@ Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, Ford Island, HI
December 2018
Toward the end of World War II, aircraft manufacturers anticipated (wrongly) a booming domestic market for inexpensive civilian aircraft as wartime pilots returned to civilian life. Republic Aviation, famous for the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter, built and tested several prototypes of a small amphibian aircraft. On February 19, 1945 the Navy granted Republic Aviation the rights to use the name Seabee for the civilian version. The Army placed a large order for the aircraft, to be used for air-sea rescue operations under the designation OA-15. $20M of military Seabee orders were cancelled shortly after the end of the war. First flown in 1945, production would cease two years later with 1,060 built. In 1967, this Seabee was purchased as the initial aircraft of start-up airline Air Molokai. Since then it has bounced around various local owners before being donated to the Museum. Fuji X-E2s w/18-135mm.
