Page 11 - Aerotech News and Review Xplanes July 2023

X-28 Sea Skimmer: A single-seat flying boat
The Osprey GP2 Osprey, also known as the Air Skimmer, Sea Skimmer, or Pereira GP2 Osprey, was a single-seat flying boat designed by Eut Tileston under contract to George Pereira, a private builder.
After the release of Pereira’s amphibious Osprey II some years later, this aircraft be- came known retrospectively as the Osprey I.
The original plane was designed to be water launched only. Initial test flights were performed in the Sacramento Delta. A single example was evaluated by the U.S. Navy as the X-28. Pereira formed Osprey Aircraft to market the plans to homebuilders, includ- ing plans for a trailer that allows the pilot to launch and recover the aircraft single- handed.1
The Navy became interested in the proj- ect through a Naval Air Development Center study into patrol missions in Southeast Asia. The study required that the aircraft be ca- pable of flight under visual flight rules, be lightweight, cost less than $5,000 dollars, and be able to be manufactured in Southeast Asia.
After examining Pereira’s Osprey in 1971, the Navy purchased the aircraft and com- menced testing it as the X-28A in the fall of that year. Although the Osprey met most of the requirements of the program, the pro- gram itself was cancelled without any fur- ther military examples produced.
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