Game Cars: Sully’s Grumman Goose
Nathan Drake’s treasure hunting has taken him to the far corners of the world. Nathan Drake is searching for the remains of Francis Drake off the coast of Panama. Legend has it that Drake’s lead coffin was buried at sea empty, containing only the infamous explorer’s diary that leads the way to the treasure of El Dorado. Elana Fischer is sent by her employers, who are also financing Nathan Drake’s mission, to film a documentary about it. Shortly after discovering the coffin and diary, the two are attacked by pirates looking to score the treasure for themselves. Nate and Elana manage to fend them off for a while until their boat is set on fire. Just in the nick of time, Nate’s old friend Victor “Sully” Sullivan swoops down in his red and white Grumman Goose flying boat to rescue the pair while their boat sinks into the abyss. After Sully is killed for not paying off his gambling debts, Nate and Elana are forced on the fun and take his Goose to an uncharted pacific island to search for El Dorado, the golden man. As soon as they arrive, the plane is shot down by pirate anti-aircraft guns leaving the two stranded on the mysterious island.
The Grumman Goose was an amphibious flying boat designed in 1936 as an eight-seat commuter plane for business passengers. It was originally envisioned to act as a corporate aircraft or “flying yacht” for Manhattan millionaires. During the period, flying boats were seen as the future since their ability to land almost anywhere made their range effectively unlimited. Long before the jet age, they dominated the airways, taking passengers to far flung corners of the globe. As an amphibious aircraft, the Goose had a boat-like hull and wing mounted floats for water landings. Two retractable wheels and a non-retracting tail wheel were mounted on it allowing it to take off and land on conventional ground based runways. The plane had a wingspan of 49ft and an approximate length of 38ft. It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior SB2 radial engines rated at 450hp each. The Goose has a top speed of 184mph, a range of 1050 miles, and a service ceiling of 21,000ft. Like many civilian planes of the era, it was adapted for military use during the second world war as a trainer and for combat roles. Namely submarine hunting during the Battle of the Atlantic along with other flying boats such as the PBY Catalina. It could be equipped with two .50 cal machine guns and two 250lb depth charges. Following World War II, it took the role of a light civilian transport workhorse. 345 aircraft were built in total with 60 still flying today.
