C170BDan wrote:
Trying to find the N numbers or serial numbers for the aircraft below. Any help would be appreciated.
Goose - this airplane is two hangars away from mine and I still can't ID it!
C170BDan wrote:
OK... right after I posted I found a WIX post that included info on Goose 87732 that is N87U.
Taylor Stevenson wrote:
Goose used to be owned by Glenn Johnson. Great guy from Ft. Worth. Experienced my first water landing in that aircraft. I think I was around three...
Still is AFAIK.
Grumman G-38 c/n
B-126 built in May 1945* as US Navy
JRF-5 Bu.
87732.
*For some strange reason, on its registration, it is identified as a 1942 model.
Currently registered as
N87U (since June 8, 1993) to:
Blue Goose Enterprises Inc.
3342 South Sandhill 9-516
Las Vegas, NV 89121
Dan, "Two hangars away from mine" would that happen to be in Roanoke, TX? That's where I heard that
N87U was actually based - in spite of its registration. Heard that directly from Glen Hyde.
Goose s/n B-126 was formerly registered as
N9544C, became
N87U in 1964 or so with Kodiak Airways in Alaska, later with Kodiak Western Airways in the 1970's and and Cinema Air in the 1980's. Rumored to have been used in the Mel Gibson movie "Forever Young" in 1988.
Once looked up the corporate registration of "Blue Goose Enterprises" and the trail led back to an attorney in Ft. Worth, TX named
E. Glen Johnson. Also heard a rumor that he has a vacation place in Maine and takes the Goose there annually (or so.)
One of its obvious mods is the installation of Beech 18 engine cowlings per the Pan Air STC. Of course, also the Hartzell 3-bladed props - but don't they all by now? (On the other hand, Addison Pemberton's resto of
N95467, s/n
1161, will be going back to 2-bladed Ham Stds. with a new feathering setup for safety.) N87U also has Cleveland wheels and brakes per STC SA99GL plus a water rudder as well. Don't know which water rudder mod it is, but have seen blueprints for two versions - by BNP Airways and Ellis Airlines.
Never been able to figure out why
N87U has the RAF Eagle Squadron logo that was later adopted by the 4th Fighter Group of the 8th Air Force in the ETO (and still used later on 4th FG F-86's in Korea too) - on a US Navy Goose!
This was one of two Gooses to sail on the USS Carl Vinson to Hawaii in 1995(?) to participate in some kind of Pearl Harbor memorial at that time. Apparently, it flew off the deck and landed in the harbor and taxiied up the seaplane ramp on Ford Island.
The other Goose on that Chuckie V cruise was Tom Danaher's
N291VW, G-21A s/n
1188 - the very last actual civilian model G-21A ever built by Grumman, in Sept. 1942. It was initially sold to Columbia University and registered as
N1604, but it was actually operated by some kind of special ops/research group at Columbia in support of the war effort until it was taken over by the US Navy and brought up to spec as a model JRF-4. It was later further upgraded to a JRF-5 configuration and kept by the Navy after the war. In the 1950's, it was one of 4 that were loaned to the fledgling JMSDF (as no.
9012) for use as a MES and navigation trainer. Tom got it in 1963 directly from the US Army Depot Command in Japan after it was declared surplus - and he's had it based in Wichita Falls, TX ever since.
Taylor, I imagine that when you were just 3 y.o. was a long time ago. Are you still in touch with Glen Johnson? He's one of the few current Goose owners with whom I've never had any direct contact. Would love to be able to talk to him if you happen to have a current e-mail of whatever. PM me if you do/will. Thanks!
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
