The first test flight of a Duck occurred in 1933, and it continued to be built through the last year of WWII. It was designed as a carrier-based utility transport and used for observation, coastal patrol, photography, and rescue. The pilot flies from the front cockpit while a passenger\/gunner would sit in the rear. There is a \u201cdownstairs\u201d for two additional passengers or downed pilots and a \u201chatch\u201d in the bottom of the hull that can be opened in flight and used for taking aerial pictures.<\/p>\n
Ducks served with the U.S. Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard both before and during WW II. 632 of all types were built. Several have been stars, used in the movies like\u00a0Murphy\u2019s War<\/em>\u00a0and the TV series\u00a0Baa Baa Black Sheep<\/em>.<\/p>\n Late in the war, Grumman became more focused on building its Hellcat fighters and licensed production of the Duck to Columbia Aircraft, in Long Island, NY. This Duck was manufactured by Columbia and built during the last year of the war. We painted it in the colors of a famous Duck, the \u201cCandy Clipper,\u201d which served in the Philippines on Bataan. The aircraft, along with two other, had sunk and were left by the Navy. A local Army Air Corps P-40 base floated the one aircraft and rebuilt it. It made four flights to bring in badly needed medical supplies for the troops. Some candy was thrown in for good measure and that\u2019s how it got its name. The \u201cCandy Clipper\u201d was the last aircraft to leave Bataan during the siege of the island in 1942.<\/p>\n On display courtesy of the World’s Greatest Aircraft Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n