"The S-3 was a unique program. We went from first contract to first contact over a submarine in just three years."
- Lockheed Executive Vice President Tom Burbage, who flew the Viking as a Navy test pilot and later ran the S-3 program for the company

The Navy began what became the S-3 Viking program in 1964 to replace the piston-powered S-2 Tracker. Known originally as VSX - for "carrier-based antisubmarine warfare aircraft-X" - a formal request for proposal was issued in April 1968. A joint General Dynamics-Grumman team and the then-Lockheed Aircraft Corp. were chosen from among the competitors to refine their proposals.

Although Lockheed had four decades of land-based antisubmarine warfare experience dating back to the World War II-era Hudson, the company had only built one carrier-based aircraft to that point, the T2V-1 SeaStar trainer. To build a strong Navy-oriented team, Lockheed first brought on LTV Aerospace, formerly Vought, with its long history in carrier aviation, as a partner. Then the Federal Systems Division of Sperry Rand was added to develop the aircraft's computerized acoustic detection system, a first for an airborne antisubmarine warfare platform.

The Lockheed team was declared the winner of the VSX competition on August 4th, 1969. One of several speakers at the 2009 retirement ceremony was current Lockheed Martin F-35 Executive Vice President Tom Burbage, who flew the Viking as a Navy test pilot and later ran the S-3 program for the company. He noted that "the S-3 was a unique program. We went from first contract to first contact over a submarine in just three years."

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a US Navy Lockheed S-3B Viking anti-submarine aircraft that was attached to VS-35 "Boomerangers", then embarked upon the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) during May 2003. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 9-inches
Length: 11-1/2-inches

Release Date: January 2017

Historical Account: "Boomerangers" - Sea Control Squadron 35 (VS-35), known as the Boomerangers, was an anti-submarine/surface squadron of the United States Navy. Established on January 3rd, 1961, at Naval Air Station Los Alamitos, California, it was disestablished on June 30th, 1973.

On establishment the squadron was equipped with eleven S2F-1 Tracker aircraft. In July 1961, the squadron transition to the S2F-3, which would later be designated the S-2D. In 1962, the squadron was relocated to NAS North Island, California, and deployed for the first time as part of Carrier Anti-Submarine Air Group Fifty-Seven (CVSG-57) on board the USS Hornet and again in 1963.

From August 1965 to March 1966, the squadron again deployed aboard the USS Hornet for combat operations in Vietnam. The Boomerangers maintained surface and subsurface surveillance in the Gulf of Tonkin. Later that year, they assisted the Hornet in the recovery of the first Apollo capsule. The squadron's fourth and fifth deployments in 1967 and 1968-1969 saw them return to the Gulf of Tonkin for combat operations.

After their fifth deployment, the USS Hornet was decommissioned and VS-35 was reassigned as part of CVSG-53 and in May 1970 deployed in the Atlantic on the USS Wasp. On May 17th, 1972, VS-35 deployed with CVSG-53 on board the USS Ticonderoga to the Pacific and participated in the Operation Pocket Money, the mining of Haiphong Harbor in North Vietnam.