The Grumman G-44 Widgeon is a small, five-person, twin-engined, amphibious aircraft. It was designated J4F by the United States Navy and Coast Guard and OA-14 by the United States Army Air Corps and United States Army Air Forces. Design and development The Widgeon was originally designed for the civil market. It is smaller, but otherwise similar to Grumman's earlier G-21 Goose, and was produced from 1941 to 1955. The aircraft was used during World War II as a small patrol and utility machine by the US Navy, US Coast Guard, and Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. The first prototype flew in 1940, and the first production aircraft went to the US Navy as an antisubmarine aircraft. In total, 276 were built by Grumman, including 176 for the military. During World War II, they served with the US Navy, Coast Guard, Civil Air Patrol, and Army Air Force, as well as with the British Royal Navy, which gave it the service name Gosling. Operational history United States Coast Guard On August 1, 1942, a J4F-1 flown by US Coast Guard Patrol Squadron 212 based out of Houma, Louisiana, and flown by Chief Aviation Pilot Henry White, spotted and attacked a German U-boat off the coast of Louisiana. White reported the submarine sunk, and he was subsequently credited with sinking and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. However, in June 2001 the wreck of U-166 was found sitting near the wreck of SS Robert E. Lee by an oil exploration team; and the sinking of U-166 on July 30 (i.e. two days before the Widgeon flight) is now credited to patrol craft PC-566 escorting the Robert E. Lee. White's Widgeon is now thought to have made an unsuccessful attack against , a Type IXC U-boat identical to U-166 that reported an air attack coincident with White's attack. U-171 was undamaged by White's attack, but was sunk four months later in the Bay of Biscay. Civil Air Patrol The sinking of a German U-boat by the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) was claimed by one of their larger aircraft on 11 July 1942. The Grumman G-44 Widgeon, armed with two depth charges and crewed by Captain Johnny Haggins and Major Wynant Farr, was scrambled when another CAP patrol radioed that they had encountered an enemy submarine, but were returning to base due to low fuel. After scanning the area, Farr spotted the U-boat cruising beneath