Grumman Goose in Southern California?

[davem]

Does anyone know of if there still is a Goose operating anywhere in the LA area?

Any contact information would be much appreciated.

[Holedigger]

Might check out the Goose N329 out of Longbeach, ( FAA N Tracker)

AERO TECHNOLOGY
Street 3333 E SPRING ST STE 3000
City LONG BEACH State CALIFORNIA 90806-6826
County LOS ANGELES
Country UNITED STATES

Lots more Gooses (or is it Geese?) here, but not So Cal. Not sure how updated the list is

http://www.oldprops.ukhome.net/Goose%20census.htm

[davem]

Thank you!!!!

Will be in touch with them.

[MacHarvard]

Richard Probert, owner of the Goose in question, and operator of Aero Technologies, died as a result of a road accident about a year ago. The aircraft was under restoration at the time and was, to the best of my knowledge, in a state of disassembly.

The Goose was one of those used by his father, 'Dick' Probert, during the heyday of Avalon Air Transport, based on Santa Catalina Island. Unfortunately, Dick also died, at the age of 101, in May of this year. I am currently attempting to get his memoirs ready for publication.

Doug MacPhail (MacHarvard)

[bdk]

The Palm Springs Air Museum has a static.

Here are some possibilities:

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... tatetxt=CA

None of these are recent...

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Grumman- ... 1230923/M/
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Catalina ... 0392287/M/
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Grumman- ... 1333974/M/
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Catalina ... 0711769/M/


http://www.geocities.com/alaskangoose3/B140.html
http://www.geocities.com/alaskangoose/List-1.html

Aero Technology:

http://www.aerotechnology.org/profile.php

[D Fisher]

Saw this one in Chino last May.

[bdk]

Yeah, that one is still there. Not sure which one it is though. The photo in my post above looks like it might be in a hangar at Chino (although hangars can be somewhat generic in appearance), so it could be the same one.

[GARY HILTON]

I saw this same Goose in Chino yesterday...in hangar in front of the Talichet hangar, to the west of Aero Trader's

[Rajay]

The two pictures posted so far are one and the same. N329 (s/n B-140) is the Goose that was owned by Richard Probert and Aero Technologies of Long Beach and it is also the one at Chino. I talked to Richard several years ago, before his death, and to his friend Ellis Chernoff while trying to track down a different Goose.

The current "N329" (B-140) used to be N1530H in Alaska, but I don't have much info on its history. It's been under restoration/rebuild for many years and obviously it has languished since Richard died. It's supposedly 80 percent done and just needs electricals and avionics.

I talked to them a few months ago because their ad said the Goose had a metalized rudder and ailerons, but I had only heard of an STC for metalizing the elevators. They said it was a typo, but I never saw the ad corrected.

It is not the same N329 that was operated by Richard's father Dick Probert, founder of Avalon Air Transport in 1953. That N329 (s/n B-119 according to my records) was exported to Indonesia and I have no futher record of it.

Other Gooses that I have listed in my database as being in California are:
s/n 1130 N93G Newport Beach, CA
s/n 1160 N88640 Bakersfield, CA
s/n 1161 N95467 (mentioned above) Palm Springs Air Museum
It is still registered to Air Metal Fabricators in Arlington WA according to the FAA - I talked to Ken (?) at AMF a while back. They sold it in the early 90's. Now, it's had its retract floats removed and non-Goose fixed floats installed. Someone mentioned that they might be Kingfisher floats! They didn't properly restore the original round wingtips either. And they put 2-blade Ham Stds back on it like original.
s/n B-35 N742PC Manhattan Beach, CA
s/n B-142 N9074N Jackson, CA - I have a photo of just the fuselage with no paint and fixed welded brackets supporting Jeep wheels to roll it around.

I doubt that any of them are flying.

Last edited by Rajay on Sun Aug 19, 2012 10:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[bdk]

I understand the one in Chino is now for sale. I cannot find the website I saw it for sale on however.

[Mr Widgeon]

I shot a series of photos of B-140 in Seattle when it was being shipped south (in pieces) in 1994.
I also have some shots I found on the web of S2-AAD McK.#1202 in pieces.
Looks like all the airframe parts are there, but as you said, no engines.

[Andy Marden]

I saw another Goose at Chino in Jan07. It was dismantled, in one of the hangars to the east of ATC. I was told that it was owned by Roy Mabee, so I guess it was either B-47 or B-128. Does anyone know which one it is?
Regards,
Andy Marden

[Rajay]

Mr. Widgeon,
Can you post those pics of McKinnon 1202?

I once found a poor quality picture of it on eBay too, but there were diagonal black stripes drawn on the posted copy to prevent anyone from simply saving that copy instead of buying the hard copy that was for sale. It does look more like S2-AAO in that pic too, but I'll have to look for it.

Last edited by Rajay on Mon May 16, 2011 10:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Mr Widgeon]

My pleasure, Sir.
I've been to that site and have it marked as well.
I'm certain it's a typo, since AAD is listed as a PA-23-135 or Tri Pacer and the second AAO is listed as a C-150L.
Why replace a Goose with a 150 ?
It would seem to be a better replacement for a Tri Pacer, eh?

Here's most of what I have on the two 4 engine Gooses.
I also have refs. from Janes and the Steve Ginter Goose monograph.

The first one, Grumman cn 1147 (McKinnon cn 1201) with 4 engines and a long step



McK. cn 1201 now re-serialed McK. cn 1251 with the long nose, turbines and a short step.



And the second one, Grumman cn B-78, first as AP-AUY.



Then as S2-AAD with the Bangladeshi flag on the fin (Green field with a Red circle in the middle).



The other logo on the fin in the 3 B&W shots is the McKinnon logo.

And the more recent photos.









It seems the engines were still on or near by at the time.

And here's that 1994 shot of Grumman cn B-140 in Seattle enroute AK-CA.
Looks like it was run up onto the beach into some trees.
The nose has been crumpled down instead of pushed up as would be the case in a gear down water landing.



I've a few more of it I haven't scanned yet.

[Rajay]

Those are the best photos that I have ever seen of the two McKinnon G-21C's and the G-21D after it was converted to PT6 power! The second one you have of 1202 is the same photo that I mentioned seeing for sale on eBay, without the black stripes of course. The registration of S2-AAD is certainly clear enough in that pic.

This forum has proven to be a bonanza of new information, data, and pix for me in a very short amount of time.

Thanks guys!

September 2, 2011: just found a color copy of that photo of AP-AUY while it was at Gatwick Airport near London, on its way to Pakistan in September 1967:

Last edited by Rajay on Fri Sep 02, 2011 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.