Good Morning

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 07/23/2020 at 09:05 • Filed to: good morning oppo, wingspan

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Happy Thursday, Oppo.

Today we have a lovely US Coast Guard Grumman J4F-1, perhaps better known as the G-44 Widgeon. The aircraft served the Coast Guard, Navy, and US Army Air Forces, as well as the Civil Air Patrol, mostly with maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols. In Royal Navy service it was known as the Gosling.

I really dig those USCG rudder stripes.

Just Jeepin' > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 09:13

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TIL Wigeon/Widgeon.

For Sweden > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 09:16

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Coastie Life

ttyymmnn > Just Jeepin' 07/23/2020 at 09:17

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I didn’t realize that the duck used a different spelling. TIL too.

pip bip - choose Corrour > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 09:18

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good morning

ttyymmnn > For Sweden 07/23/2020 at 09:21

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The guy who introduced me to pot back in high school was a Coastie who got kicked out for smoking pot.

For Sweden > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 09:28

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Understandable.  Cocaine would be much cooler and better for maintaining situational awareness.

Just Jeepin' > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 09:32

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They’re both valid spellings. 

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > For Sweden 07/23/2020 at 09:34

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Ah, as Sam Axe once said, “The Navy’s Little Sister...”

ttyymmnn > Just Jeepin' 07/23/2020 at 09:35

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The D makes more sense with a soft G. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 09:38

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I really like flying boats. If only I could afford one.

PyramidHat > TheRealBicycleBuck 07/23/2020 at 09:43

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I remember when those were supposed to be $100K...

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 09:49

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A flying boat was always a dream of mine when I was a kid. The idea of being able to just fly to some remote island or lake to camp for a week always seemed awesome. Or even being able to fly in to basically any island you want, like the Dry Tortugas in Florida.

ttyymmnn > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 07/23/2020 at 09:51

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https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/04/24/all-aboard-the-flying-yacht-circa-1950/

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 10:02

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That’s neat...and that story about being attacked by bedouins

When Mrs. Shearer heard me grunt that I’d been hit, she raised her head to look at me. Just then a bullet hit her right arm, exactly where her head had been. She clawed a big chunk of metal out with her fingernails but there were two more pieces she couldn’t reach.

Mrs. Shearer sounds like a badass

Cé hé sin > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 07/23/2020 at 10:09

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Strictly speaking that particular one’s an amphibian, because wheels.

That gives the pilot two new ways of getting things wrong:

Land on water, wheels down

Land on the ground, wheels up

The first of those, surprisingly, is worse.

user314 > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 10:15

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I was wondering why the engines looked odd, then I looked up the G-44 and realized I was thinking of the earlier G-21 Goose :

user314 > For Sweden 07/23/2020 at 10:20

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That first pic...

“Ah damn, I gotta stop and get milk. Anyone else need anything from Target?”

ttyymmnn > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 07/23/2020 at 10:22

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ttyymmnn > user314 07/23/2020 at 10:26

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According to Wiki, it originally shipped with Ranger L-440 -5 air-cooled inverted six-cylinder inline engines, but other engines have been used since, including a flat six. Looks like turboprops on this one?

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 11:27

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The Widgeon did have the Ranger engines, but a later Super Widgeon mod replaced them with GO-480 Lycomings. I’ve seen photos of a radial-engined Widgeon too, but never turboprops. I think that’s a Goose in your photo, but the windshield doesn’t look right .

The Pratt PT6A was a popular conversion for Mallards (Chalk’s Airways) and a few Gooses, but oddly no Albatrosses. I have found photos online of an HU-16 with RR Dart turboprops but that’s the only conversion I’ve ever seen.

Jayvincent > ttyymmnn 07/23/2020 at 20:20

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That’s no pigeon, that’s Dreamboat! thanks for sharing