The E-1 Tracer is remembered, if at all, as awkward-looking and forgettable. It entered service amid rapid change in naval aviation during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Familiar aircraft of the Second World War were leaving service as the better-known icons of the Cold War emerged. The Tracer reveals what popular narratives lose between celebrated generations.
Chapter · 0:00-1:30
The E-1 Tracer is a forgotten transitional aircraft
The opening positions the E-1 Tracer in the easily overlooked transition between remembered Second World War aircraft and Cold War icons.