Warbird Information Exchange

Last week at the museum I volunteer at, we had a visitor from Colorado who is rebuilding a BT-13, a Bellanca Cruisair (aka "The Cardboard Connie") and in his business has been involved with surplus O-2s.

He said he has heard of a guy in Texas who is rebuilding a Fairchild AT-21.
Now I know that sounds like the proverbial "I know a guy who knows a guy whose cousin...". He said he learned about it because he owns a couple of Ranger V-770 air cooled V-12s that equipped the AT-21 (the engine also powered the Curtiss Seamew and Bell XP-77).

So, I thought I'd ask here..has anyone else heard of an AT-21 project?

For those of you who don't know what an AT-21 is, five demerits...and here is is on wiki...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_AT-21_Gunner

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

Yup, that would be WIX member Cvairwerks having a Gunner project.

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
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DBF

LOL, John, it seems to have flown under your radar here over the years....

I rescued 42-48053 from a near certain demise in the late 1980's. I've had it stored while chasing parts, books and prints for it. The only thing lacking more than a spendable wad of cash, has been dedicated working space. The hangar I was working out of for a long number of years, was sold out from under me, necessitating a move to various warehouse spaces, all of which have no power or working room. Couple that with a directed company move that ended up not happening, and lots of stuff got sidelined for many years. Over the last 3 years though, I have managed to accumulate all of the radio equipment for the airplane, as well as most of the oxygen system. As soon as few things get worked out here at home, I will start running thru the prints and start building parts.

I'll have to resize a couple of the photos again to get them to post.

Was this the derelict AT-21 shown in Warbird Report maybe forty years ago? It was in Texas(?)

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Defending Stearmans on WIX since Jeff started badmouthing them back in 2005.

Probably Dan. Never saw the report with her in it though. When I obtained the project, there was this one and reports of two or three more in Mexico, south of San Diego somewhere. Of all the people that I corresponded with over the years, that frequented all of those airports, none could ever confirm a sighting of one.

Cvairwerks..

Thanks for the confirmation and good luck!

I'd love to see photos of your starting point.

John

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

Prints? As in blueprints? Do you have a complete set? I'm honestly surprised anything would have survived given how rare the airplane was to start with.

Also, now I want to see your AT-21 sitting next to the AT-10 AirCorps is currently restoring.

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

Some interesting photos can be found here -- http://axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e ... p?id=13257

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When I was young "sex was safe & flying was dangerous".

Any of this project though?

Dan, does this thread have the report (and pics) you're recalling?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48195

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Noah: I do have what should be a full set of prints, including the ones for the X versions and maybe some for the bomb version. 9 full rolls of microfilm, but not every image is readable. There are about 26 boxes of records in the Smithsonian that have AT stuff, but I haven’t been able to ever get things arranged to see what’s there. I had an acquaintance that was going to look, but he got moved by his company before we could set things up.

I’m a long way behind where Air Corp is on the AT-10. They’ve got people and financial resources way beyond what I have. Additionally, they have work space, which I’m severely lacking. Hard to work on a project this big in an 8’ x 17’ work space.

Do you plan to get it flying or will it be for a museum?

I'm afraid I earned JohnB's five demerits - if I had heard of it, I've forgotten!

Will be a flyer if I live long enough

5 lashes with a piece of al dente spaghetti for you

Excellent! Best of luck and I hope you will get to enjoy flying her for many years too...

Some random photos from storage...Had to resize these twice, as I messed up the first time and got them pretty distorted.