Leaving the 1950s Behind
As the 1960s loomed, two new projects were getting under way. Neither would get off to a promising start.
One was the Mohawk, an aircraft originally proposed in response to similar requests made by the Army and the Marine Corps, both of which wanted multi-purpose all-weather aircraft that could operate from small unimproved fields. As the project tried to progress, it was impeded (and almost scuttled) by decisions reached by the Navy and the Air Force - neither of which had been directly involved when things started.
When the dust settled, it was determined that the Mohawk was to be built only for the Army. It served well in a variety of roles in Vietnam, and also in Desert Storm. After more than three decades of service, it was retired in 1996.
U.S. Army Mohawk
Max Haynes photograph
MaxAir2Air.com
E2A Hawkeye
Wikipedia Commons
The other project was the E2A Hawkeye, a carrier-borne early warning Aircraft meant to replace the Tracer. The project's early years struggled with two significant issues: size and heat.
The Hawkeye was to be a state-of-the-art aircraft that could be at home on Essex-class (i.e., World War II design) aircraft carriers. Although not excessively old, these ships were small for carriers, even by the standards of the day. They had been upgraded, so that they could accommodate early jet aircraft. The Navy - which was already building larger new carriers - was not going to rebuild them again. Having to make the Hawkeye small enough to fit on the old carriers meant that the mandated equipment inside the airplane got crammed together, making the crew's work very difficult.
Things were made worse by the computers with which the Hawkeyes were first equipped. Beginning in the late 1940s, the Navy had participated with private industry in the development of "drum computers." Unlike today's computers, which use memory chips for RAM, these computers used rotating metal drums (i.e., cylinders, similar in concept to those used for early phonographs, but which retained magnetic charges). The computers generated a great deal of heat, and in flight they often failed, due either to the heat itself, or perhaps to the effect upon drum rotation of the inevitable sudden movements of the aircraft.
These conditions rendered the E2A unreliable at best. Ultimately, they were addressed by withdrawing it from service, and rebuilding each E2A into an E2B. Among the many improvements introduced was replacing the drum computers with more modern machines, likely ones which instead used more reliable magnetic core memory, which had been gaining widespread acceptance for several years. Unlike its predecessor, the E2B worked quite well.
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At the time that the E2Bs were introduced, two aircraft were set aside for ongoing use as test beds for the evaluation of future radar technology, which was advancing quickly. Such tests kept them flying over Hicksville for a long time. This research effort led to the substantially more capable E2C Hawkeye of the 1970s, which could interact smoothly during missions with the computers aboard friendly combat aircraft (e.g., Tomcats). The research did not stop there; more recently it has produced the E2D, which today plays a key Navy role as an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft.
I find it incredible that the Hawkeye, an aircraft which Grumman began designing in the late 1950s, has been improved continuously for 60+ years, so that now, well into the twenty-first century, it is still a crucial part of America's combat forces. Leroy Grumman would feel proud.
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