RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
N51649 is c/n 6644, a UC-78B (USAAF 43-32706) from the last batch built (650 airplanes). It was never a Crane. I think he meant "CAF" as in "Confederate Air Force," but it was never with that organization. It is currently registered to the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame, Galveston, TX, and is in the Lone Star Flight Museum, Galveston. It was damaged when Hurricane Ike struck Galveston in 2008, and its current condition is unknown to me, but the Museum's web site lists its status as "Flying/Display." It was painted/blue/silver. I do not yet have details of its military service, but here is its civil history: <!StartFragment>Date of Mfr 4-1-44. To RFC (San Antonio, TX) post-war for sale at Cuero, TX. S/t Frank Hlavacek Jr., Wilmette, IL, 8-8-45 ($8,500.00). Reg’d. NC51469 4-9-45. Civil conv. compl. 21-9-45. AwCert iss’d. 5-10-45. Prop spinners installed 13-1-47. S/t Robert C. Moravek, Melrose Park, IL, 7-3-59. S/t Robert E. Kennedy, Philadelphia, PA, 5-12-59. S/t M. M. Marshall, Kernersville, NC, 25-7-61. S/t P. McNeer Dillon, Jr., Statesville, NC, 27-2-64. S/t Frank E. Davis, Raleigh, NC, 18-5-68. S/t Air Service, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI, 29-9-68. S/t Melvin L. Schuck, Sawyer, MI, recorded 21-10-70. S/t Danny Rice, Sinton, TX, recorded 8-10-72. S/t Thomas P. Rowe/Theodore B. Shanks, Elgin, IL, 24-1-73. S/t Lone Star Flight Museum, Galveston, TX, 9-11-81. Cleveland wheels/brakes installed 8-9-93. R/t Texas Aviation Hall of Fame (name change) 23-9-97. Curr. as N51469.<!EndFragment>
Posted on: 12/25/2011 9:03 AM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10875563

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
There's a 1:1 Bobcat for sale now on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310351728235&viewitem=#ht_661wt_1167
Posted on: 10/16/2011 9:39 AM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10767906

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
Here's another full-scale Bobcat, or at least part of one, looking much like a model under construction. This is the fuselage of AT-17D/UC-78C, c/n 2688, ex-USAAF 42-14004 (originally an AT-17A from a batch which was to have gone to the RCAF as Cranes, but diverted), on display at the Flight of the Phoenix Museum, Gilmer, TX. It is owned by Terry Sullivan of Shreveport, LA, who used parts from it in the restoration of his other Bobcat, N66671. It is current as N91088, and the wings are in Terry's hangar in Shreveport. This is the only known (to date) survivor of the Bobcats assigned to the 318th Army Air Forces Flying Training Detachment, Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, better known as the WASPs. [IMG]http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t67/ZergOvermind_photos/GilmerBobcat.jpg[/IMG] Also on display at the Flight of the Phoenix Museum is this instrument panel from an unknown Bobcat: [IMG]http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t67/ZergOvermind_photos/GilmerBobcatPanel.jpg[/IMG]
Posted on: 7/22/2011 6:56 PM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10634281

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
Here are the details on N53378: Mfr. ser. no. 4510. USAAF ser. no. 42-71814. One of 640 AT-17B/UC-78B built to USAAF Specification 215A, Contract W535ac30827, 7 Jul 1942. Date of Manufacture 15-5-43. Details of USAAF service unknown at present. To WAA (Los Angeles) for disposal post-war. S/t Chadwill Hogan, Hollywood, CA, 5-8-46 ($400.00). S/t Challenger Airlines, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, 10-9-46. S/t Franklin E. Walker/Victor L. Neff, Salt Lake City, 11-1-47. Reg’d. NC53378 30-4-47. Civil conv. compl., Airworthiness Certificate iss’d. 14-7-47. S/t Airflight, Inc., Seattle, WA, 27-8-49. S/t General Aircraft Sales, Auburn, WA, 7-7-58. S/t Floyd Raffle, Auburn, WA, 3-3-62. S/t Jon D. Larson, Auburn, WA, 29-3-64. S/t Jon D. Larson Jr., Auburn, WA, 11-4-82. S/t Rick G. Larson, Kent, WA, 15-1-95. S/t Jon D. Larson Sr., Auburn, WA, 14-10-03. Curr. as N53378. Here's a photo of her taken 9 August 1969 at Abbotsford, British Columbia: http://www.abpic.co.uk/popup.php?q=1038867
Posted on: 5/13/2011 8:56 PM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10518513

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
Ed: The "JRC-1" at Pensacola was never a JRC-1. It is a UC-78 with a phony USN serial number (actually its N-number, as it is currently registered). The paint scheme on it is basically correct for a USN instrument trainer, but I have not yet found any contemporary photos of JRC-1s used as instrument trainers. JRC-1s were painted in a variety of color schemes. Some were painted in the Sea Blue/Intermediate Blue/White scheme used by many Navy aircraft, but some were left in their original USAAF colors (Silver or Olive Drab/Neutral Gray), as all JRC-1s were transferred to the Navy from the USAAF.
Posted on: 5/13/2011 7:01 PM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10518527

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
I was at the FAA in Oklahoma City last week, and brought back more data on surplus Bobcats and Cranes, including some of the pre-WW II T-50s. Many of the old CAA registration records were destroyed in 1979 (presumably accidentally, although I don't yet have a definitive answer). I'm continually amazed by some of the historical coincidences I find. For example, T-50 serial number 1014, the 14th airplane built (the first was serial number 1000, and there was no serial number 1013) was built for Muncie Aviation Corp. of Muncie, IN. Muncie Aviation was started by the Ball Corporation, maker of those glass fruit jars your mother probably used for canning. They acquired their T-50 22 Nov 1940 and registered it NC1630. In Jan 1942 Muncie Aviation sold their T-50 to Pan American Air Ferries, a division of Pan American World Airways. On 4 April 1942, NC1630 was lost when the freighter carrying it sunk 300 mi. SW of Takoradi,Gold Coast (present-day Ghana). The ship, SS West Irmo of American-West African Lines, had been torpedoed the day before by the German submarine U-505 on her second patrol. And U-505, of course, is the U-boat captured by the US Navy on 4 June 1944 (the first such capture of an enemy ship by the US Navy since the War of 1812) and which is now preserved as a museum exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL. So far NC1630 is the only Bobcat I have discovered that was lost to a U-boat. <!StartFragment><!EndFragment><!StartFragment><!EndFragment>
Posted on: 5/4/2011 9:32 AM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10501044

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
I'm insanely jealous. I hope you took lots of detailed photos!
Posted on: 4/22/2011 8:37 AM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10478328

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
That's what I thought, too, until I looked up "Vultee V-77" myself. And I'm afraid "ultimate fate unknown" is a phrase that applies to most Bobcats, but they were probably scrapped.
Posted on: 4/17/2011 2:50 PM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10468239

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
Here's an interesting Bobcat I have just found in the FAA files This is a UC-78, c/n 5864, ex USAAF 43-31926. In 1957 she was acquired by Mercy Flights, Inc., of Medford, OR, an air ambulance company, and registered N117MF. In 1959 her Jacobs engines were replaced by Lycomings, but the original cowlings were subsequently replaced by cowlings and exhaust systems from Vultee V-77s (recertified war-surplus Stinson Reliants) and her Ham Std props replaced with full-feathering Hartzell 3-bladed props. She was sold in 1965 and re-registered N273DJ as shown here. Her registration was revoked in 1974 and her ultimate fate is unknown.
Posted on: 4/17/2011 11:27 AM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10467941

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
I'll be home; give me a call!
Posted on: 4/4/2011 4:22 PM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10442981

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
Those of you looking for an out-of-the ordinary color scheme for your Bobcat might do well to consider cn 1303/NC25490, one of the airplanes purchased by Pan American Airways for use as an instrument trainer. She was painted Loening Yellow overall, with Insignia Blue Pan Am markings and a Bronze Green anti-glare panel. On my last visit to Oklahoma City, I was fortunate to find copies of the engineering drawings documenting all the modifications (mostly having to do with radios and instruments) made by Pan Am to its Bobcat fleet, and I can furnish copies to anyone interested.
Posted on: 4/4/2011 11:40 AM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10442475

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
Those Alaskan bush planes (N64700 and - on floats - N73598) are ex-Northern Consolidated Airlines T-50s. Northern Consolidated operated a fleet of about a dozen Bobcats in Alaska, but modified them extensively, replacing Jacobs engines with Lycomings, modifying them for operation on wheels, floats, or skis, replacing the original landing gear with BT-13 wheels/brakes/landing gear forks/scissors, adding a reinforced cabin floor and right side large cargo door, and modifying the interior to allow for 7 passengers, in addition to adding the new pilot/co-pilot doors seen in these photos. NCA called its modified Bobcats "Bushmasters," and they were certified for a maximum gross operating weight of 6,555 pounds, an 855-pound increase over the stock Bobcat. N64700 was the prototype Bushmaster; she was destroyed in 1968 when an engine quit on final and she struck some trees and sank in a lake near Stevens Village, Alaska. N73598 was built as an AT-17B and served at Frederick Army Air Field and Altus Army Air Field, both in Oklahoma, before her sale as surplus. Her fate is unknown at this point.
Posted on: 3/22/2011 3:49 PM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10416349

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
That last line should have read "Current as N59188 as of 17 Feb 2011." My mistake.
Posted on: 2/19/2011 9:02 AM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10347848

RE: Don Smith Cessna T-50
Hi, guys. I've been lurking here for some time, but finally decided to join up so I can comment through the forum instead of individual emails. I'm not an R/C builder (too expensive!), but I appreciate the craftsmanship of all the builders whose work I see here. Some of you know me, because I've replied to individual emails. Rich Sheaner ("rhsmrt50") is a buddy of mine. I'm working on a history of the Cessna T-50, and have accumulated info on all of the airframes which are still current and many which are not. In fact, I'm headed up to Oklahoma City on Monday to do more research at the FAA's Aircraft Registry at the Monroney Aeronautical Center at Will Rogers Airport. If you have questions about an individual T-50 or T-50 history in general, please post it here and I'll be happy to try to answer it. Michael Mcmurtrey Carrollton, TX
Posted on: 2/19/2011 8:59 AM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Giant Scale Aircraft - General"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10347840

RE: Yet Another 310 Songbird
The colors of N5348A, the 310B used in "Sky King," were Sierra Gold (a dark yellowish brown), Coronado Yellow, and white, one of four stock color schemes available for the 310B. These colors are confirmed by (1) the 310B brochure, (2) the 310B parts manual, and (3) the Cessna production record card for N5348A (copies of all of which are in my possession), as well as the sole surviving piece of N5348A, its vertical fin, which is in the hands of a private collector. The red-and-white scheme, though attractive, is totally bogus. The image seen on the DVD/video cassette box art is an inaccurately colorized black-and-white image. I was consultant to Squadron/MMD on their recently released Cessna T-50 kit.
Posted on: 9/19/2009 12:04 PM by Author "SpaceRanger" in the forum "Twin & Multi Engine RC Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9105700