Grumman G-64 Albatross
In 1944 Grumman began working on a new, general purpose amphibian to replace the United States Navy’s fleet of JRF-5 Gooses. The resulting aircraft retained many of the design features of both the Goose and the Widgeon, including a two-step hull, fixed stabilising floats, twin engines and an undercarriage that retracted into the hull. Despite the close family resemblance, the G-64 was significantly larger and with much greater range than the Goose, and the initial service name, Pelican, was quickly dropped for the more appropriate Albatross. With military funding in short supply after World War II, the Navy was slow to commit beyond a pair of aircraft for evaluation purposes, so the newly formed United States Air Force, which had been given responsibility for air-sea rescue (but no aeroplanes truly suitable for the task), became the prime customer. The first contract was placed in May 1948 and covered 58 aircraft, of which 52 were delivered to the Air Force. A Coast Guard order for 31 aircraft followed in April 1950, later supplemented by a further 15 aircraft diverted from an Air Force order and several inter-service transfers. In total, the Coast Guard operated 83 Albatrosses and it became the last of the United States armed forces to retire the aircraft, on 10 March 1983.
Grumman only secured one commercial export sale, to Canada, though Germany, Japan and Indonesia all received new-build aircraft supplied through the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand and Venezuela all received ex-US military aircraft. Civilian commercial use of the Albatross was limited, its most famous exponent being Chalks, which operated 12 extensively reworked Albatrosses out of Watson Island Seaplane Base at Miami, FL.
The G-64 type certificate is owned by Australian company, Amphibian Aerospace Industries. The company has ambitions plans to launch production of a turbine-engine version of the Albatross, and has in the meantime purchased four radial-engined aircraft. It is not yet clear what it intends to do with the aircraft.
First flight: 24 Oct 47 (c/n 01, Bu82853)
Production: 466, at Bethpage, NY
First delivery: Jul 49, to US Air Force (c/n 1, 48-0588)
Last delivery: 28 Jul 61, to Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (c/n 464, 9056)
Variants: XJR2F-1 Pelican (G-64) - prototype, built to US Navy specification and powered by 2 Wright R-1820-76 Cyclone radials (2 built);
SA-16A - production version for US Air Force optimised for air-sea rescue and equipped with AN/APS-31 search radar and reconfigurable cabin for 10 passengers, 12 stretchers and attendant, 22 troops or 5000 lbs of cargo (288 built, survivors redesignated HU-16A in Sep 62; 37 transferred to Coast Guard as UF-1G);
UF-1 - production version for US Navy, broadly comparable to the SA-16A (102 built, redesignated HU-16C in 1962);
UF-1G - production version for US Coast Guard (46 built, survivors converted to UF-2G - see below);
UF-1L - UF-1 optimised for cold weather operations (2 built, became LU-16C);
UF-1T - dual control conversion trainer for US Navy (5 built, became TU-16C);
UF-2 - US Navy export equivalent of SA-16B (see conversions for description; 11 built, became HU-16D)
G-231 - Export version of SA-16B for Canada, powered by Canadian-built R-1820-82As (10 built, Canadian designation CSR-110)
Albatross 2.0 - designation given to prospective new build version by AAI, powered by two P&W PT6A-67F turboprops.
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