Republic RC-3 Seabee

The Republic RC-3 Seabee was an all-metal amphibious sports aircraft designed by Percival Spencer and built by Republic at Farmingdale, New York. Spencer had come up through Republic as a test pilot, and the Seabee followed his earlier S-12 and RC-1 Thunderbolt Amphibian designs. The wartime Army and Navy orders were canceled in September 1945, and the prototype RC-3 made its first flight on 1 December 1945. Republic built 1,060 Seabees in two years of production, from 1946 to 1947, at prices between 3,500 and 6,000 dollars, a respectable figure for a small aircraft maker of the time, although the hoped-for 5,000 a year never materialized. A few Seabees are still operating commercially as bush planes and air taxis, and 23 were converted to the twin-engine United Consultants Twin Bee.