The Widgeon was designed as a smaller, less expensive counterpart to Grumman’s G-21 Goose amphibious airliner.  First flown in June 1940 the Widgeon entered production in 1941 with over 50 aircraft delivered to civil customers.  The U.S. Coast Guard purchased twenty-five J4F-1 Widgeons and the U.S. Navy bought 131 J4F-2s.  The Widgeons served primarily as coastal search and rescue aircraft and as utility transports in the United States.  Early in the war a few were equipped for anti-submarine patrols and, in fact a Widgeon scored the first U.S. Coast Guard kill of a German submarine in August 1942.

Manufacturer
Grumman

Markings
National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), Langley Field, Virginia, 1948

Serial Number
32976

Designation
J4F-2 “Petulant Porpoise”