Aircraft model
REPUBLIC RC-3-1
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Republic Seabee is a four-seat amphibian built immediately after the war by a company better known for the P-47 Thunderbolt. It has an all-metal hull, retractable wheels and a Franklin engine mounted behind the cabin driving a pusher propeller, and it was sold on the promise that every family would own an aeroplane.
About a thousand were built before Republic abandoned the light aircraft business. The Franklin engine is the defining ownership problem, as it is for the Stinson 108: parts are scarce, overhauls difficult and expensive, and a tired engine can cost more than the aeroplane is worth. Many Seabees have been converted to Lycoming or Continental power under supplemental type certificate and those are the ones to look for. The airframe is slow and draggy — 95 knots — but the hull is robust and the cabin is genuinely roomy.
Compare with…
Put REPUBLIC RC-3-1 side by side with up to two other models.
- REPUBLIC RC-3-1
What it is
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Franklin 6A8-215-B8F |
| Horsepower | 215 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1946 |
| Production end | 1947 |
| Endorsements required | high-performance |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 95 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 450 nm |
| Service ceiling | 12,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 700 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 50 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,050 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 600 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 3,000 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,950 lb |
| Usable fuel | 75 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 12 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $90,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $235,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 1,200 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 13 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 6 |
| Median year built | 1947.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | — |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | — |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 0 |
| Transfers per 100 active | — |
| Airworthiness directives | 2 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | none |
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 3-4 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | —3 |
| Support | 1 of 104 |
| Liquidity | —5 |
- Accident record: class median 28.36 · 202 models in class.
- Severity: class median 11.65.
- Access: class median 767.75.
- Support: class median 141.5.
- Liquidity: class median 19.57.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.