Don't recall such an elaborate introduction to any of your previous photo essays, Mark. Thanks (sincerely) for the extra effort for my all-time favorite seabird. I recognize many of these photos from the "Grumman...the people that (which should be "who") made the planes" thread but I don't mind the repetition.
Wish I could make out a Bureau number on the Goose in the very first photo in order to identify it. About all you can tell about it is that with both de-icer boots and the round camera well belly hatch, it is a late-production USN model JRF-5. The "color scheme" is unusual in that it does not have the model and Bu. no. stenciled on the aft fuselage under the leading edge of the horizontal stab as was common for the USN.
USCG V191 was Grumman JRF-3, s/n 1086, which was built in November 1940.
USCG V174 was Grumman JRF-2, s/n 1063 which was built in July 1939 and apparently surplused in January 1947 as NC68902, fate unknown.
NC1200V was Grumman JRF-6B, s/n 1145, which was built in May 1942 for the British as (s/n BW798 ntu) under a USN procurement contract as Bu. 0201B, assigned RN s/n FP495, returned to USN after the war as Bu. 66352, surplused as NC1200V New York City Police Dept, McKinnon Enterprises until January 1965; became CF-RQI in Canada, back to US as N62121, to New Zealand as ZK-ENY, to Fiji Islands as DQ-FDQ, back to NZ as ZK-ENY again, to Australia as VH-ENY, then to Thailand as HS-TOM and then HS-TPA, currently in Germany under extended restoration by Klaus Dieter Martin.
Note: N644R, s/n B-130, a former Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Goose from Alaska is currently owned by the Historic Aircraft Restoration Project (HARP) of the National Park Service (NPS) at the historic Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY and is painted to represent N1200V when it was operated by the NYPD Aviation Unit.
NC16911 was Grumman G-21 (not G-21A) s/n 1002, the second Goose ever built by Grumman. It was delivered to Henry Morgan in September, 1937. On August 25, 1939, it was purchased from the original owner and ferried to Canada as CF-BTF. Used by No. 13 (OT) Squadron, RCAF Station Patricia Bay, BC, 1940 to 1942. On March 14, 1941, it was involved in a Category C accident at Patricia Bay. Used by No. 122 (K) Squadron, coded "AB*F", for flights to Alaska. Used by No. 166 Squadron, RCAF Station Sea Island, BC, 1943 to 1945. Sold to the U.S., appearing on the U.S. register as NC66020 before being purchased by Bahamas Airways and exported. It was re-registered as VP-BAE. On March 16, 1947 it was involved in an accident at Nassau and is presumed to have been destroyed.
The first shot after all of the interior shots is of an armed Portuguese G-21B pure flyingboat (no landing gear - i.e. not an amphib) of which only 12 were built and because none were ever certified for use or operation in US, it is not covered under FAA TCDS no. 654 as were all other Grumman Gooses. The models G-21B were Grumman OEM serial numbers 1088 through 1099 and they were all built between April and July of 1940.
_________________ “To invent the airplane is nothing. To build one is something. But to fly is everything!” - Otto Lilienthal
Natasha: "You got plan, darling?" Boris: "I always got plan. They don't ever work, but I always got one!"
Remember, any dummy can be a dumb-ass... In order to be a smart-ass, you first have to be "smart" and to be a wise-ass, you actually have to be "wise"
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