Grumman | ||||||||||||||||||||||
JRF Goose
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Photo: Robert Deering
4/18/2015 National Museum of Naval Aviation NAS Pensacola (NPA) Pensacola, Florida |
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An amphibian capable of operating from the
water or a runway, the JRF Goose was the
first monoplane and first twin-engine
aircraft produced by Grumman Aircraft
Engineering Corporation. The versatile JRF
was used for target towing, aerial
photography, medical evacuation, search and
rescue, and anti-submarine warfare. The
Museum's aircraft is displayed as a Coast
Guard JRF-3, the first version of the Goose
equipped with autopilot and deicing boots on
the wings for operations in the Arctic.
The G-21A Goose was built beginning in 1937
as a personal executive aircraft and also
found customers in commercial airlines and
corporations. In the late-1930s, the
aircraft began to attract the attention of
the U.S. Army and Navy, as well as the air
forces of Great Britain, Canada, Japan,
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Portugal
and Cuba.
The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard designated the
aircraft JRF. Its configuration made it a
natural transport and utility aircraft, and
both services also outfitted JRFs with bombs
and depth charges for anti-submarine work. A
total of 215 JRFs served in Naval Aviation,
with a handful remaining on flight status in
the Coast Guard until the mid-1950s. During
that same decade JRFs exported to the France
flew riverine patrols during combat
operations against the Viet Minh in French
Indochina. The Museum's example of the Goose is a G-21A, the civilian version of the aircraft, and is painted in the markings of one of three JRF-3s procured for the Coast Guard. |
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