Grumman HU-16 Albatross (N98TP)

Grumman "iron" with extended range external fuel tanks.

N1955G "Pegasus", the long range tanks were installed prior to hurricane relief supply flights to the Caribbean in 2017, they were left on because N1955G and one other Albatross were going to recreate the flight of NC4 in 2019, 100 years after that famous crossing.
On 25 August 2018, Pegasus struck something in the water upon takeoff 425 miles offshore during a multi-stop aerial surveillance mission just east of the Gulf Stream in the Sargasso Sea. While the crew was uninjured and rescued by a passing freighter, the damage to Pegasus was far greater than could be repaired at sea. The amphibian later succumbed to the damage and sank.

Did the military not call this aircraft the SA-16 Albatross?

I think the Air Force called it the SA-16 Albatross.

G-111 was the manufacturer's name I guess

Went for a flight in one a few years back and got to sit in the jump seat. It was only semi- restored so the interior was drab military green and while they had replaced the avionics , the old cloth wrapped wiring was still in place. Experience of a lifetime

Actually a HU-16.

Is that Jimmy Buffett in the cockpit?

I see some confusion over the designations G-111, SA-16. I was a pilot for Chalk's Airline 1984 - 1986 and the G-111 was going to be a airplane to be sold to other companies. It was a conversion of a SA-16 that included a reduced gross weight than the military flew them at and included a Titanium spar. This was done by Flying Boat Inc. We were owned by Resorts International and later sold to Merv Griffin. A tremendously good and solid aircraft.