The Columbia XJL is a large single-engined

amphibious aircraft An amphibious aircraft, or amphibian, is an aircraft that can Takeoff, take off and Landing, land on both solid ground and water. These aircraft are typically Fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing, though Amphibious helicopter, amphibious helicopte ...

Grumman Aircraft The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1 ...

but built by the

Columbia Aircraft Corp The Columbia Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, which was active between 1927 and 1947. History Columbia Aircraft was founded in December 1927 by Charles A. Levine as chairman and the aircraft designer Giuseppe Mario ...

. It was intended to replace the

Grumman J2F Duck The Grumman J2F Duck (company designation G-15) is an American single-engine amphibious biplane. It was used by each major branch of the U.S. armed forces from the mid-1930s until just after World War II, primarily for utility and air-sea rescue ...

but the type did not reach production status.

Design and development

The

biplane amphibian had successfully served the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

(USN) in quantity from late 1934 onwards. The final 330 examples were built in 1941/42 under sub-contract by the

, retaining the J2F-6 designation. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Grumman The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 19 ...

completed a major re-design of the aircraft for the USN as a

Wright R-1820 The Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 is an American radial engine developed by Curtiss-Wright, widely used on aircraft in the 1930s through 1950s. It was produced under license in France as the Hispano-Suiza 9V or Hispano-Wright 9V, and in the Soviet Uni ...

-56 powered monoplane amphibian. The new design was turned over to the Columbia Aircraft Corporation for development and construction so that Grumman could focus on the production of fighter aircraft for the USN. The aircraft strongly resembles the J2F Duck, except for its monoplane layout, and has been referred to as a "single-winged Duck". It is, however, a completely new design. The USN ordered three XJL-1 experimental aircraft from Columbia, with the first being used for destructive strength testing on the ground. The remaining two airframes, assigned USN BuAer Nos 31399 and 31400, were delivered to the USNs test establishment at

Patuxent River Naval Air Station Naval Air Station Patuxent River , also known as NAS Pax River, is a United States naval air station in St. Mary’s County, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River. It is home to Headquarters, Naval Air Systems Comma ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

for evaluation in 1946.

Operational history

The two aircraft tested at Patuxent River were found to have repeated structural failures of various components. Testing was abandoned on 21 September 1948. The aircraft were deleted from the USN inventory in February 1949. No further orders were placed for production of the JL design. The aircraft were sold as surplus in 1959. 31399 was registered N54207 and is undergoing restoration at

Yanks Air Museum The Yanks Air Museum is an aviation museum dedicated to exhibiting, preserving and restoring American aircraft and artifacts in order to show the evolution of American aviation, located at Chino Airport in Chino, California. History A pair of F ...

Chino, California Chino ( ; Spanish for "Curly") is a city in the western end of San Bernardino County, California, United States, with Los Angeles County to its west and Orange County to its south in the Southern California region. Chino's surroundings ha ...

. 31400 was registered N54205, and, restored, is now on display at the

Pima Air & Space Museum The Pima Air & Space Museum is an aerospace museum in Tucson, Arizona, US. It features a display of nearly 400 aircraft spread out over on a campus occupying . It has also been the home to the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame since 1991. Overv ...

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

Specifications

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

{{USN utility aircraft Grumman aircraft, J3F 1940s United States military utility aircraft Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States Single-engined tractor aircraft Amphibious aircraft J1L Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft