Grumman Duck, Goose, Widgeon, Mallard, and Albatross Amphibians

[sequoiaranger]

I hope this isn't a repeat of something deep in the archives.

I was researching the J2F Duck for a whif, and could find no pictures of the interior. The central float "pedastal" has a door under the pilot (does the pilot enter there?--How does he get to his seat?) and a square window on either side. I know the pedestal "housed" fliers plucked from the sea, and/or use as an air taxi. Where did they sit? The "windows" are in the rear of the pedestal where it is narrowest--doesn't seem like a human body could fit there. Then why the windows? What is the seat arrangement?

I discovered that there is a Peter O'Toole movie, "Murphy's War", that has as its vehicle "star" a Grumman Duck that O'Toole restores to use, so that is a "must" rent. Maybe my questions will be answered then if not soon on this thread.

Anecdote: I once took the commercial Grumman Goose from Long Beach (CA) to Catalina Island. There were nine passengers--I was the last in line. I was bummed because I figured all the good seats would be taken and I would be in the back. When I entered the plane, all eight seats were taken. THEN....I realized that the ninth passenger would HAVE to sit up in the co-pilot's seat . Jeez, twist my arm! We were on land, and slithered into the water like an alligator, bobbing like a boat. Then the twin radials roared, and we were noisily skipping over the water like a "cigarette boat" and THEN... were airborne!! WOW! The pilot had been flying Gooses since 1937!! What a treat!

[jcf]

Ask and ye shall receive, J2F mockup photos:





From an amazing ongoing thread on Warbird Information Exchange (WIX) board:
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13327&sid=6fc47d1686b764036db4705c1991131d

Jon

[PR19_Kit]

I discovered that there is a Peter O'Toole movie, "Murphy's War", that has as its vehicle "star" a Grumman Duck that O'Toole restores to use, so that is a "must" rent. Maybe my questions will be answered then if not soon on this thread.

Anecdote: I once took the commercial Grumman Goose from Long Beach (CA) to Catalina Island. There were nine passengers--I was the last in line. I was bummed because I figured all the good seats would be taken and I would be in the back. When I entered the plane, all eight seats were taken. THEN....I realized that the ninth passenger would HAVE to sit up in the co-pilot's seat . Jeez, twist my arm! We were on land, and slithered into the water like an alligator, bobbing like a boat. Then the twin radials roared, and we were noisily skipping over the water like a "cigarette boat" and THEN... were airborne!! WOW! The pilot had been flying Gooses since 1937!! What a treat!

Be prepared to laugh a lot over Mr. O'Toole's use of the Duck........... 

Green with envy about you flying out to Catalina in a Goose! I'm doing an RW Goose with the Rareplanes kit, probably this one unless I can find a more colourful one.



Was your aircraft in the orange scheme in your post? I've never seen a photo of that so far. After 'flying' out to Catalina Airfield numerous times in Flight Simulator, a buddy of mine who lives in LA arranged for us to do it for real once. I got to fly the C172 out there and he flew it back, an amazing feeling and an incredible island.

[sequoiaranger]

Dear Jonc---y,

Thank you SO MUCH for that mock-up photo! Amazing that it was "out there". My logic told me that the square window would be where a human head would go, but I am truly amazed that TWO people side-by-side could have fit there!! It also appears from the photos that the door (on the other side--you wouldn't happen to have a similar pic of THAT side, would you?) in the pedestal opens up into a small room, and the "suitcase" (gas tank?) on the near side fills just half the width, enabling one to squirm around it to get to the seats by the windows.

Then... it almost looks like the gunner can access the passenger compartment below (and probably gets to his position from the pedestal), but what about the pilot? I can't see any passageway from the pedestal door up to the pilot's compartment, and it looks like access would be very difficult from outside otherwise. Could there possibly by some kick-ins along the fuselage to enable someone in the gunner's compartment to get forward to the pilot's compartment??

To PR-19---Here is a link to the "homepage" of the Catalina Geese, which has several paint schemes for various Catalina-bound airline services. I like the one you picked, but you will see there are many others!

http://catalinagoose.homestead.com/

JEEZ! Looking through the site, I FOUND THE PILOT that I sat next to:

[Just call me Ray]

So, we already have four posts in this thread and no one has talked about the Antillies Goose?


A completely new airframe with PT-6s:

http://www.antillesseaplanes.com/

[sequoiaranger]

Hey, the Antilles Geese is inspiring!

As you might have known or read, the Catalina Geese were retired out as having too much corrosion from forty years of salt-water use. It would seem, however, that the basic design has been proven, its size is handy for an amphibian, twin engines are an added safety factor, and still much of the world is accessible by water. I would think there would indeed be a demand for "new" Geese, somewhat like the demand for replica Cobras, Mustangs, Corvettes, etc.  Unless they bought all the forming equipment cheap from Grumman, I would think they would be expensive, "custom" builds costing a whole lot of $$$.

But I would **LOVE** to have one!!

[jcf]

New Gooses (in my experience Grumman Goose pilots, owners and aficionados will bash one about
the head and shoulders for using the word 'Geese', sensitive folk they are  ) are a wonderful thing.

However, what I'd really like to see would be new Mallards.
Such a lovely machine and the kind of aircraft in which I had my fist flight,
from Ocean Falls B.C. down to Vancouver B.C. in 1965. I was not yet five at
the time but I still clearly remember the flight.


I see from your thread topic header that the most beautiful of Grumman amphibians has shockingly be left off.


Jon

[sequoiaranger]

>I see from your thread topic header that the most beautiful of Grumman amphibians has shockingly be left off.<

No longer! 

[jcf]

>I see from your thread topic header that the most beautiful of Grumman amphibians has shockingly be left off.<

No longer! 

You Sir, are a Scholar and a Gentleman. 

[Just call me Ray]

Unless they bought all the forming equipment cheap from Grumman

Actually, I think this is exactly what Antilles did!

[sequoiaranger]

PR19_kit wrote:
>Be prepared to laugh a lot over Mr. O'Toole's use of the Duck...........  cheesy<

Yeah. I watched the movie, mostly in octuple-fast-forward. It was filmed on location in Argentina, and as "we" know, the Argentine Navy used war-surplus Ducks in service for some time after WW II, and apparently lent the Duck for the movie. For the most part it was the "African Queen" movie modernized by twenty years.

I really loved the take-off and flying sequences of the Duck, and although my questions about the interior of the Duck weren't answered (Peter O'Toole never went inside, only into the pilot's seat), at least I know how the pilot gets into his seat (easy--just steps in off the wing, not climbing through the interior) and I have a better appreciation for how my Grumman Gander will look and act.

[Ed S]

Here's a Widgeon, that I just finished last month.  It's real world, although, it's just unusual enough that it gets mistaken for a WHIFF.  It's the old Airfix 1/72 kit.





Ed

[Runway ? ...]

If anyone fancies cutting up their Goose Kaman made a tiltwing prototype http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/kaman_k-16.php.
Not a Whif as such but nothing that squadron markings wouldn't cure.
Just a thought

[Daryl J.]

What would Hayao Miyazaki have done with the Goose for Porco Rosso had he so chosen it as one of the pirates machines?



Daryl J.

[jcf]

I see from your thread topic header that the most beautiful of Grumman amphibians has shockingly be left off.

I bit of nostalgia for Jon. A BC Airlines Mallard at the dock on Cousins Inlet at Ocean Falls.

http://www.oceanfallsmuseum.com/CDPho/16-AirPlanes.htm

Thanks very much, ah memories. 

Jon