Page 27 - July 2023

One other feat that was unintentional but did much to convince Air Force officials of the Beechcraft’s “battleship” construction, it was reported that during one of the evaluation flights a pilot accidently struck a cable while flying at more than 180 mph. The cable, stretched across the wide span of a canyon, did not break but nearly stopped the Mentor’s forward motion before spinning it around. With less than 400 feet of altitude to work with, the pilot managed to regain airspeed and control before striking the ground, and flew back to the base. Upon inspection, only the right-wing surfaces and leading edge suffered damage and bore the imprint of the cable.
Satisfied with every aspect of the rough-and-ready Model 45, in 1953 the Air Force ordered a small number of Mentors designated T-34A (company designation A45). The first two Mentors were delivered in September of that year, followed by another 88 trainers one year later. All of these airplanes were powered by the Continental O-470-13 engine rated at 225 horsepower. Performance included a maximum speed of 189 mph and a cruise speed of 175 mph at a gross weight of 2,950 pounds. Service ceiling was 20,000 feet. When production ended in October 1956, the factory had delivered 353 airplanes.4
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) also wanted the T-34A, and in 1954 the Canadian Car & Foundry Company, Ltd, of Fort William, Ontario, obtained a license from Beech Aircraft Corporation to build the Mentor. The Canadian company built 25 airplanes for the RCAF and eventually another 100 for the U.S. Air Force, bringing total production of the T-34A to 453 airplanes.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy had been giving serious consideration to modernizing its aging fleet of primary trainers. The Navy Bureau of Aeronautics conducted a series of very tough evaluations at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Beech Aircraft provided the Navy with one of the earliest Mentors built, but it easily held its own against competing aircraft. Despite its age, the airplane was praised by Navy pilots for its rugged construction and particularly its nearly indestructible landing gear. During testing that lasted from September until December 1953, the airplane was subjected to abuse at the hands of pilots learning how to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Unlike the Air Force that had long runways to land on gently, the Navy taught its aviators to slam the airplane down on the deck to catch the arresting cable and “trap” the airplane. Although
JULY 2023
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 25