Floatplanes & Amphibians | a 7 Image Story   Two main types of seaplanes are floatplnes and flying boats.  Floatplanes are aircraft fitted with floats instead of wheels.  Flying boats are aircraft where the fuselage is partially submerged in water providing  most of the buoyancy and space for crew and payload.  Floatplanes and flying boats can be amphibians.  Amphibians have landing gear built into their floats or fuselage so they can land on water or runways.  Sure the terminology can get a little confusing.  Still, all seaplanes have unique attributes making them fun to fly.

Martin JRM Mars   The Martin JRM Mars flying boats are the world’s largest flying boats ever flown operationally.  Although seven were built, only two remain flying, the Hawaii Mars JRM-3 pictured here and the Philippine Mars.  They have been refitted as firefighting water bombers carrying 7,200 gallons of water.  They can be refilled on the water.  The pilot and crew land on the water normally, but keep the the aircraft “on the step” while scooping up another 7200 gallons in just 25 seconds.  Then, they takeoff for another firefighting mission.

Cessna 208 Caravan  The Caravan is a rugged airplane ready to accomplish multiple missions whether on wheels or floats.  This amphibian Caravan was landing on a grass runway using its retractable gear.  It came to the fly-in from its home on the water of a nearby lake.  Its powerful turboprop engine delivers the high performance and low operating costs.

Piper PA-18 Super Cub   Super Cubs make great floatplanes at a reasonable cost. This one fitted, with retractable gear in the floats, makes a smooth landing at a grassroots fly-in.

Howard DGA-15  The Howard DGA-15 is a single-engine aircraft produced by the Howard Aircraft Corporation from 1939 to 1944.   The DGA-15 is a high-winged monoplane with a wooden wing and a steel-tube-truss fuselage wide enough to sit five people comfortably.

Cessna 195 Businessliner   Ever get a hankering to fly an airplane with a bit of nostalgia?  A plane equipped with a radial engine, cowling bumps, small tires with big spats, etc.  The Cessna 195 Businessliner embodies the look of yesterday with better creature comforts than modern planes.  Developed in 1947, it was Cessna’s first all-aluminum aircraft with rounded cantilever wings, a radial engine, and a cabin seating five.  It quickly became a great utility plane on wheels or floats.

Piper J-3 Cub  The Piper J-3 Cub is a high-wing, strut-braced monoplane built between 1937 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft.  It’s powered by an air-cooled engine and a fixed pitch propeller.  Its fuselage is a welded steel frame covered in fabric with seating for two in tandem.  It has a simple, lightweight design giving it good low speed handling properties and short field performance.  The Cub’s standard chrome yellow paint known as “Cub Yellow” identifies it as one of the best known aircraft of all time.  It’s simplicity, affordability, popularity, and performance make it a prized bush plane whether on wheels or floats.

Grumman G-21 Goose   The Grumman G-21 Goose is an amphibious aircraft designed as an eight-seat commuter plane.  The Goose was Grumman’s first monoplane, first twin-engine aircraft, and first aircraft for commercial service.  During WWII the Goose was used as a military transport.  The G-21 Goose is an all-metal, high-winged monoplane powered by two 450 HP nine-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp radial engines.  The deep fuselage hull has a hand-cranked retractable landing gear and ample interior space to be a small airliner.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Floatplanes & Amphibians.