Painted as a USN FF-1 of VF-5B "Red Rippers", this is actually a G-23 supplied in 1942 as one of the first aircraft for the Fuerza Aerea de Nicaragua. It only saw limited use before being left to languish in a scrap area at Zololtan airfield. In 1961 an Oklahoma spray plane pilot hired to work in Nicaragua discovered the G-23 and arranged to buy it for $150, restoring it flying condition by 1966 when he flew it to the Grumman factory at Bethpage, Long Island as N2803J where it was restored and flown to Pensacola the following year after appearances on the airshow circuit.

One of 33 two-seaters built for the US Navy, a scout version of the FF-1 fighter. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

NX12V was retained by Grumman as a demonstrator. NR12V when used for racing. It was sold to Canadian Car and Foundry Company as a demonstrator for the G-23. Canadian production as a way to get around bans on the export of weapons from the USA to Spain during its civil war. A small number also served with the RCAF. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Struck off charge in April 1942. The RCAF operated 15 Canadian built Grumman G-23s, bought to keep the CCF production line ticking over until Hurricane production began. The CCF production line and the "sale" of 40 aircraft to Turkey were a ruse to get around an embargo on the supply of weapons to Republican Spain. Photo from: Library and Archives Canada

Aircraft of the US Naval Air Reserve visiting the Western Canada Air Show in 1937. BuNo 9471 crashed less than two months later in Port Townsend, Washington. The second aircraft is 9483, the fourth is Grumman JF Duck 9839. On the far left is a Supermarine Walrus from the British cruiser Exeter, K8341. Photo by: James Crookall / City of Vancouver Archives

The Grumman SF was a reconnaissance variant of the FF 'Fifi', little different from the two-seat fighter. The FF and SF were both retired from first-line US Navy squadrons by the end of 1936 and allocated to Naval Air Reserve units. On the left is BuNo 9471. Photo by: James Crookall / City of Vancouver Archives

Fake markings. Is ex N2803J and Nicaragua Air Force GN-3

Grumman G-23 preserved wearing the fake markings of a US Navy FF-1. It is in fact ex Nicaragua Air Force GN-3, delivered in the late 1930s. It was withdrawn from service in 1942 and ended up in a scrap yard. Rescued from there in 1962 by J.R. Sirmons and flown to the USA in 1966 as N2803J. Acquired by Grumman who restored it as seen here and donated it to the then US Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola.

Grumman G-23 biplane fighter supplied to Nicaragua in the 1930s as GN-3. Recovered from a local scrapyard postwar and restored as N2803J and falsely marked as a US Navy model FF-1 serial "9351" for display in the NMNA.