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a total of 423 Mentors rolled off the assembly lines. Performance was almost identical to that of the T34A, with a maximum speed of 188 mph at a gross weight of 2,985 pounds (empty weight was 2,170 pounds). Maximum diving airspeed was 280 mph. All T-34B were powered by six-cylinder, air-cooled, opposed Continental O-470-13 engines that developed 225 horsepower for takeoff, and were fitted with Beech-built two-blade, constant-speed propellers that helped the Mentor achieve a respectable rate of climb at sea level of 1,280 feet per minute. During a 10-year period spanning 1948-1958, Beechcraft employees eventually built 1,904 examples of the Model 45.5
Much to the Navy’s delight, the T-34B’s record as a primary trainer allowed the service to reduce the number of flying hours to 36 from 74 because students learned more quickly in the Beechcraft than in the SNJ with its conventional landing gear configuration. The Mentor also slashed the time required to solo by more than 50%, and the overall accident rate decreased as well compared with the SNJ. In short, the T-34B taught fledgling naval aviators better and more quickly while drastically reducing operating costs.
It is interesting to note that in 1961 the Navy reported that since flight operations began in 1956 at Pensacola,
more than 9,000 naval aviators had been trained in the T-34B. These airplanes had flown more than 445,000 hours and boasted a safety record five times better than their predecessors. Navy training squadron VT-1, operating from Saufley Field in Pensacola, reported a record 75,000 consecutive accident-free flying hours surpassed only by VT-3’s 80,000-hour record.
One T-34B, the 39th to roll off the Wichita assembly line, earned a “gold seal of approval” from Naval Air Training Command after completing more than 5,000 hours and traveling 700,000 miles in the air. More than 100 Navy and Marine Corps pilots had been trained in the aircraft, which records showed had made 16,459 landings, 4,604 loops, 3,401 spins and 17,904 stalls and was refueled 3,325 times.6
During the early 1960s, the U.S. Air Force began phasing out its fleet of T-34A trainers in favor of jet- powered basic training aircraft. A competition was won by Cessna Aircraft Company’s twin-jet T-37 that featured side-by-side seating for the instructor pilot and the student. In the mid-1950s, Beech Aircraft Corporation did build its own version of a jet trainer designated as the Model 73. It was powered by a single turbojet engine and its airframe borrowed heavily from the Model 45. Although the airplane flew well and made many
JULY 2023
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 27