The Grumman G-65 Tadpole was an American prototype light amphibian designed and built by
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 ...
.
Only one was built and it did not enter production. It was later developed into a family of amphibious aircraft by
David Thurston.
Design and development
Part of a project by Grumman to find types to produce once
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 ...
had ended, the G-65 Tadpole was designed by a team under the direction of
Hank Kurt.
The Tadpole was a two or three-seat shoulder-wing cantilever monoplane with retractable tricycle landing gear.
It was powered by a
Continental C125
The Continental C115, C125 and C140 aircraft engines were manufactured by Teledyne Continental Motors, Continental Motors in the 1940s, all sharing the US military designation O-280. These engines feature a flat-6 configuration and produce 115&n ...
engine above the rear fuselage driving a pusher propeller.
Kurt first flew the Tadpole on 7 December 1944.
The G-65 Tadpole postwar was not put into production for numerous reasons, those to include; the over anticipation of a private aviation market, less costly military surplus aircraft, and the inability to compete in the amphibious aircraft market.
Although not developed by Grumman, one of the design team,
David Thurston, later developed the design into a family of amphibians including the
Colonial Skimmer
The Colonial Model C-1 Skimmer was an American small single-engined amphibian flying boat built by the Colonial Aircraft Corporation. It was the start of a line of very similar aircraft designed by David Thurston.
Design and development
In 1946 ...
and
Lake Buccaneer
The Lake Buccaneer is an American four-seat, light amphibious aircraft derived from the Colonial C-2 Skimmer, itself a development of the three-seat Colonial C-1 Skimmer.
Development
The Colonial Aircraft of Sanford, Maine developed the C-2 ...
.
Specifications
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{Grumman aircraft
Tadpole
A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the Larva, larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully Aquatic animal, aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial animal, ...
1940s United States civil utility aircraft
Flying boats
Amphibious aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
High-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1944
1940s United States military aircraft
Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear