Grumman G-21 Goose


The Grumman G-21 Goose is an amphibious flying boat designed by Grumman as an eight-seat "commuter" aircraft for businessmen in the Long Island area. The Goose was Grumman's first monoplane to fly, its first twin-engined aircraft, and its first aircraft to enter commercial airline service. During World War II, the Goose became an effective transport for the US military, as well as serving with many other air forces. During hostilities, the Goose took on an increasing number of combat and training roles.

Design and development

In 1936, a group of wealthy residents of Long Island, including E. Roland Harriman, approached Grumman and commissioned an aircraft that they could use to fly to New York City. In response, the Grumman Model G-21 was designed as a light amphibious transport. Grumman produced a high-wing monoplane of almost all-metal construction—the trailing half of the main wing and all of the flight control surfaces except for the flaps were fabric-covered. It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior nine-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engines mounted on the leading edges of the wings. The deep fuselage served also as a hull and was equipped with hand-cranked retractable landing gear. First flight of the prototype took place on May 29, 1937.
The fuselage also proved versatile, as it provided generous interior space that allowed fitting for either a transport or luxury airliner role. Having an amphibious configuration also allowed the G-21 to go just about anywhere, and plans were made to market it as an amphibian airliner.

Modifications

A number of modifications were made for the Goose, but the most numerous are those by McKinnon Enterprises of Sandy, Oregon, which holds 21 supplemental type certificates for modifying G-21-series aircraft and which also manufactured four different conversions that were recertified under a separate FAA type certificate as brand-new "McKinnon" airplanes. The first was the McKinnon model G-21C which involved replacing the original R-985 radial engines with four Lycoming GSO-480-B2D6 piston engines. It was approved under TC 4A24 on November 7, 1958, and two examples were converted in 1958–1959.

New production

In November 2007, Antilles Seaplanes of Gibsonville, North Carolina, announced it was restarting production of the turbine-powered McKinnon G-21G Turbo Goose variant, now identified as the Antilles G-21G Super Goose. Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34 turboprops flat-rated to would have replaced the original PT6A-27 engines, and the airframe systems and especially the avionics would have been updated with state-of-the-art "glass panel" instrumentation and cockpit displays. However, as of 2009, Antilles Seaplanes' manufacturing center has been foreclosed and sold at auction. The fate of new Goose production is currently unknown.

Operational history

Envisioned as corporate or private flying yachts for Manhattan millionaires, initial production models normally carried two to three passengers and had a bar and small toilet installed. In addition to being marketed to small air carriers, the G-21 was also promoted as a military transport. In 1938, the U.S. Army Air Corps purchased the type as the OA-9. The most numerous of the military versions were the United States Navy variants, designated the JRF.
The amphibious aircraft was also adopted by the Coast Guard and, during World War II, served with the Royal Canadian Air Force in the transport, reconnaissance, rescue, and training roles. The G-21 was used for air-sea rescue duties by the Fleet Air Arm, who assigned the name Goose. A single aircraft was used briefly by No. 1 Air Ambulance Unit, Royal Australian Air Force in the Mediterranean.
After the war, the Goose found continued commercial use in locations from Alaska to Catalina and the Caribbean.
A total of 345 were built, with about 30 known to still be airworthy today, most being in private ownership, some of them operating in modified forms.

Variants

;G-21
;G-21B
;G-21C
;G-21D
;G-21E
;G-21G
;Kaman K-16B
;XJ3F-1
;JRF-1
;JRF-1A
;JRF-2
;JRF-3
;JRF-4
;JRF-5
;JRF-5G
;JRF-6B
;OA-9
;OA-13A
;OA-13B
;Goose Mk.I
;Goose Mk.IA
;Goose Mk.II

Operators

Military operators

File:PenAir Grumman Goose.jpg|thumb|PenAir Goose at Akutan, Alaska, 2006
  • Alaska Airlines – Alaska Airlines called their turboprop-powered aircraft the "Turbo Goose" propjet. They also operated piston-powered versions.
  • Alaska Coastal Airlines
  • Alaska Coastal-Ellis Airlines
  • Alaska Island Air
  • Alaska Fish and Game
  • Amphib. Inc.
  • Antilles Air Boats
  • Avalon Air Transport
  • Catalina Air
  • Catalina Channel Airlines
  • Chevron of California
  • Devcon Construction
  • Flight Data Inc.
  • Ford Motor Co.
  • Gulf Oil
  • Kodiak Airways
  • Kodiak Western
  • North Coast Aero
  • Ozark Management
  • Pan Air
  • PenAir
  • Reeve Aleutian Airways
  • SouthEast Skyways
  • Superior Oil
  • Sun Oil Co.
  • Teufel Nurseries
  • The Texas Company
  • Tuthill Corporation
  • Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle
  • Webber Airlines

    Accidents and incidents

;19 November 1943: Grumman JRF-2 of Port Heiden, Alaska, crashed with three crewmen and one passenger missing. It was found in 1987.
;13 March 1947: A Grumman JRF-6B of Loftleiðir with a pilot and seven passengers crashed immediately after takeoff on Hvammsfjörður by the town of Búðardalur in Iceland. The pilot and four passengers evacuated the plane and were rescued by a boat, but one of those passengers later died. Three of the original seven passengers died in the crash.
;21 August 1958: N720 crashed in the Brooks Range, near the upper Ivishak River, in Alaska, killing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agents Clarence J. Rhode and Stanley Fredericksen, and Clarence's son Jack. The crash site was not found until August 23, 1979.
;27 January 1961: A JRF-5 of the French Navy crashed, killing Admiral Pierre Ponchardier and five others. This accident led the French Navy to retire all of their Grumman JRF-5 Gooses in the spring of 1961.
;30 July 1971: One person was killed and one was injured when a Grumman G-21A taking off from the airport in Greenville, Maine experienced engine malfunction during takeoff. The NTSB determined the probable cause to be the pilot's lack of familiarity with the plane and fuel mismanagement.
;22 June 1972
;25 August 1978: All 11 people aboard a Webber Airlines seaplane were killed when the Grumman Goose crashed on as it was preparing to land at Labouchere Bay on Prince of Wales Island after a flight from Ketchikan, Alaska.
;2 September 1978: Charles F. Blair Jr., former Naval Air Transport Service and Pan American Airways pilot and husband to actress Maureen O'Hara, was flying a Grumman Goose that belonged to his company, Antilles Air Boats, from St. Croix to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands when it crashed into the ocean due to failure of the left engine. He and three passengers were killed; seven passengers were severely injured.
;24 July 1984: Grumman Goose G-21A, Serial # B-114, Registration: N 2021 A, Hal’s Air Service, Piloted by Hal Dierich, Four Fatalities including pilot. Collision with water in the narrow strait NW of Monashka Bay near Ouzinkie, Kodiak Island, AK.
;15 February 2005: A 1939 Grumman Goose G-21A, registered N-327, crashed around 9:30 am in a field on Route 14A near Penn Yan, New York after an engine failure simulation went wrong. The plane fell rapidly, with the left wing hitting the ground first, before the badly damaged plane burst into flames on impact. Pilots Paul and Daryl Middlebrook, both of Penn Yan, escaped serious injury. The plane, originally owned by the Peruvian Air Force, had starred in the 1980s ABC television series Tales of the Gold Monkey as Cutter's Goose.
;3 August 2008: A Grumman Goose of Pacific Coastal Airlines with seven passengers and crew crashed during a flight from Port Hardy to Chamiss Bay. The aircraft was completely destroyed by fire. There were only two survivors.
;16 November 2008: A Grumman Goose of Pacific Coastal Airlines with eight passengers and crew crashed on South Thormanby Island near Sechelt off British Columbia's Sunshine Coast in bad weather during a flight from Vancouver International Airport to Toba Inlet, BC. Only one passenger survived. The company resumed floatplane operations on November 19, 2008.
;27 February 2011: A turbine Goose, N221AG, crashed in the United Arab Emirates when it veered immediately after takeoff.
;17 June 2014: A Grumman G-21A Goose lost control in a snowstorm over the Montana/Idaho border and crashed into the parking lot of the Lost Trail Ski Area near the summit of Lost Trail Pass, subsequently catching fire. The plane was completely destroyed, and the pilot, who was the only occupant of the plane, was killed.
;18 December 2023: A Grumman Goose operated by Wilderness Seaplanes crashed shortly after takeoff from Bella Bella, British Columbia on its way to Port Hardy, British Columbia. The plane was transporting the pilot and four fish farm workers. All survived with minor injuries.