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Third Quarter (Jul - Sep) 2007 Volume 20, Number 3 The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum Editorial here has been a lot of excitement around the War Eagles Air Mu- T seum over the last few months. As you can read about in the “Featured Aircraft” article in this Plane Talk, we re- cently acquired, through the Deutsches Luftwaffenkommando (German Air Force Command) at Fort Bliss, Texas, an im- maculate Cessna T-37B Tweety Bird twin-jet training aircraft. The T-37 served in the U.S. Air Force as a primary trainer for almost 50 years. The fine example that the Luftwaffe kindly donated to the Museum perfectly complements the three World War II piston-engined trainers (Boeing/Stearman PT-17, Vultee BT-13B Valiant and North American AT-6F Tex- an) already in our collection. Another new aircraft that you may see when you visit the Museum is a red- and-white 1954 Piper Super Cub that we recently acquired. The ultimate develop- S Temporarily airborne, the Cessna T-37B Tweety Bird hangs under a hoisting crane ment of Piper’s popular Cub (the Muse- Featured Aircraft near the Luftwaffe Headquarters building at um has the world’s oldest flyable exam- very military pilot who has ever Fort Bliss, Texas, before being moved to the ple, a 40-horsepower J-3 built in 1937), War Eagles Air Museum. the Super Cub enjoys an excellent repu- flown, in peacetime or in combat, tation for performance, reliability and for E has one thing in common—he (or just being “fun to fly.” This one will be she) learned how to fly in a training air- in the air a lot. Look for the full story in a craft. Most World War II U.S. Army Air future issue of Plane Talk. Corps student pilots started out in a Boe- Contents ing/Stearman PT-17 primary trainer, pro- The Las Cruces Public Broadcasting Editorial......................................1 System (PBS) affiliate KRWG-TV is go- gressed to a Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic Featured Aircraft........................1 ing to use the Museum for filming inter- trainer and graduated to a North Ameri- views with local military veterans. The can AT-6 Texan advanced trainer. After From the Director.......................2 station will air these interviews in con- the War, aviation cadets in the newly es- Emmet E. Cook (1918−2007)....5 tablished U.S. Air Force learned to fly in junction with the broadcast of renowned Science-Fiction Film Stars Visit .6 documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ epic a new fleet of training aircraft. One of Membership Application ............7 14-hour series “The War.” Check your them was Cessna’s T-37B Tweety Bird. TV schedule—you won’t want to miss Corporate Youth Sponsors ........7 this “event” when it airs in the Fall. Featured Aircraft (Continued on Page 2) 1 www.war-eagles-air-museum.com Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum Third Quarter 2007 Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 1) From the Director In the spring of 1952, the Air Force s War Eagles Air Museum nears issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for its 18th anniversary, we are sad a new, lightweight, jet-powered primary A to have lost yet another distin- training aircraft called the “Trainer Ex- guished military veteran, Museum volun- perimental,” or “TX.” The aircraft that teer and good friend. Within the last year, the Air Force sought was to be the first we have mourned the passing of Jack designed from scratch as a trainer—other Bell, Joe Russo and now Emmet Cook— trainers in service at the time, such as the three brave men who unselfishly served Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, were mod- S This grainy but historic photo shows their country when needed, and who em- ified fighters. Eight companies responded Cessna’s boldly marked XT-37 prototype, bodied key American values that we rare- to the RFP with a total of 15 designs. Af- with test pilot Bob Hagan at the controls, in ly see demonstrated today. Persons who ter a thorough evaluation, the Air Force, flight over hazy Kansas farmland. enlisted in the Service at the beginning of in December 1952, chose Cessna’s twin- World War II, if they were of legal age engine, side-by-side-seat Model 318 as craft have trained more pilots than those (many lied about their age to get in), are the winner. The Air Force felt that Cess- of any other company. Although Cessna now at least 83 years old. With the aver- na’s aircraft would allow more effective was not well-known for producing mili- age U.S. male lifespan of 74.5 years, the student-instructor interaction than would tary aircraft, it did earn a good reputation veterans who are still with us have beaten the single-engine, tandem-seat designs with the U.S. Army during World War II the odds by 9 years. “The Greatest Gen- that the other seven contractors proposed. with its line of excellent utility, light eration,” as Tom Brokaw eloquently de- In early 1954, the Air Force awarded transport and observation aircraft, and scribed it, is dying off at the rate of about Cessna a contract for three prototype later with the highly regarded and capa- 1,100 per day. At this rate, World War II XT-37s (serial numbers 54-716, -717 and ble post-War L-19/O-1 Bird Dog series. will soon truly be “ancient history,” with -718) and, under a separate contract, one The XT-37 had a straight low wing, no one alive who actually experienced it. static-test airframe. with twin 920-pound-thrust Continental- This will be a profound loss. The Cessna Aircraft Company had Teledyne J-69-T-9 turbojets (actually li- We at War Eagles Air Museum sal- been in business for 25 years. In 1924, cense-built French Turbomeca Marboré ute these veterans and extend our sincere Clyde Vernon Cessna partnered with fel- engines) buried in the wing roots. The thanks to the many men and women who low aviation pioneers Lloyd C. Stearman ear-piercing shriek of these engines gave have, over the years, offered their time, and Walter H. Beech to found the Travel rise to the sobriquet Tweety Bird (or sim- energy, knowledge and dedication as vol- Air Manufacturing Company in Wichita, ply Tweet), after the Academy-Award- unteers, mentors and friends. Kansas. Cessna soon disagreed with Tra- winning Warner Brothers cartoon charac- vel Air’s concentration on building bi- Skip Trammell planes, so, in 1927, he left and formed Featured Aircraft (Continued on page 3) his namesake company. Here he created what Contributing Author Robert Haynes’ he regarded as the ideal “Historical Perspectives” column will aircraft—a cantilever- return in the next issue of Plane Talk. wing monoplane called the Phantom. From this humble beginning, the Cessna Aircraft Comp- Plane Talk any soon came to dom- Published four times per year by: inate the market for simple, relatively inex- War Eagles Air Museum pensive, easy-to-fly 8012 Airport Road Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008 general aviation air- (505) 589-2000 craft—a position that it holds to this day. The Author/Editor: Terry Sunday Cessna 172 is the most Contributing Author: Robert Haynes Chief Nitpicker: Frank Harrison widely produced light Final Proofreader: Kathy Sunday aircraft in history, and Cessna’s advertising S War Eagles Air Museum volunteer Ed Murray removes screws [email protected] from the wing-root fairing to gain access to the wing-attach bolts has boasted that its air- on the T-37B at Luftwaffe Headquarters, Fort Bliss, Texas. www.war-eagles-air-museum.com 2 Third Quarter 2007 Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum mize the chances of foreign object damage (FOD). On October 12, 1954, Cessna test pilot Bob Hagan flew the XT-37 for the first time from Wichita Munici- pal Airport. “I think it’s going to be a real sweet airplane,” he en- S T-37B’s side-by-side cockpit provides ex- thused after the hour- cellent visibility and good communications and-five-minute flight. between the student and flight instructor. The second prototype, 54-717, took to the air Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 2) on January 6, 1955, and the third, 54-718, ter, by which the T-37 was forever fondly flew on May 3. All known. The cockpit was similar to that of three soon took part in then-operational Air Force aircraft, with a rigorous test program full dual controls for student and instruc- of more than 1,000 tor, ejection seats and a big, high-visi- flights by both Cessna bility clamshell-type jettisonable canopy. and Air Force pilots. Its 14-foot-wide main landing gear track Unfortunately, the made the diminutive aircraft easy to land program suffered a set- and easy to handle on the ground, and its back with the crash of ramp-hugging stance made it exception- 54-716 during a spin ally easy to work on without ladders and test on its 205th flight. servicing stands. Designed from the out- Correction of the unde- set for good maintainability, it had over sirable spin behavior 100 access panels. An experienced required several aero- ground crew could change an engine in dynamic and structural 30 minutes. Since they were so close to modifications—a long- the ground, the engine air intakes had re- er fuselage, a bigger tractable screens that covered them when vertical tail and rudder, an enlarged dor- considerable concern that a high accident the landing gear was extended to mini- sal fin atop the fuselage and a new ven- rate would result if students went straight tral fin under the tail.