The Widgeon was designed as a smaller, less expensive counterpart to Grumman’s G-21 Goose amphibious airliner. First flown in June 1940 the Widgeon entered production in 1941 with over 50 aircraft delivered to civil customers. The U.S. Coast Guard purchased twenty-five J4F-1 Widgeons and the U.S. Navy bought 131 J4F-2s. The Widgeons served primarily as coastal search and rescue aircraft and as utility transports in the United States. Early in the war a few were equipped for anti-submarine patrols and, in fact a Widgeon scored the first U.S. Coast Guard kill of a German submarine in August 1942.
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