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was changed to UC-78 for utility and cargo missions. Later in the war 67 were transferred to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and operated as the JRC-1.
The largest number of the military T-50 model built during the war was the UC-78B, of which 2,156 were manufactured by the time production was halted late in 1944. The AT-17B was produced in 1942 with an order for 655 airplanes, but the last 189 were redesignated UC-78B before delivery. A number of these ships were limited to a gross weight of 5,300 pounds as the AT-17G. The AT-17C production run of 60 trainers was originally to be lend-lease to the RCAF, but the Army Air Corps absorbed the entire order. If gross weight was limited to 5,300 pounds, the AT-17C became the AT-17H. In addition to the 1,052 AT-8 and AT-17 series, and the 3,160 C/UC-78 and JRC-1 airplanes, all 40 of the commercial Model T-50s sold were moved by the military for the duration of the war and received Air Corps serial numbers.3
Cessna was not only busy building new airplanes, in 1943 an overhaul facility was operating in a leased
hangar at the Hutchinson airport north of Wichita. It was charged with rebuilding, repairing and maintaining AT-8, AT-17 and UC-78 aircraft. The War Department snapped up the opportunity for Cessna to work on its own airplanes, thereby releasing military personnel for other duties. The overhaul depot closed in 1945.
In late 1944 as the war turned in favor of the Allies, the War Department began terminating contracts for all types of airplanes, including trainers. With Germany fighting a hopeless war on two fronts and Japan retreating from the Pacific Ocean toward their homeland, there was no need to keep building the wings of war. At Cessna, the production lines slowly grew more and more quiet, no longer crowded with AT-17, UC-78 and Crane I aircraft awaiting delivery. After workers had built 5,399 twin- engine airplanes from 1940-1944, production shifted to a peacetime footing. Thanks to Dwane L. Wallace and his team of executive management and Tom Salter’s engineering staff, the Cessna Aircraft Company had made a significant contribution to the war effort that eventually brought Germany and Japan to their knees.4 KA
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SEPTEMBER 2020
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 25