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.