J4F-1 “Widgeon” Elizabeth City Model

J4F-1 "Widgeon" Elizabeth City Model Fly from Coast Guard Station Elizabeth City again in this handcrafted Grumman J4F-1 "Widgeon" model. Each piece is carved from wood and handpainted to provide a piece you'll love. 16 inches. The Civil Aeronautics Administration approved type certificate for the Grumman model G-44 Widgeon was issued on 5 April of 1941. The initial production of 41 aircraft was delivered to civilian customers and the Portuguese Navy. Production then switched filling orders for both the Navy and Coast Guard for a light amphibian utility transport designated as J4F-1. The Coast Guard acquired 25 J4F-1 aircraft purchased in two groups. The initial order consisted of eight aircraft, purchased under contract TCG-33459, with the first aircraft delivered from Grumman on 7 July 1941. These aircraft were given USCG service numbers V197 through V204. The following year the second batch, consisting of 17 aircraft, was acquired under contract TCG-34026. The first J4F from this batch was delivered to the Coast Guard on 25 February 1942 and the final was delivered on 29 June 1942. These aircraft were given the service numbers V205 through V221. In addition to utilizing the J4F-1 as a utility transport the Coast Guard intended to use them for search and rescue purposes. The Coast Guard J4F-1, basically the civilian G-44 Widgeon, differed only in the addition of a hatch on top of the fuselage, just behind the wing, for loading stretchers. With the advent of World War II these aircraft were assigned to coastal anti-submarine patrols and a wing rack was added to each aircraft beneath the starboard wing. These racks could hold a depth charge, a bomb, a raft, or search and rescue gear. A J4F-1 patrolling out of the Houma, Louisiana, piloted by Chief Aviation Pilot Henry C. White, was credited with sinking the U-166 on 1 August 1942 in the Gulf of Mexico. In the year 2001 this was determined to be in error when a diving operation located the U-166 in a position different from the location of White’s attack. White’s aircraft has been preserved in the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL. https://cgaviationhistory.org/1941-grumman-j4f-1-purchased/ It is a United States Coast Guard Air Station co-located at Elizabeth City Regional Airport in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, along the Pasquotank River near the opening of the Albemarle Sound. It is the largest [1] and busiest Coast Guard air station in the U.S., operating missions as far away as Greenland, the Azores and the Caribbean.[2] Coast Guard Air Station (CGAS) Elizabeth City is located on the campus of the Coast Guard's Base Elizabeth City. and is one of several commands located on the Coast Guard's premier Base. In addition, the Base Elizabeth City complex houses the Aviation Technical Training Center (ATTC) (a headquarters level command which trains enlisted Coast Guardsmen in aviation ratings in "A" Schools and advanced "C" Schools), the Aviation Logistics Center (ALC) and Station. The missions include search and rescue (SAR), Maritime Law enforcement, International Ice Patrol, aids to navigation support (such as operating lighthouses), and marine environmental protection (such as responding to oil spills).[2] Currently, CGAS maintains and operates five HC-130J Hercules aircraft and four MH-60T Jayhawk helicopters. CGAS Elizabeth City was commissioned on August 15, 1940, with four officers, 52 enlisted men and ten aircraft including three Hall PH-2 seaplanes, four Fairchild J2K landplanes, and three Grumman J2F Duck amphibious aircraft. Located sixty miles north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, north of Albemarle Sound and along the East Coast's northern most ice-free river, the old Holowell Plantation near Elizabeth City, North Carolina, was selected by the United States Coast Guard in 1938 for its potential strategic value as a seaplane base. During World War II, the air station was under United States Navy control conducting Search and Rescue (SAR), Anti-submarine war