C-2 Final Flights

[Pilot Fighter]

I think it is a safety issue for the C-2. They had one production run, a billion years ago (ok maybe the last rolled off the line in the early 80’s?). Unlike the E-2 which has had several variants. Even the outgoing E-2C is a lot newer, not to mention the brand new production E-2D’s replacing them. What you say about landing is true in part. They are without a doubt, more challenging, but that is mostly because the margin for error is way smaller with such a long wingspan. There have historically been other jets with similar issues, namely the Tomcat, Skywarrior, and I imagine to a lesser extent, the Vigi. I personally was witness to an E-2 that had a long bolter, drifted right, and struck the tails of 5 different Super Hornets and Growlers parked on the bow. It lost nearly half its right wing, and diverted to a place in the Middle East. That was wild. Grumman built tough airplanes. But a testament to how little slop those guys have. That being said, they also have turboprops with instantaneous power (no spool lag like we have in jets), and they fly approach at like 100 knots. So there are parts that are hard, and there other parts that are much easier. But they sure used the rudder a whole lot more than we did on approach, so there is that. And they didn’t have FBW controls like we do. I’m sure that the F/A-18 and F-35 are the easiest planes to land on a carrier in history. That doesn’t make it always “easy”, but relatively speaking, our friends in Prowlers and Hawkeyes probably get the award for busiest hands/working the hardest in modern times. God knows what those old guys dealt with in much less aerodynamically friendly airplanes in generations past. I think the C-2 was a little easier, since it didn’t have the weird aerodynamics of the dome. But they still had the size constraints.

Last batch of 39 R’s were produced 1984-1990, still pretty old airframes.

 

[///AMG]

Last batch of 39 R’s were produced 1984-1990, still pretty old airframes.

Is the R the COD? Yeah that checks out with my vague idea of when they stopped production. Those things were dumps on the inside. Like important fluids dripping from the ceiling. They were literal death traps for anyone in the back. Even in the 80’s

 

[Pilot Fighter]

Is the R the COD? Yeah that checks out with my vague idea of when they stopped production. Those things were dumps on the inside. Like important fluids dripping from the ceiling. They were literal death traps for anyone in the back. Even in the 80’s

C-2A(R) - odd designation, replaced the C-2A. I think the designation was some DOD budget trickery.

I always felt they should open the rear hatch for take-offs and landings with pax in back.

My father watched one go in after launching off the Ranger in 1970. Crash footage is online. I think they concluded that load shifted. My father almost captured the accident as he was filming on deck with his new super 8 movie camera. When it pitched up, he stopped recording.

We lost much of his photo archive due to improper storage.