Grumman Albatross
The Albatross is the largest of all the Grumman amphibian airplanes. It follows similar lines as the smaller G.73 Mallard. The boat hull consists of two parts, one from the nose to the main gear and one from the main gear to the start of the tail. The latter is slightly elevated compared to the first part. The single wheel main gear of the Albatross is retracted in the side of the fuselage, below the wings. The fuselage has six curved cockpit windows, and five rounded rectangular cabin windows. The vertical tail has a slightly swept leading edge, non-swept trailing edge, and a rounded top. The horizontal stabilisers are located near the base of the vertical stabiliser. Finally, the airplane has fixed stabilising floats under the wings, at about three quarters of the span.
Different versions
The different versions of the Grumman Albatross can be identified by
- the height of the vertical stabiliser
- the wing span
- the presence of a large radar nose
Details will follow later.
Confusion possible with
Grumman Mallard
The candidate for most likely confusion, is the smaller Grumman Mallard. Apart from the size, the Mallard has only four cockpit windows, race track shaped cabin windows and a non-swept, rounded vertical fin.
Canadair CL-215
This firefighting aircraft is about the same size as the Albatross and has a bigger, non-rounded tail. Also, the nacelles of the CL-215 are longer and the cockpit windows are flat. Finally, the tail cone only tapers in one direction.