Carrier onboard delivery

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A Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) is a military term used to describe type of aircraft which are able to ferry personnel, mail, and high-priority cargo (like replacement parts) on and off a naval ship (typically an aircraft carrier).

[edit] History

Early United States Navy recognition of need for a cargo plane capable of carrier landings resulted in airframe conversion of TBF Avenger torpedo bombers to unarmed seven-passenger COD aircraft designated TBM-3R. Replacement of TBM-3Rs began in the late 1950s. Grumman built a cargo variant of its twin-piston-engined S-2 Tracker anti-submarine warfare bomber known as the C-1 Trader. The Navy in 1963 briefly experimented with the C-130 Hercules for COD. In the late 1960s Grumman began production of a cargo variant of its twin-turboprop E-2 Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning aircraft known as the C-2 Greyhound; the C-2 remains the Navy's primary COD vehicle.