# What's this plane I see? (Google Maps)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-plane-i-see-google-maps/399385>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 9, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-plane-i-see-google-maps/399385 "2007-04-09T23:02:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-plane-i-see-google-maps/399385/1 "2007-04-09T23:02:14Z")

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I’m taking a little armchair trip around Manhattan. I start looking at the aircraft-carrier-turned-museum docked on the west of the island, [here](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=20&ll=40.765178,-74.001313&spn=0.000472,0.000912&t=k).

What in Og’s name are the third and fourth aircraft from the left? There are two helicopters, then something that looks heavily inspired by the starship Enterprise. Next to that is something which looks, to me, like a relatively normal plane with the wings folded up and over the top of it. I’m mostly curious about the first one, though - whatever it is, it doesn’t look like something that follows the normal laws of aerodynamics.

The website for the museum is [here](http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/intrepidmuseum/index.php?MERCURYSID=c4099771dc6bc176079b5ca380840af4), but I can’t seem to find the planes in question on it.

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**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-plane-i-see-google-maps/399385/2 "2007-04-09T23:07:42Z")

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The odd looking thing is a radar dome on top of the plane which is most likely something like[this.](http://www.answers.com/topic/e-1-tracer)

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**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-plane-i-see-google-maps/399385/3 "2007-04-09T23:07:51Z")

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The one with the big hump on its back is the [Grumman E1B Tracer](http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/intrepidmuseum/aircraft/item.php?id=25), an early warning aircraft carrying a large radar system.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-plane-i-see-google-maps/399385/4 "2007-04-09T23:09:05Z")

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The third from the left is an [E-1B Tracer](http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/intrepidmuseum/aircraft/item.php?id=25) with a radar installation above the fuselage.  
The fourth from the left is an S2 (well, they have the training version) [TS-2 Tracker](http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/intrepidmuseum/aircraft/item.php?id=26) anti-submarine warfare plane.

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**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-plane-i-see-google-maps/399385/5 "2007-04-10T04:24:36Z")

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Ah, thanks - don’t know why I didn’t notice those on the site when I looked before.