Warbird Information Exchange

You still got to love the Beech!!!



Taigh

What is the story on the rudder trim, all of the other high cabin airplanes I have seen had two tabs and all of the low cabin except for the ones in Canadian service had one?

Steve

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"Any excuse is good enough if you're willing to use it!"

The WWII Airborne Demonstration Team offers C-47 flights complete with an actual static line parachute jump as part of our "Airborne Experience".

More information at:

http://www.wwiiadt.com/Airborne%20Exper ... rience.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43u0SKV6C68

Regards,

Andy

Yes this Beech is a long way from it's military configuration.

She was built in March of 1943 as an AT-7 Navigation trainer, or military C model serial number 42-56725, and was delivered to Hondo Army Air Field in Texas.

Post WWII she went through the typical modernization at the Beech factory and emerged as a C-45H with the serial number 52-10636 (Military configured D model). She flew with the Strategic Air Command for a while until she was retired at DM in 1958.

She went through many different civilian owners and received many different civilian mods to her airframe and engines. One of these mods was the increase in the cabin height just like the late civilain E,G and H airframes. Other mods were as you noticed; the short stacks, carb air scoops, wing tips, picture windows etc.

Here is a shot taken during a recent inspection of the inside of the rear fuselage. In this shot you can see the original bulkhead contour and the extension added. The yellow zinc areas are mostly factory whereas the green zinc areas are the modified areas. You can see the green zinc skin strip added down the side of the fuselage as well as the bulkhead changes.



I find it hard to understand why someone would spend so much money and effort on an old Air Force Beech but they often did. The Beech factory had what they called "Modernization Kits" to upgrade the civilian and ex military aircraft that were flooding the market. Most all of the mods that this Air Force C-45 has were factory kits. It seems to me that when it comes to 'modernizing' or 'upgrading' your aircraft the attitude is usually "If you build it they will come". Just like today with the Mooney or other aircraft owners. How much people spend just to get another 1.27 knots out of their airframe has been big business for manufacturers and STC folks.

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To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

Taigh, re spending on the old Beech: Olive Beech told me personally, probably in the early 60's during a visit to the factory, that one of the problems marketing the new nosewheel Queen Air, later King Air was that owners were so loyal to the old twin Beech that it was hard to convince them to part with them and trade up.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Cool story Bill

_________________
To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

My Beech was also a 1943 AT-7, but it was never deliverd to AAF. Instead it was put back through the factory and reconfigured to Navy spec.s as an SNB-2 and delivered in 1944 #51125. It too, went through factory overhaul in 1952/53 emerging as an SNB-5. In the early 60's it went through Naval overhaul/repair and became a UC-45J. Some interesting facts about the differences between Air Force and Navy overhaul contracts were:
Air Force planes were considered to be new zero time A/C with new serial #'s.
Navy planes kept original serial numbers in Naval records and continued with total time since original new delivery, even though they went through basically the same contract rebuild as Air Force. Beech issued new serial numbers in their records, but Navy didn't change theirs.
The reason that I know all this is that it was a real challenge to get the first civilian airworthiness cert. and registration from a brand new rookie FFA guy back in the 80's. I almost had to "go ninja/postal" to get it straightened out.

Hello Steve,

I am sorry that I missed your question about the trim tabs.

All WWII and earlier Twin Beech's and early D models had the single rudder tab on the left rudder. It was determined that there was insufficient rudder trim available for single engine operations so there were two fixes developed by Beech. The first and easiest is an extension to the single rudder tab. The other more involved fix was to install a second rudder trim tab on the right rudder. Beech had a kit for this modification and it was also incorporated into the production line on D model and later aircraft.

In the Type Certificate Data Sheet for the wartime, and even the post war ex military Beech's, there are certain requirements that have to be met prior to original certification. One of these is a modification the single rudder tab by riveting in an extension on the trailing edge thus increasing the surface area. They even have a diagram in the TCDS for the wartime aircraft showing what has to be done.

Even though this tab extension is required on all single tab installations we still find aircraft flying today that have not had this mod. Since I am a big guy (6'4" and 285) this tab extension isn't that critical but it could be a factor for smaller Twin Beech pilots as they might encounter excessive rudder force required while flying on one engine.

_________________
To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

P-40, P-51, B-25, SNJ, T-28 Sponsorship/orientation rides:
www.warhawkairmuseum.org
Nampa, Idaho.

Taigh

Thanks for the info, Did the Canadian see the yaw problem first and fix it or have it fixed on the Expeditor 3N?

Steve

_________________
"Any excuse is good enough if you're willing to use it!"

http://www.warplane.com

Rides available in Harvard, Stearman, Canso, B-25, Firefly and Lancaster. Not sure how well advertised the Canso, B-25 and Firefly are, may have to email the Legends Program to ask for additional info.

edit*

Here's some detailed info

Hello Steve,

Of all of the Expeditors I have seen (3T, 3N, 3TN etc.) only one had a single rudder tab and I suspect that even it had the right rudder changed.

I could check the Canadian parts manual but I would bet that all of the Expeditor series aircraft had dual tabs or they were modified to have two tabs.

It has been my experience that the Canadians spared no expense on maintenance and modifications. All of the ex RCAF Twin Beech's I have seen were maintained to the highest standards usually with all of the military modification available incorporated.

_________________
To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

DFW Wing of the CAF offers rides in the R4D, L-5, and BT-13.

I don't have the contact info off-hand and our website is still offline, but when it's back, the plan is to have online ride sign-up available.

The website is - www.dfwwing.com