kennsmithf2g wrote:
Universal backlot August 1983
and this one too..........

I'm still interested in any information that might eventually confirm a specific identity (N-number or better yet OEM Grumman serial/construction no.) of the "static" Goose used for filming Tales of the Gold Monkey. Everyone knows that
N327 (s/n
1051) was used for the actual flying sequences after a different Goose crashed at sea while being ferried from AK to CA to do the show.
Fred Knight's recent book "The Grumman Amphibians - Goose, Widgeon, & Mallard" covers an amazing amount of detail and history of these aircraft, but I don't recall seeing anything in it yet to identify this Goose which is now on display in faux Pan Am livery at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, LI, NY.
My working theory is that it was one of several Goose airframes that crashed or was damaged during service on the Long beach to Catalina Is. route and was bought by the studio for use as a set prop so it never got re-registered or had a BoS registered with the FAA. That's my theory anyway - and Chris Bell of
http://www.catalinagoose.com once told me that he remembers
N13CS (s/n
1007) disappearing from behind the Catalina Seaplanes hangar in San Pedro right about the same time that they started filming TOTGM.