Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Tracker to fly!

[CWH Museum]

Restoration of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's static Tracker to flying condition has begun. With a generous, six-figure donation from Burlington-based Ippolito Group, Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum will be adding yet another unique airworthy airplane to what is already Canada’s largest collection of flying military aircraft.

The latest addition to the collection is a Grumman CS2F-2 Tracker, a Canadian-built aircraft that was designed to detect and then attack submarines in coastal waters. The Tracker was used extensively by the Royal Canadian Navy after WWII along Canada’s east coast at the height of the Cold War. Missions were flown from land bases and the HMCS Bonaventure. One of only a hundred manufactured by deHavilland Canada under licence from Grumman, the Tracker continued its east and west coast surveillance on fisheries patrol throughout the 70’s, until the last aircraft was retired in 1991.

As a display aircraft, the Trackers’ fuselage and airframe had been previously restored by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, but a corporate sponsor was required to help make the restored static aircraft into a flier. Thanks to the Ippolito Group, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum was able to purchase overhauled engines and propellers, which are always the biggest expense in a flying restoration. Once completed, it will wear its original colours it wore as an Anti Submarine Warfare aircraft while serving aboard HMCS Bonaventure.

Work is expected to take up to 2 years to complete, at which time, David Ippolito, one of the company’s directors and a licensed pilot, will have the opportunity to experience first-hand the excitement of flying the Tracker. “As a local company we recognize the importance of preserving Canada’s history for the next generation”, says Ippolito. “And, as an aviation enthusiast, it felt like a really good fit to help the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, which hosts over 100,000 students and general visitors a year, to expand their collection.”


Tracker 1577 at CFB Downsview, Sept. 12, 1959 (Photo: Jack McNulty Collection).

Tracker 1577, temporarily registered C-FUDH, arrived at CWH late in 1997.

Static restoration began right away.

Static restoration complete.

David Ippolito (left), David Rohrer, President & CEO of Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Joel Ippolito (right)

Joel Ippolito (left) and David Ippolito (right) along with one of the recently purchased engines.

We will continue to post updates of the restoration progress.

[Anthony Svihlik]

That is great news! Please keep us updated - can't wait to see her back in the air!

Anthony

[m charters]

The Tracker restoration is well under way.
We have attacked the R/H engine first and plan on a zonal restoration. We will concentrate on this nacelle until the overhauled engine is back on.
We have pulled all engine instruments for overhaul, all engine hoses have been sent out to make new ones, engine mount has undergone NDT inspection and requires painting, firewall ring has been cleaned, stripped, and primed.
All engine accessories are out for overhaul. Once we get all the pieces together we will put the engine back together with the mounts and hang it once again.
Mount isolators are a being a little harder to find..does anyone know of anyone overhauling these units? We have one company that has the know how to do it, but have not heard back from at this time.
The airframe is undergoing a complete paint stripping to be ultimately repainted in a 2 part polyurethane in it's original 1959 HMCS Bonaventure scheme. Will keep updates coming with photos.



















































and one Avenger photo for good measure...nice new torpedo bay doors!

Mike

[Anthony Svihlik]

Mike-

Thanks for the photos and updates! What an awesome project - please keep us updated!

Anthony

[m charters]

The Tracker continues to make progress, and our big job currently is stripping the cosmetic paint job that the Tracker had applied years back to check for any corrosion or hidden metal damage that needs addressed before the aircraft is painted down the road.
A hold up currently is the engine mount isolators have to be rebuilt as the rubber mounts were last overhauled in 1964, so they require overhaul again. Once they are done we can mate the overhauled engine back to the mount and firewall ring and get it ready to be hung back on. The first of the new airframe and engine hoses have arrived back and we are awaiting some of the accessories for the first engine.
We recently pulled the flaps off for stripping, cleaning, inspection and then re-paint. (see photos)
The wings too will come off once space and better weather become available to facilitate the crane around.
A news article that was posted recently...http://www.thespec.com/news/local/artic ... -fly-again

More updates to come....

[Anthony Svihlik]

Mike-

Thanks for the update and posting the link from the Hamilton Spectator - nice article!

Anthony