The Grumman E-1 Tracer (WF prior to 1962) was the first purpose-built airborne early warning aircraft used by the United States Navy.

Following World War II, modified attack aircraft, including the AD-3W Skyraider and TBM-3W Avengers, filled the airborne early warning role.

The AN/APS-82 featured an airborne moving target indicator (AMTI), which compares the video of one pulse time to the next in reflected radar energy to distinguish a flying aircraft from the clutter produced by wave action at the ocean's surface.

[4] As one of the first carrier based early warning aircraft, the E-1 Tracer served from 1960 to 1977,[1] although considered only an interim type, being replaced by the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye in the mid-1960s.

With a radius of 250–300 miles, the E-1B served as an early warning to strike aircraft of enemy MiG activity.

These aircraft were soon retired during mid-summer 1977 following a final cruise on board USS Franklin D. Roosevelt and were ferried to the Davis-Monthan storage facility.

[16] At least one of those aircraft (E-1B, BuNo 148922) was sold to a private collector in 2011 with the intent to restore to fly, although no updates on the project have been posted since 2012.