866,
Fireball - another obscure aircraft I had never heard of, but not right.
Noyade is correct - the Columbia XJL-1, which I had also never heard of until a couple of months ago.
Designed by Grumman as a Duck replacement and built by Columbia, who were already building Ducks. Only three were built. Ordered in 1942, but the first flight was not until 1946 and the project was cancelled in 1948.
My next clue was going to be "Murphy's War Part Deux". The XJL is sometimes referred to as the Monoplane Duck.
This one is being slowly rebuilt after a crash landing at Camp Pendleton following an engine failure. Due to very poor glide ratio, the aircraft undershot. The right gear was torn off, the forward part of the hull broke off and the aircraft ended up inverted. Luckily there were no fatalities. Grumman Ironworks lives up to its reputation again!
An interesting feature is a circular water-tight hatch in the hull, aft of the step, which leads into a small passenger compartment, below the rear cockpit. Designed to allow divers/special forces to easily enter the water.
A very good history here:
http://www.goodall.com.au/grumman-am...olumbiaXJL.pdf
Noyade has control.