First J4F for the US Navy. Struck off charge in 1946 and sold as N58832. Still current in 2023 as N23456. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Used to test flying boat hull designs, which would be fitted like slip-on shoes. Undercarriage modified to retract under the wing instead of into fuselage. The test hull in the photo is a scale version of the P5M Marlin. Auxiliary fins added to compensate for longer hull. At least four different hull designs tested between 1948 and 1953. 32976 is preserved at Pima Air Museum with a different hull to the one in the photo and without the auxiliary fins. Photo from: National Archives at College Park, Maryland

ex US Navy 37729

Grenold Collins was a pilot for a construction firm during WWII. After war's end he formed the Gren Collins Charter Airplane Service and Big Game Guide Service. In May 1948 he bought this Widgeon, BuNo 30151, from the Washington Fish & Oyster Co. for $12,000. It later became N79905 and N23456, still current as of 2020. Photo by: Grenold Collins / University of Alaska Anchorage

Modified lower fuselage for water landing tests.

This Widgeon entered service with the Navy in Sept. 1943 until her handover in 1948 for seaplane hull design testing. During this time she acquired the name 'Petulant Porpoise' and became the last Widgeon to be retired from USN service in 1954. Subsequently traded between various museums, she arrived at the Pima Air & Space museum in 1987 for display.

Widgeon built in 1945 for US Navy as J4F-2 BuAer No. 37721.