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Port inboard stabilizer on E-2 / C-2 doesn’t have movable rudder
The E-2 Hawkeye is the US Navy’s all-weather, carrier-based tactical battle management airborne early warning, command and control aircraft. The E-2 is a twin engine, five crewmember, high-wing turboprop aircraft with a 24-foot diameter radar rotodome attached to the upper fuselage.
As a derivative of the E-2 Hawkeye, the C-2 Greyhound has a common wing with the Hawkeye but has a widened fuselage and a rear loading ramp. The interior arrangement of the cabin can accommodate priority cargo like jet engines, passengers, litter patients and critical spare parts.
Why do the E-2 and C-2 require multiple vertical stabilizers?
Andy Burns, former US Navy Surface Warfare & Flight Officer, explains on Quora;
‘The E-2 requires multiple vertical stabs because of the airflow around the pylon supporting the rotodome, and because of the height of the pylon-done structure. In order to get enough “clean” airflow and sufficient rudder authority, the choice was either one really tall rudder, or multiple smaller ones. A tall rudder would have required a folding mechanism, like that on the S-3 Viking, in order to fit on the hangar decks of 1960s-era carriers, which would have added weight and complexity and extra demands on the hydraulic system. Multiple rudders was actually the simpler design.
Greyhound
‘The C-2 was based on the E-2, with a mandate to keep as much commonality as possible. Multiple smaller rudders work perfectly well even if you don’t “need” them.’
Burns adds;
‘Fun trivia fact: due to how the air flows around the empennage and the propeller wash, the port inboard stab doesn’t actually do anything. Unlike the other three, it doesn’t have a movable rudder. It’s mostly there for symmetry and to even out weight distribution, but both the E-2 and C-2 could fly perfectly well without it.’
Navy C-2 final in-service flight
Noteworthy, a C-2A Greyhound attached to the “Rawhides” of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40 landed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola’s Sherman Field Jul. 28, 2026 marking the final in-service flight for the platform.
According to a US Navy news release, the aircraft was greeted by nearly 6,000 onlookers at the National Naval Aviation Museum (NNAM and participated in a formation flight with the US Navy Blue Angels before touching down on the historic NAS Pensacola airfield.
This final flight, originating out of Norfolk, Virginia, marked the end of an era for the carrier onboard delivery (COD) aircraft, which is being replaced in that role by the CMV-22 Osprey. Developed by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation as a derivative of the E-2 Hawkeye airframe and designed for COD missions, the platform’s first flight was in November 1964, achieving initial operational capability in 1966.
The C-2A Greyhound saw more than 250,000 carrier landings during its six-decade service, and transported millions of personnel, ferried more than 100 million pounds of cargo and served as a fleet mainstay for generations of service members.
Photo credit: PHAN JUSTIN BLAKE and PH1(Aw) Shawn P. Eklund, U.S. Navy
