Great Machines: Aircraft: The Maverick Goose

Matthew Phenix

06/01/2008

Of all the world’s aircraft, biplanes and spy-planes, ultra-lights and jumbo jets, none whets the romantic imagination quite like the Grumman G-21 "Goose." Initially envisioned as a means for affluent Manhattanites to quickly hop from the city to the Hamptons, the Goose—with seating for 10 and a 1,000-mile range—soon earned a cult-like following among tropical island-hoppers, as well as a reconnaissance and search-and-rescue aircraft by the U.S. Navy.

Unlike the Pan Am "Clippers," those grand flying boats that spanned the Pacific during the 1930s and 1940s, taking off and landing only on water, Grumman’s Goose—36 feet long, with wings stretching 51 feet—was a true amphibian. It featured a boat-like hull for wet landings and fat-wheeled gear for terrestrial touchdowns on grass strips and paved runways alike.

Interest in amphibious aircraft waned in the postwar era, as the nation’s network of paved runways expanded; Grumman ceased production in 1945, after building 345 planes. But even more than half a century later, the Goose’s allure and usefulness remained undeniable. Thus, in the fall of 2000, Virginia native V.L. Manuel hatched Antilles Seaplanes to resurrect this multitalented airplane for the modern era. It has been no small feat.

"The old plane was a hand-built affair," Manuel says. "Some of the original Grumman drawings actually read ‘trim to fit.’ But we have the ability to use modern technology, such as CNC machining, to make the fabrication process precise and efficient." Assembling the aircraft in the company’s Gibsonville, North Carolina facility, he notes, "is like putting together a 10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle."

Antilles offers the G-21A’s vintage style, with a pair of rebuilt 450 hp Pratt & Whitney radial engines on the wings, or the modern G-21G "Super Goose" (pictured here), equipped with state-of-the-art Pratt & Whitney Canada turboprops producing 680 shaft horsepower.

Within 24 months, Manuel expects the company to build 72 of its $2,975,000 "Gooses" (never "Geese") per year. "The aviation world’s come full circle," he says, "and we’re starting to realize the value of an aircraft that can land practically anywhere. The Goose is a plane whose time has come again."

Antilles Seaplanes, 800.605.1619, www.antillesseaplanes.com