Aircraft reference
N444DF
S-2F 3AT Tracker · Cal Fire
Tequask · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Identity
- Mission
- Air tankers
- Registration
- N444DF
- Mode-S address
- A559CA
- ICAO type
- S2T
- Model
- S-2F 3AT Tracker
- Manufacturer
- Grumman
- Operator
- Cal Fire
- Country of registration
- United States
About the Grumman S-2 Tracker
Land-based air tanker
It loads water or retardant on the ground and attacks from a runway base. It can knock down flames with water or lay a retardant line ahead of the fire to slow its spread and support crews on the ground.
What this type can do
The S-2T is CAL FIRE’s fast initial-attack airtanker: two turboprops carry a 1,200-gallon constant-flow retardant tank. It can reach a new fire quickly, place an accurate line, and return to a nearby airtanker base to reload.
This describes the type’s usual firefighting capability; it does not prove what this aircraft is carrying or doing now.
The Grumman S-2 Tracker is the first purpose-built, single airframe anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft to enter service with the United States Navy. Designed and initially built by Grumman, the Tracker was of conventional design — propeller-driven with twin radial engines, a high wing that could be folded for storage on aircraft carriers, and tricycle undercarriage. The type was exported to a number of navies around the world. Introduced in 1952, the Tracker and its E-1 Tracer derivative saw service in the U.S. Navy until the mid-1970s, and its C-1 Trader derivative until the mid-1980s, with a few aircraft remaining in service with other air arms into the 21st century. Argentina was the last country to operate the Tracker, with the last two Trackers being taken out of service on 19 November 2025.
ICAO type · S2TFlight history
Every sortie this server has recorded, reconstructed from the positions the volunteer ADS-B network heard. Select a row to isolate it on the map.
Photographs
Freely licensed images are stored with this project; the rest are shown from the site that publishes them.
Bill Abbott · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Bill Abbott · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Bill Abbott · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Bill Abbott · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
thomas hays from Stillwater, US · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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