Grumman J2F-6 Duck - Erickson Aircraft Collection - Madras, OR
N 44° 40.213 W 121° 08.971
10T E 646680 N 4947982
This WWII vintage aircraft is housed at the Erickson Aircraft Collection located at the Madras Airport.
Waymark Code: WMPC7M
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 08/07/2015
Views: 1
The
Erickson Aircraft Collection relocated approximately 20 aircraft to the Madras Airport in 2014. This collection of mostly WWII vintage planes were previously housed in a military hanger at the Tillamook Air Museum (NW coastal town in Oregon).
The following verbiage is taken from the Erickson Aircraft Collection website to describe its history:
J2F-6 Duck
NARRATIVE
One of the more intriguing utility/transport J-class aircraft, the Grumman J2F Duck was first delivered to the USN fleet in 1934 to perform utility duties aboard aircraft carriers and to provide a ship-shore link. It served the military for over seventeen years and was also employed by the Coast Guard in its search and rescue role. One Marine Corps squadron operated nine of them equipped with machine guns and bomb racks. Later versions of the Duck had expanded duties which included transport, target towing, smoke laying, photographic surveying and medical evacuation. A total of 645 were built and the museum’s J2F-6 one of the last remaining flyable Duck of its type in the world.
SPECIFIC HISTORY
The museum’s J2F-6 Duck was accepted by the USN on 26 May 1945 and served as a pool aircraft at New York, Weymouth, Quonset Point and Chincateage Naval bases. In 1948 it was declared surplus and acquired by the USAF as an A-12A. The American Automotive Company bought it from the Air Force the following year for $727.00. Thereafter, it operated out of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the United States before becoming part of the museum’s collection in 1993 where it received an “in-house” restoration.
This particular aircraft has no official inventory page but I was able to find serial number info from a book titled Oregon Warbird Survivors 2003 which lists this Duck as Civilian Register N3960C (serial no. below).
Each aircraft contains its own interpretive display and I've included a picture of it which contains additional info on this aircraft.
This collection is definitely worth the visit for any aircraft enthusiast.