TheGrumman J2F Duck (company designationG-15) is an American, single-engined,amphibiousbiplane. It was used by each major branch of theU.S. Armed Forces from the mid-1930s until just afterWorld War II, primarily forutility andair-sea rescue duties. It was also used by theArgentine Navy, which took delivery of their first example in 1937. After the war, J2F Ducks served independent civilian operators, as well as the armed forces ofColombia andMexico.
The J2F was an improved version of the earlierJF Duck, the main differences being a longerfloat and a more-powerful engine (900horsepower versus 775).[1]
The J2F-1 Duck first flew on 2 April 1936, powered by a 750 hp (559 kW)Wright R-1820 Cyclone, and was delivered to theU.S. Navy on the same day. The J2F-2 had an uprated Wright Cyclone engine of 790 hp (589 kW). Twenty J2F-3 variants were built in 1939 for use by the Navy as executive transports with plush interiors. Due to pressure of work following the United States' entry into thewar in 1941, production of the J2F Duck was transferred to theColumbia Aircraft Corp ofNew York. They produced 330 aircraft for the Navy andU.S. Coast Guard.[2] If standard Navy nomenclature practice had been followed, these would have been designated JL-1s, but it was not, and all Columbia-produced airframes were delivered as J2F-6s.[3]
Several surplus Navy Ducks were converted for use by theUnited States Air Force in the air-sea rescue role as the OA-12 in 1948.
The J2F was an equal-span, single-bay biplane with a large-monocoque centralfloat, which also housed the retractable mainlanding gear, a similar design to theLeroy Grumman-designed landing gear first used forGrover Loening's early amphibious biplane designs, and later adopted for theGrumman FF fighter biplane. Theaircraft had strut-mounted stabilizer floats beneath each lowerwing. A crew of two or three was carried in tandemcockpits, forward for thepilot and rear for an observer with room for a radio operator if required. It had a cabin in thefuselage for two passengers or astretcher.
The Duck's main pontoon was blended into the fuselage, making it almost aflying boat, despite its similarity to a conventional landplane that has been float-equipped. This configuration was shared with the earlierLoening OL, Grumman having acquired the rights to Loening's hull, float, and undercarriage designs.[4] Like theF4F Wildcat, its narrow-tracked landing gear was hand-cranked.
J2Fs of the utility squadron of USPatrol Wing 10 were destroyed atMariveles Naval Section Base, the Philippines, by a Japanese air raid on 5 January 1942.[5] The only Duck to survive the attack had a dead engine, but had been concealed at Cabcaben airfield during theBattle of Bataan, to be repaired afterwards with a cylinder removed from a destroyed J2F-4 submerged in Manila Bay. Following repairs, the J2F-4 departed after midnight on 9 April 1942, overloaded with five passengers and the pilot,Roland J. Barnick, becoming the last aircraft to depart Bataan before its surrender to the Japanese only hours later. Among its passengers wasCarlos P. Romulo (diplomat, politician, soldier, journalist, and author), who recounted the flight in his 1942 best-selling bookI Saw the Fall of the Philippines (Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York 1943, pp. 288–303), for which he received thePulitzer Prize for Correspondence.[6][7]
J2F-2 but powered by an 850 hp R-1820-26 engine, 20 built.
J2F-4
J2F-2 but powered by an 850 hp R-1820-30 engine and fitted withtarget towing equipment, 32 built.
J2F-5
J2F-2 but powered by a 1,050 hp R-1820-54 engine, 144 built.
J2F-6
Columbia Aircraft built version of the J2F-5 with a 1,050 hp R-1820-64 engine in a long-chordcowling, fitted with underwing bomb racks and provision for target towing gear; 330 built.
Argentine Naval Aviation[8] received four new-build Grumman G-15s (equivalent to J2F-4s) in 1939, to supplement the eight Grumman G-20s (export version of theGrumman JF-2) received in 1937.[9] In 1946–1947, 32 ex-US Navy Ducks (consisting of one J2F-4, 24 J2F-5s, and 7 J2F-6s) were acquired,[10] with the last examples remaining in use until 1958.[11]
A J2F Duck was used in the 1971filmMurphy's War, which includes a spectacular three-minute rough-watertakeoff scene along with numerous flying andaerobatic sequences. The actual airplane used in this film is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio, although it has been restored and painted to represent a rescue OA-12.[citation needed]
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Bowers, Peter M., "United States Navy Aircraft since 1911", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1976, Library of Congress card number 90-60097,ISBN0-87021-792-5, page 221.
Lezon, Ricardo Martin and Robert M. Stitt. "Eyes of the Fleet:Seaplanes in Argentine Navy Service: Part one".Air Enthusiast. Issue 108, November/December 2003. pp. 34–45.
Lezon, Ricardo Martin and Robert M. Stitt. "Eyes of the Fleet:Seaplanes in Argentine Navy Service: Part two".Air Enthusiast. Issue 10, January/February 2004. pp. 46–59.
Nuñez Padin, Jorge Félix.Grumman G.15, G.20 & J2F Duck (Serie Aeronaval Nro. 15) (in Spanish). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Museo de Aviación Naval, Instituto Naval, 2002.
Zuckoff, Mitchell (2013).Frozen in Time. New York, New York: HarperCollins.ISBN978-0-06-213343-4.
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