The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) selected the Grumman Tracker for Anti-Submarine Detection (ASW) operations. One hundred were built under license from de Havilland Canada and fitted with Wright Cyclone engines built by Canadian Pratt and Whitney.
ASW gear included: retractable Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD), retractable radome; 70 million candlepower searchlight and sixteen sonobuoys. Homing torpedoes or depth charges were carried in the weapons bay and under each wing. The first aircraft flew in May 1956 and they entered service in 1957. Operations off Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Bonaventure began January 1959. Major updates were made to the aircraft during its life to improve ASW detection equipment. The first of those entered service in 1960. Further improvements to the ASW systems were made in 1966 and 1968. HMCS Bonaventure was retired in 1970 and Trackers became shore based patrol aircraft later re-designated as the CP-121. They were finally retired in March 1990.
The BC Aviation Museum’s Tracker was donated by the Military Education Centre in Chilliwack in 2021. It is similar to those used by the Royal Canadian Navy/Canadian Armed Forces based at Patricia Bay/Victoria International Airport with VU-33 Utility Squadron 1962 to 1974. In 1974 under Canadian Armed Forces Unification VU-33 was was renamed 414 Squadron and transferred to CFB Comox, Vancouver Island.
