Page 30 - Volume 10 Number 7

Olive Ann Beech posed with a new UC-43 transport at the factory. Mrs. Beech played a major role in managing the company’s war contracts, which included wing/nacelle assemblies for the Douglas A-26 Invader. (EDWARD H. PHILLIPS COLLECTION)
as GB-1 personnel transports and to perform general liaison duties.
After Pearl Harbor, Walter and Olive Ann Beech received huge orders for military versions of the Model D17S and the twin-engine C18S. These included 105 C/ UC-43 biplanes for the Army Air Forces, of which Great Britain received 30 UC-43s that were operated by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy as the Traveler Mk. 1.
The factory also built 310 GB-2 models for the United States Navy, but 75 were transferred under Lend-Lease to Great Britain and another 14 were shipped to Brazil.
It was, however, the versatility of the Model C18S that garnered a majority of orders from the Army Air Forces and the Navy. Although the smaller, twin-engine Cessna AT-17 and Beechcraft AT-10 were ideally suited for teaching pilots how to fly and manage systems in multi-engine airplanes, it fell to the larger Beechcraft to teach airmen the darker arts of war such as bombing targets. The first military Beechcraft Model 18 (18D) was sold to the Philippine Army Air Corps in March 1939. Soon after orders were received from the United States Army Air Corps late in 1939 for 14 ships designated F-2/F-2B for instruction in high altitude photography. Eventually, the Army bought 56 F-2A/F-2B.
In 1940 the Navy ordered five C18Ss that were specially modified versions of the commercial C18S. These ships featured a cupola above the cockpit that housed an operator who “flew” a target drone via remote control. The Swedish Royal Air Force bought a Model 18R late in 1939 that was specially equipped as an aerial ambulance, and in 1940 China ordered another Model 18R in a similar configuration.
The brood of all-metal, twin-engine Beechcrafts built during the war centered on the AT-7, AT-11, C/UC-45, SNB-1 and SNB-2. The first batch of more than 1,400 C/ UC-45s built during the war years was delivered in 1940. As the war progressed, Great Britain received the C-45 version under Lend-Lease, but was operated by the Royal Air Force as the Expeditor II. In 1941, “Beechcrafters” began manufacturing the SNB-1 and a year later the SNB-2 for the United States Navy. Essentially identical to the Army Air Force’s AT-11, the SNB-1 was intended to train aerial gunners and bombardiers. A total of 321 airplanes had been delivered when production ended in 1944. A more utilitarian version, the SNB-2, was operated as navigation trainer as well as a VIP and general purpose transport. Deliveries began in 1942 with 44 airplanes, reached a peak of 286 in 1943, with another 276 rolling off the production lines in 1944.
By far the most prolific Beechcraft produced during the war was the AT-11, with 1,560 delivered from 1941- 1944. Known unofficially as the Kansan, the AT-11 series answered the military’s crucial need for a modern, reasonably fast twin-engine trainer equipped to teach bombardiers the deadly trade of unleashing thousands of tons of high explosives on Germany and Japan. The AT-11 was configured with internal racks that held 10, 100-pound practice bombs, and the ultra-secret Norden bombsight was installed in the Plexiglas nose section.
The crew normally included pilot and co-pilot plus three students. The would-be bombardiers took turns using the bombsight, which resided in a large, Plexiglas nose dome, to drop the dummy bombs. Training
JULY 2016
Your Source for King Air Landing Gear
• Inspect • Overhaul • Exchange • Install
• CompleteShipSets• KingAirAircraftMaintenance
601-936-3599 • www.traceaviation.com
28 • KING AIR MAGAZINE