Page 28 - Volume 15 Number 2

IN HISTORY
26 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
FEBRUARY 2021
dollars were made available. The Air Corps sought to revitalize its air fleet and twin-engine trainers were high on its list of priorities. Cessna received orders for 33 military versions of the T-50 designated AT-8, and soon the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) placed orders for 180 airplanes designated Crane I.
As the fateful year 1941 arrived, more than 1,500 workers labored in three shifts to build the AT-8 and Crane I. Later that year the Cessna engineering staff initiated a program to improve performance of the aircraft. The project was classified as “P-7” and centered on a series of upgrades to the existing Bobcat and redesignated T-50A. The only major improvements were installation of Jacobs L6MB static, air-cooled radial engines, each rated
at 300 horsepower, replacing the 225-horsepower L4MB powerplants of the T-50. Because the P-7 would be capable of higher speeds and feature increased wing loading compared to its predecessor, the wood wings and empennage surfaces were sheathed with plywood that also provided increased torsional strength for the entire wing structure.
In addition, the airplane would have a higher maximum gross weight and needed a new landing gear arrangement to handle the increase. Cessna reportedly purchased main landing gear from North American Aviation that was used on its T-6 advanced trainer and modified the gear to fit the T-50A. Only one prototype was built and first flew June 2, 1941, with veteran Cessna pilot Mort Brown at the controls. Flight testing demonstrated that the airplane possessed a significant improvement in takeoff, climb and maximum speed, achieving more than 200 mph. A series of tests continued through that summer and the ship was often flown by Dwane Wallace. The Army Air Corps and the RCAF, however, expressed little interest in the P-7 project and no orders were forthcoming, chiefly because both air forces were content with the AT-8 and Crane I that already were in full production. The P-7 eventually was dismantled at the factory and disappeared.
Cessna’s engineers, however, were already working on another design intended to be a potential replacement for the venerable T-50. Known around the factory as Project P-10, the airplane essentially was a high performance, multi-engine trainer that made extensive use of the T-50 airframe and components but was equipped with
Flight tests of the prototype C-106 led to construction of a second airplane, the C-106A. It featured geared radial engines, full-feathering, constant-speed propel- lers and a larger cargo door. The two Loadmasters built were cut up for scrap in 1943. (Wichita State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives via Robert J. Pickett Collection/Kansas Aviation Museum)
Cessna General Manager Dwane Wallace envisioned the new twin-engine Model T-50 as a strong candidate for a multi-engine trainer. He soon began preparing for large scale production of the Bobcat (as it was unofficially known) if war came to Wichita’s doorstep. The T-50 was the company’s first twin-engine ship and the prototype flew March 26, 1939. In June 1940, the board of directors approved a major expansion of the facilities to accommodate anticipated orders for the T-50 and, possibly, the single-engine Model C-145/C-165 Airmaster. Wallace, however, realized that there would be little or no demand for a military version of the Airmaster, and the last of 186 airplanes was built in 1941.
Completed at a cost of $50,000, the expansion added 28,000 square feet of floor space dedicated to final assembly operations. Although the company had sold a small number of the twin-engine ships to the Civil Aeronautics Authority and commercial operators, the T-50’s true potential was in the military marketplace. Wallace had held meetings with representatives of the United States Army Air Corps about the airplane’s specifications and performance. The Army was interested in replacing aging, obsolete trainers but Congress still held a tight rein on the nation’s purse strings and there was little money available to upgrade and modernize the Air Corps.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed that when, in the wake of France’s capitulation to the Germans, he called for production of 50,000 airplanes as part of America’s “Arsenal of Democracy.” Congress relaxed its grip on the budget and soon hundreds of millions of