Grumman J2F Duck (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

The Grumman J2F Duck is an American amphibious biplane from World War Two.

The war in the Pacific developed into an island-hopping campaign, with forces moving quickly from one group of islands to the next.   Often there were no airfields available, so amphibious aircraft played an important part in these operations, performing reconnaisance and rescued shipwrecked sailors and downed aviators.   Many of these amphibians wereflying boats like the Catalina, but there were also several float planes like the Duck which performed shorter-range missions.   Since it had a retractable undercarriage, it could land and take off from regular runways, and there was even a tailhook to allow it to operate from aircraft carriers.

Although it only had a single engine, the Duck had a lot of space inside to house its three-man crew of pilot, observer and radio operator.   There was also space within the fuselage for a stretcher patient or two seated passengers.   As well as watching for enemy forces, the observer also operated a single machine gun for defense, and bombs or depth chargescould be carried to allow attacks to be mounted against shipping or submarines.