods, of which the starboard one had been extended to carry an increased capacity air conditioning unit. The Allison TF-35 engines were uprated to the -7 version, although no visual difference was notable, the primary advantage of the newer power plants being much reduced smoke signature at partial throttle openings, which had always been a problem with the
-3s fitted to the earlier aircraft.

By far the most obvious change in the S4-B, at least from a side view, was the incorporation of an advanced ECM suite in a bulged fin fairing, using aerodynamic data from yet another Grumman product, the EF-111A Raven. Although identical in external shape to the Raven's pod, the Sentinal's was primarily built of aluminium, having to carry the tailplane on the anti-submarine aircraft, only the ECM panels being of composite construction. Overall, the S4-B was a formidable anti-submarine platform, and the Navy rapidly decided that the Grumman aircraft would continue as its primary weapon in this field, and further purchases of the Viking were shelved in favour of new build S4-Bs as well as an on-going upgrade programme that resulted in the entire fleet of 130 Sentinals being converted to the new configuration by the end of 1980.

The S4-B added new capability to the Sentinal's armoury, in that this version was cleared to carry the highly effective GAM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile. Four of these could be carried on a twin pylon on the outer wing pylons of the S4-B, the inner pylons usually carrying a 250 gal. external fuel tank in this configuration, although the aircraft was cleared to carry eight Harpoons, the inner pylons also being wired for these weapons. The VS squadrons were trained in their secondary anti-ship mission from the start, VS-22 declaring itself operational in this role in March '78 and sailing with the Saratoga to the Mediterranean during July of that year.

The action that resulted in Falcon Four-Five's premature return to the 'Sara' was taken by South Yemen in early August of '78. For some time the Communist Arab state had been 'sabre rattling', making cross border strikes against Saudi Arabia and Oman, harassing neutral and 'enemy' (sic) shipping in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean with its Soviet supplied Navy and using its similarly sourced Air Force to threaten any and all air traffic whom it deemed to be in violation of its wildly varying and ever expanding 'National Boundaries'. These skirmishes culminated in the air strike on the guided missile destroyer USS Hoel (unfortunately numbered DDG-13) in May 1978 resulting in the ship being abandoned for two days while the resulting fire burnt itself out. The US Government, while protesting volubly at the United Nations, surprisingly took no military action against South Yemen. This was not to be the result of the next (and last) attempt by the Communist Arab state to expand its horizons in the Middle East.

For some years the US had leased the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia from the United Kingdom, using it as a major supply and logistics base for many of its naval and air units in the Eastern hemisphere. The island, almost totally flat, represented a threat to the somewhat warped minds in power in South Yemen, even though it was some 2000 miles away, and with their newly supplied Soviet built amphibious warfare fleet decided to 'liberate' the island's inhabitants from the 'Yoke of Imperialist America', totally ignoring the fact that the island had no native population at all! The 'invasion fleet' comprised mainly some ten modern amphibious attack ships, each carrying a substantial number of landing craft within its docking area, and mounting helicopter landing decks above. None of the South Yemeni armed forces however, had any helicopters in its compliment. The remainder of the fleet consisted of a large number of missile carrying fast gunboats together with a few larger frigate type vessels, both of which types could well be described as 'vintage', but which still represented a formidable threat to the island if they came within range.

Unfortunately, the CIA and other intelligence gathering bodies completely underestimated the South Yemeni's resolve, and refused to take the invasion threat seriously, even when presented with satellite and reconnaissance imagery showing the fleet holding off only some 500 miles from Diego Garcia. USAF U-2 flights operating from the island had been bringing back a stream of photographs of the fleet as it neared the island, and these flights had been largely ignored by the South Yemenis. Unfortunately, on August 4th '78, one of these U-2s had been tasked with a low-level mission, hardly the aircraft's best operational mode, and it was shot down by SAM fire from one of the frigates, the pilot being lost.

The seriousness of the situation at last impinged itself on minds in Washington and the mighty arm of the United States began to flex. This was the immediate precursor to Lt. Cdr. Galvin's short term anti-submarine patrol in the Mediterranean. When Falcon Four-Five returned to the Saratoga, they were to find that their rest was to be short lived. The huge carrier was already steaming at flank speed for the Suez Canal, and Galvin's S4-B was promptly armed with live Mk. 46 torpedoes and re-launched to join the anti-submarine screen protecting the ship. The US Task Force, comprising a formidable compliment of fighting ships, including four guided missile cruisers and eight destroyers as well as the Saratoga, and incorporating a large fleet train, transited the Canal overnight, which was almost unprecedented by Navy vessels, and sailed on down the Red Sea in pursuance of the US Government's directive to halt any possibility of further offensive action on the part of South Yemen.

The Saratoga's fighter squadrons were operating a permanent 24 hour CAP over the Task Force using data from the E2-Cs of VAW-123 flying at high altitude above and behind them. Soon after reaching the most recent version of the South Yemeni 'National Boundaries', the AEW Hawkeye noted a flight of four aircraft heading in their direction. A flight of F4-Js from VF-103 were dispatched to investigate, backed up by two F-14s from the sister fighter squadron on the 'Sara', VF-31. When the Phantoms closed the enemy flight for visual confirmation of identity, they were promptly attacked by missile fire, luckily evading any damage, and called up the F-14s for support. The Tomcats, using the long range of their AWG-9 radar and the AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, promptly dispatched three of the South Yemeni Mig-23s, the fourth being shot down by gunfire from the Phantoms. This was the well known action when a Phoenix passed between two of the Phantoms at a range of 200 feet and a speed of Mach 4 en route to its target some 1/2 mile ahead, resulting in the astonishing photo shown on the cover of Aviation Week soon after.

As it had now been determined that very little of a submarine threat existed, the Soviet Government having decided to distance itself from what it now deemed as 'impolitic action' on the part of the South Yemenis, VS-22 was re-tasked in its anti-shipping role, the Sentinals being loaded with Harpoons and long range tanks. Using the extra endurance conferred by tanker  KA6-Ds, they ranged far ahead of the Task Force, seeking out South Yemeni gunboats, by now thought to be manned by 'suicide crews'. They were aided in the task by similarly armed A6-Es, together providing an almost impenetrable screen for the US vessels. The first action on VS-22's part resulted from an attack attempt just north of the Farasan Islands, close to the non-Communist Yemeni coast. Yemen itself, was pursuing a strictly neutral position toward its belligerent neighbour, and had withdrawn all its naval vessels from the area.

The gunboats were detected on the AN/APS-116 attack radar of one of the Sentinals operating in a two aircraft flight ahead of the Task Force. One of the S4-Bs, Galvin's 1589411, flew in at low altitude, challenging the gunboats to identify themselves by radio, while the 2nd aircraft stood off within Harpoon range with its missile load armed and locked-on. 1589411 was ignored until within visual range of the gunboat when it came under a hail of small arms fire, and promptly turned away and called for fire support. The 2nd aircraft, 158671, fired all four of its Harpoon's, one of which fell away with a motor malfunction, but the other three ran straight and true, destroying a gunboat each. The remaining gunboat, amazingly, continued on course toward the US radar picket frigate that was its obvious target, confirming the 'suicide mission' idea in the minds of the S4 flight crew. In short order it too was dispatched by a two Harpoon salvo from Galvin's Sentinal, thus concluding the Grumman aircraft's first combat mission.

Further low level photo-reconnaissance flights, this time by faster RF4-Es from Diego Garcia, showed that the invasion fleet was now preparing itself for its final thrust against the island, and under normal circumstances would have been immediately engaged by US naval vessels and attack aircraft based there. Unfortunately, no strike elements of either force were available, and the mission fell to the Saratoga's aircraft. From the carrier's current position in the Gulf of Aden, the strike would be at the maximum range of both the A6s and the S4s, but with support from the KA6s and three Marine KC-130s conveniently on the island itself, an attack plan was formulated. The plan relied on the strike aircraft landing on the island after the attack, so its success was vital to the survival of the crews, there being no possibility of a second tanking as the tankers could not land to re-fuel themselves in the time available.

While the strike was ranging on the 'Sara's' deck, the US Government was again negotiating at the UN, and also directly with South Yemen, via Switzerland, for them to call off the attack. However, the South Yemenis maintained their fleet was 'exercising' in the area, and did not represent a threat to the island. The US Government set up an 'Exclusion Zone' around the island, as had been done by the UK Government during the time of both the Falklands Wars, and warned the South Yemenis that any penetration of this Zone would result in the immediate launch of the strike.

Needless to say, the invasion fleet continued to close Diego Garcia and crossed the Zone border at around dawn on August 12th. After one more warning had been ignored the Saratoga was ordered to launch the strike, and within 20 minutes the force of Sentinals and Intruders, together with its support flight of KA6-D tankers, were en route to the east, at first under the fighter CAP, but soon to fly on unescorted, there being no possibility that the South Yemeni Air Force would attempt to intercept them at that range and having to fly through the 'Sara's' CAP to do so. After tanking, and taking a short dog leg to the south, most of the strike force headed directly for the invasion fleet, the more thirsty Intruders taking a more easterly course to tank a second time from the KC-130s that were orbiting south of the target, having launched in synchronisation with the strike force.

The strike leader, on board one of the Intruders, again warned the invasion fleet over the radio, that unless the fleet turned away immediately, it would be destroyed, but as expected, no change in course was observed. The first wave of S4-Bs went into the attack at low level, targeting the amphibious transports with two or more Harpoons each. Within minutes the ocean was blanketed in towering columns of smoke as ship after ship was struck. The frigates and gunboats launched a volley of SAMs at the attacking Sentinals, with little success apart from some damage to the port engine of one aircraft. As designed, the engine fell off the S4-B, which evaded and headed for the island trailing smoke. The second wave, this time of A6s, then bombed from medium level, again targeting the transports, and once again coming under SAM attack. This time the South Yemenis were more successful, and two of the strike force were hit, one crew ejecting safely and one unfortunately being lost.

Now the final wave attacked, and relying on the attention of the fleet being diverted by the A6s, the flight of S4s ran in at extremely low level, this time aiming at the gunboats and frigates. Lt. Cdr. Galvin, again flying 1589411, was the last aircraft in line, and his assigned target was the command frigate on the north flank of the fleet.

'Target identified! Designate as Delta. On your screen now Boss.'

The TACCO spoke from his seat in the rear of the flight deck. Galvin noted the target designator appear in his HUD, and banked the aircraft to the right, nudging the throttles open a little as he planned to jink through the columns of smoke now covering the target area. He didn't expect all the SAM and AAA to have been neutralised, and he wasn't taking any chances. Sure enough, a flash to port took his attention as a SAM launched from an already burning frigate. Before he could take action the SENSO shouted.

'Missile launch! Port 10 o'clock! Locked up! Turn in Boss, launching chaff and flares!'

The Sentinal responded to Galvin's quick control input, turning sharply into the missile, flares and chaff booming from the launchers on the gear pods. The SAM turned down toward them, but lost lock, and slammed into the sea, its warhead exploding into spray some distance behind 9411. Galvin re-acquired his target, and got the S4 into its attack profile, setting the HUD designator over the rapidly enlarging shape of the ship in front of him.

'You got it Boss' the TACCO called, and the designator turned red, announcing the Harpoons were locked up. Galvin watched the range scale slide down to its low limit. His thumb pushed up the locking cover on the stick, and firmly pressed it. With a 'Whoosh' each of the four Harpoons dropped from their pylons one after the other, wobbled a little, and then streaked off toward their target. Galvin hauled the Sentinal up and away from the doomed ship, knowing that the targeting system needed no further input from him. Dave Korowski peered out of the starboard cockpit window as the missiles struck, the massive explosion audible even at their range.

'Can we go chase subs now, Boss?' he asked.

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The 1/72 scale version

Model built from a Fujimi Hawkeye fuselage (the rest of it's going to be a Greyhound....) with a nose extension from a 1/126 Glencoe Convair 880! The wings also came  from  the 880, but the center section is upside-down.......

The fin was obviously provided by an AMT EF-111 Sparkvark and the tailplane from a Revell 1/144 Boeing 767.  Engine pods were donated by a Revell 1/144 A330 and the u/c pods were originally Airfix 1/48 Tornado F3 'Hindenburger' drop tanks, with interiors provided by a Hobbycraft  MV-22 Osprey which also came up with the cockpit interior  and the engine struts (you've got to do SOMETHING with it, you sure can't make an Osprey out of it........)

The undercarriage itself came from a Fujimi F-8G and a lot of small parts from an Airfix RA-5C (most of which went into a previous model of this genre..........). The Harpoons are from Hasegawa and Airfix weapons kits on scratchbuilt pylons.  

I only had to use half a tube of filler though, I  must be slipping!

I just remembered the piccie was taken after some gawp had swiped the S-4B off the table at M-K last year and the Harpoons and their pylons snapped off. Be assured they're back on again now outboard of the wing tanks.

[The Rat]

I remember seeing that before, but she's worth a second look! Any more pics?