Fairchild AT-21 Gunner - Survivor?

[Dave Lindauer]

There was some discussion ages ago about the remains of an AT-21 that had been saved by the old Southwest Aerospace Museum in Fort Worth.

Does anyone know if they still survive and if so their current status?

Last edited by Dave Lindauer on Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Dan K]

There was some discussion ages ago about the remains of an AT-21 that had been saved by the old Southwest Aerospace Museum in Fort Worth.

Does anyone know if they still survive and if so their current status?

The only significant AT-21 remains I know of are owned by WIXer "CVairwerks".

I doubt Craig would mind much if you sent him a PM with your questions.

[JohnB]

I'd like to see one.
BTW: it was Fairchild, not Grumman.

BTW; in 1947 a outfit called Agency Corp out of Long Beach bought 84 AT-21s for resale to South America and parked them in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
The deal fell through and they were still ther, heavily vandalized, in 1949.
If any AT-21 parts rermain, Ponca City might be the place.

I'm still amazed at the AT-9 remains I found in Abilene, TX behind a closed auto repair shop.

[Dave Lindauer]

JohnB - Thanks for correcting my momentary brain f**t. Not the first, not the last. I corrected the title of the post. - Dave

[Warbirdnerd]

Here is a shot from William Larkins fliker file. It appears to have been 'civilianized'. Anyone know more about it?

[Chris Brame]

I'm still amazed at the AT-9 remains I found in Abilene, TX behind a closed auto repair shop.

Cool - tell us more! Where are they now?

[JohnB]

I'm still amazed at the AT-9 remains I found in Abilene, TX behind a closed auto repair shop.

Cool - tell us more! Where are they now?

It was the metal cabin section.
Last I saw of it, it was at Harlow's BBQ resturant near Dyess that was filled with military aviation memorbilia.
The resturant was the official Dyess "hangout" for TDY people & VIPS, but by the time I got there in 1997, it had gone downhill a bit.
It's still open under new owners.

[muddyboots]

Sort of a pretty aircraft. Too bad it didn't fare too well.

[L. Thompson]

Dave,

The Fort Worth AT-21 remains were saved by the fellow WIXER Dan K. mentions, Craig Cantwell. To go back some there was a 2-photo (front and rear views) contribution made by Rick Matthews to the February 1981 (Vol. 17, No.2) Air Classics Warbird Report showing the remains in the weeds at Forth Worth. Sometime later (I don’t know the dates from this scanned photocopy below) another two photos sent in by Rick show it being loaded up and moved.




Craig’s example is extra rare in that it is reported be serial 42-48053, the second of just 39 built by Bellanca, of a total 175 AT-21 variants (30 built by McDonnell).

Interesting that the AT-9 story comes to light here. The Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa, had at least one AT-21 as late as 1953 and at least a couple of AT-9s. See this FlyPast thread:

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=41284

I have made the AT-21s a personal study over the years but this was news to me about the Ponca City, OK fleet! My dad had ferried two AT-21s after the war though it is unclear to me (and I forgot to get specifics before his passing in 2004) from what Surplus Field to just where he went with those. He had ferried some other aircraft from Kingman to Prescott on short hops because the fuel was much cheaper at Prescott where he lived, and new owners would buy just enough at Kingman and then top off at Prescott. I am not sure if Kingman had AT-21s though? Ontario did. I have one photo of one of them with my dad. It seems like a match to the one at Spartan in Tulsa that Dick Phillips posted in the FlyPast thread. Of course once de-militarized (turrets, markings) and left painted overall silver they would all look the same.



I don’t yet have an AT-21 documented with a registration beginning with “67xxx” The known AT-21 registrations I have include: NX25663; NX33690; NX63342; XA-FUI; maybe XB-XYZ (said to be a Bellanca ship). William Larkins said there were ten on the U.S. Civil Aircraft Register in July 1949. Warbirdnerd’s post above shows us the Larkins photo of NX63432.

I thought of something after posting here that I should expound on. My dad flew charter flights for S.E.P.C.O, (I believe headquartered in Phoenix) during much of 1946 and some of 1947. The charter flights the company did with my dad were a bit mysterious in several ways. Usually his customer was usually a Mr. E.G. Miller and they would fly to many locations in the western United States, at some odd hours and meeting with some big names of the day. Miller requested no log book be kept. My dad secretly kept one anyway, and it of course included his other flying of those days. One day he got caught by Miller making an entry and the log was taken and destroyed. I am thus without several months of history of my dad's early flying days and this includes the AT-21 flights. I don't know that SEPCO had involvement with the the AT-21s or not.


Lowell

[Obergrafeter]

I'm still amazed at the AT-9 remains I found in Abilene, TX behind a closed auto repair shop

You sure that was not an AT-10? I heard the BB-Q restraunt had an AT-10 and I tried to get it to go with my project, but it was gone by the time I tried.

[John Dupre]

Here is a shot from William Larkins fliker file. It appears to have been 'civilianized'. Anyone know more about it?

Looks like the French Flamant.

[marine air]

I thought it looked like the Flamant also. The profile picture of the civvy AT-21 seems to bear some resemblance to the late WW II C-82 Packet and later the C-119? Look at the cockpit windows, position of wings and how the center of thrust is positioned on the engine nacelles. Also the vertical fins. Same design team?
Last, the French built the Flamant and then the Noratlas, their look alike to the C-119 Flying Boxcar. Wonder if some Fairchild engineers helped restart the French aircraft industry postwar.

[JohnB]

I'm still amazed at the AT-9 remains I found in Abilene, TX behind a closed auto repair shop

You sure that was not an AT-10? I heard the BB-Q restraunt had an AT-10 and I tried to get it to go with my project, but it was gone by the time I tried.

Yes, you're correct it was an AT-10...I recall the metal cockpit area so the AT-9 came to mind. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I can't imagine where it went, probably in some CAF or CAF members hangar out there.
Come to think of it, contact the Abilene CAF Squadron (Big Country Squadron) at the small airport in Abilene. They probably know where it went.

[Obergrafeter]

No it went to an individual at Dyess. It probably came from the same Base mine did. a few miles away in Ballenger, found that on a rainy dark night in a junkyard (don't ask)

[robkamm]

Any current pictures of craigs plane? Im knee deep into v-770s projects at them moment. did it come with the engine and exhausts? i would ove to see some detailed pictures.