Warbird Information Exchange

Hi everyone,

I would like to see your Beech SNB, C-45 pics. Older the better. I would like to see WWII pics also. Looking for ideas on paint jobs for our project.

_________________
Don't let the scrappers win !!!!!!!

Eric Miller
Project Warbird Salvage/Museum
http://www.projectwarbird.com

Not exactly an old photo, but this is our C-45H, we painted it up in WWII Marines markings...

<a href="http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee56/1941Hag/?action=view&current=IMG_2444.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee56/1941Hag/IMG_2444.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee56/1941Hag/?action=view&current=geneseo66.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee56/1941Hag/geneseo66.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee56/1941Hag/?action=view&current=port4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee56/1941Hag/port4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

- Austin Hancock

lemme try that again







- Austin Hancock

Austin,

Love your C-45H. I really like the pilot side hatch. I bet that makes it a lot cooler in the cockpit on those hot days. Were are you based out of. If you fly through Asheville someday let me know. I'd like to see your plane.

_________________
Don't let the scrappers win !!!!!!!

Eric Miller
Project Warbird Salvage/Museum
http://www.projectwarbird.com

Thanks Eric! We love our '45, we are the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group based in Geneseo, New York. I think we've been down that way before, so I'll keep you posted. If you ever need anything to help in your project, just let me know and I can prolly get an answer for you. If you need additional pics for reference or whatever, I'd be glad to help!

- Austin Hancock

Eric,

These Pictures are of ex-RCAF 3NM (N16139) in it's most attractive paint scheme.These were taken somewhere between 1981 and 1983.The only item that might have been improved was the N number.It could have at least used a contrasting outline color if not a contrasting solid color,maybe black.

The deicer boots were functional,but in the pictures below at Bloomington,there wasn't quite enough build up since the last cycle.You can see that there's a lot thicker build up on the OAT probe just forward of the cockpit door.In one picture,you can see the gray tape that we had to use to seal the cockpit door.It got cold and noisy if the door wasn't completely sealed.It was pretty easy to do.You just had to tear off a piece of tape and hold it close to the door seal in flight and the suction would pull the tape to the air leak.Ah,the Good Old Days.Of course,the circulation in my feet was permanently damaged from flying high gross Beeches in the winter with Janitrol or Southwind "heaters" mounted in the wheel wells.

This is N16139 next to Hangar 4 in the Express Airways days in Sanford,Florida.



Ni6139 cockpit.The short throttles were left over from a mod that allowed an auto-pilot control to be mounted on the throttle quadrant.It was removed when we got the airplane.



139 waiting to unload some boxes of explosives at Stransky Airport not too far from Chicago



This is the picture with the gray tape at the forward seal of the cockpit door



This is at an Army airfield in Missouri,I think



At the same place.It looks like a VTOL Beech at this angle



I think that these pictures were taken at Bloomington,Indiana.We met up with another of our Beeches (N6688),which was a SNB-5P/TC-45J,to trade out some boxes.There was a fair amount of ice in the clouds that day and snow flurries at ground level along with a cold wind.I certainly don't miss this bit when it comes to flying Beeches.









This is at Talladega,Alabama very close to the racetrack

from the TN Museum of Aviation Sept. 19, 2009

Larry,

Great pics. Looks like you have a lot of time in 18's. Those pics in Bloomington looks like it was soooooo cold. Thanks for posting these.

Dave,

Neal's SNB looks great. I will have to go down and see it and him soon. Thanks for the pics.

_________________
Don't let the scrappers win !!!!!!!

Eric Miller
Project Warbird Salvage/Museum
http://www.projectwarbird.com

I cast my vote for polished aluminum with the semi-flat black antiglare.

Chaz

Chaz,

Express Airways Beeches were close to your choice for finishes at one time.I liked them this way,especially compared to N6688's later White Elephant paint scheme.

Here are a few of pictures of N16139 after an overnight dose of freezing rain.It took a couple of hours to remove the ice with a dead fall hammer and some rattle can spray alcohol deicer.We were usually parked in the middle of nowhere when carrying explosives and seldom recieved much support,except at military bases.







Here's a look at some of the cargo



I eventually obtained a Sears kerosene space heater and a gas powered generator.Along with cargo blankets,some metal clips,bungee cords, cargo straps and some 5 gallon oil can's,this Austen Acres homemade engine pre-heater actually worked quite well.





Here are a few of pics of N16139 at Bicycle Lake on the Ft. Irwin armor training area in California in the late 70's







You can see the dry lake/airfield in these pics taken during the approach for landing





Here are both N16139 and N6688 at a Naval Air Station in the mid 70's.I think that it was NAS Memphis



at another military base in the 70's.For some reason,McGuire AFB comes to mind,but I'm not sure





This is N16139 in front of Express Airways hangar in Mojave.The company moved to Sanford,Florida in 1979



N16139 at Hawthorne,Nevada in the 70's

Cool pictures, Larry! (By the way, whats up with all the explosives hauling?)

Thanks,
Chaz

Wow Larry, you have the best obscure, old picture stories.

Very cool.

_________________
Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
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Chaz,

Hauling explosives was what we did at Express Airways in the 1970's and 1980's.We had bunkers at the airports in Texarkana,Mojave,Warrenton,Virginia and Talladega,Alabama where we could drop off items for another of our airplanes.That way,we could combine loads heading in the same direction and also segregate classes of explosives that would have been incompatable together,such as Class A explosives and Class B Special Fireworks.Or Class A explosives and Detonating Fuses.We used to fly a lot in the days before "cargo only" Part 135 was heavily regulated.Between 1972 and 1995,I flew over 7000 hours in Beeches,mostly hauling explosives around the country,mostly for the military.

Here's another load of items headed for a National Guard training camp



This is another of Express Airway's Beeches,a UC-45J N6082.These first two pictures are at Maryland Airport at Pomonkey,MD near the Indian Head Depot.We brought in ejection seat motors from various bases for periodic inspection and returned them after they had been approved.





These two were taken at NAS Norfolk,VA.





N6082 was the only Beech that we had with weather radar.It doesn't show the depiction in this picture,but it worked okay.



We had half of a large ex-Navy hangar at Sanford,FL.Here are some of the Beeches in for maintenance in the early 80's.N123EM was a civilian D-18S that had a cockpit hatch in the roof that opened forward.I always felt like General Patton getting in and out of it.



This shows N16139 and one of the old Tri-Gear Tradewinds that Express Airways got dirt cheap.I think that it came from Grand Canyon Airways.We never used them as freighters.I think that they were bought for the engines and parts,although they were flown from Mojave to Sanford when the company moved in 1979.



I think that this shot is looking back at Ni6139 and N123EM from a different angle.



N6082 is in the foreground in this shot.

That T-39G (843) was stricken from the inventory 04 NOV 04. Its sister ship, 158844, is still flying students at NAS Pensacola, Fl. I'm still making money keeping it in the air.

_________________
If God had wanted man to fly behind a flat motor, Pratt Whitney would've built one.

Larry,

Wow, great pictures again. (And info!) The panel mount weather radar is also pretty neat.

Thanks,
Chaz