The Grumman G-65 Tadpole was an American prototype light amphibian designed and built by Grumman. Only one was built and it did not enter production. It was later developed into a family of amphibious aircraft by

David Thurston David Thurston (20 September 1918 – 10 December 2013) was an American aircraft designer noted for his work on small amphibious aircraft, including the Colonial Skimmer, Lake Buccaneer, Thurston Teal and AeroMarine Seafire. He also wrote three ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 made by Continental Motors in the 1940s, all sharing the US military designation O-280. Of flat-6 configuration, the engines produced 115 hp (86 kW) 125 hp (93 kW) or ...

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,

, 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

References

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* * * {{Grumman aircraft

Tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...

1940s United States civil utility aircraft Flying boats Amphibious aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1944 Military aircraft

Design and development

Specifications

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography