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Beechcraft AT-7 (T-7) 'Navigator'

Description
  Manufacturer:Beechcraft
  Base model:AT-7
  Designation:AT-7
  Nickname:Navigator
  Equivalent to: C-45 F-2 AT-11
  Designation System:U.S. Air Force
  Designation Period:1924-1948
  Basic role:Advanced Trainer
  See Also:

Specifications
  Length: 34' 3" 10.4 m
  Height:10' 3.0 m
  Wingspan: 47' 8" 14.5 m
  Wingarea: 349.0 sq ft 32.4 sq m
  Empty Weight: 5,935 lb 2,691 kg
  Gross Weight: 7,850 lb 3,560 kg

Propulsion
  No. of Engines: 2
  Powerplant: Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-3
  Horsepower (each): 450

Performance
  Range: 585 miles 942 km
  Max Speed: 224 mph 360 km/h 194 kt
  Ceiling: 18,400 ft 5,608 m


 

Recent comments by our visitors
 Phil True
 , VA
As a navigation cadet, I flew 20 missions in the AT 7 during 1944 prior to commissioning at San Marcos, TX. It was a fine plane for would-be navigators. However, it had no "facilities." On one mission a cadet, so the story went, had to urinate, which he did in the butt can on the plane. Since it was sloshing around, he decided to get rid of it by pouring the contents down the flare chute, located just aft of the pilot's seat. The pilot apparently did not notice what was happening until the liquid was being poured which by the dynamics of such a situation, blew back into the plane and splattered the pant leg of the pilot-- wearing a Clas--of the pilot. This did not make the pilot happy and the cadet was forced to spend one evening writing a lengthy sentence on the large blackboard in the classroom some 100 times on the stupidity of his act.
01/15/2015 @ 10:05 [ref: 68888]
 Wayne Campbell
 Carmen, ID
My Dad was the flight line chief in Hondo Texas during WWII and had 127 planes in his care. Navigation cadets were trained in the AT-7 and AT-11 and Dad logged many hours in the co-pilot seat.
We lost Dad at age 91 August 23 2011 on the 13th day of a 14 day Alaskan cruise celebrating his 68th wedding anniversary.
Dad,s AT-7, AT-11,and engine rebuilding manuals of the 450hp engine with many others are still in his desk in perfect condition. I hope to get them from my mother this Christmas.


09/11/2011 @ 14:46 [ref: 48889]
 david rahming
 Nassau, The Bahamas, FL
I always thought the at7 was one of the dash 8 aircraft. At7, why didn't you tell me that!!!!!!
07/30/2010 @ 12:09 [ref: 28433]
 Nancy Price
 Fresno, CA
Coming Aug. 31 from
THE FRESNO BEE
Central California's Leading Newspaper

“Lost Flights: The Sierra’s deadly legacy,” a series of print stories and online reports by The Bee's Mark Grossi and Cyndee Fontana.

Come with us Aug. 31-Sept. 17 and relive the stories of doomed flights. Examine the Sierra’s dangerous terrain and weather. Learn why there are so many crashes and why it's so difficult to recover lost planes.

In the center of the series, Grossi and photographer Mark Crosse will bring the Sierra front and center when they hike to Mendel Glacier in search of the remains of airmen who were lost on a training flight in 1942. Join them as they blog live from the mountain.

The series will package stories, photos, maps, charts, videos, audio clips and blogs for an in-depth review of Sierra plane crashes.

You can join the journey now; enjoy early blogs, galleries and more at http://www.fresnobee.com/lostflights.

Be sure to bookmark the page so that you can keep up with the series as it unfolds in print and online Aug. 31 through Sept. 17, only in


The Fresno Bee and FresnoBee.com

08/25/2008 @ 13:13 [ref: 22544]
 Peter Stekel
 Seattle, WA
Steve Johnson, I'm intrigued by your comments from July 31, 2008 about the AT-7 crash and weather and how you find "many attributes about this crash to be totally unbelievable."

Would you consider contacting me? I'd like to further explore your thoughts about the weather before I meet with people in September, 2008, from the Western Region Climate Center in Reno.

please write to:
peter@FinalFlightTheBook.com
08/09/2008 @ 14:14 [ref: 22402]
 Steve Johnson
 Fresno, CA
I've been researching and studying the meteorlogical conditions of the storm and have found the incident to be full of profound weatherwise surprises. I'm very familar with this region of the Sierras having flown aboard many cloud seeding missions over Mt Darwin/Mendel and know personally how extremely dangerous crossing the Sierra Crest can be. I therefore find many attributes about this crash to be totally unbelievable.
07/31/2008 @ 00:18 [ref: 22307]
 Tom Dominguez
 Coalinga, CA
In 1941, a navigator training version was put in service as the AT-7 "Navigator," which was followed in production by six AT-7As, which were modified with floats and given a large ventral fin. Of nine winterized AT-7's designated AT-7B, one was provided to Netherlands Prince Bernhard during his wartime exile, and five were supplied to the British.

The Model 18 was further modified during 1941 as the advanced trainer model AT-ll "Kansas" (subsequently renamed "Kansan"), which was intended for bombardier and gunnery training, equipped with a small bomb bay, transparent bombardier's nose section, and two .30 cal. machine guns, 1 in the nose and one in a dorsal turret.

Of the more than 1500 AT-11s built, 36 were converted to AT-11A advanced navigator trainers. A photo reconnaissance variant, designated F-2, was the final wartime run of Model 18s produced for the Army Air Force, of which 69 were acquired.

From warbirdalley.com
02/13/2008 @ 21:17 [ref: 19666]
 Tom Lachtrupp
 Cincinnati, OH
Ok, I keep reading that there were four airmen on board. But I also keep reading that in '47 three bodies were recovered along with wreckage. Then in 2005 a fourth body was recovered. Now a fifth? Something doesn't add up. Seems like they need to exhume the three that were burred in '47 and figure out who they are as well as the new body.
08/21/2007 @ 15:19 [ref: 17713]
 G.T. Burnette
 , CA
Sirs What is the didderent between a AT-7 $ a AT-11??. Thanks for any help. be well. G.T.
08/21/2007 @ 14:56 [ref: 17711]
 carter Endsley
 , FL

A second set of remains were found on or about August 20, 2007 at the glacier location near the 1942 crash of the
AT-7.

The second set of human remains was found in an alpine region oRangers located the body exposed on a remote rock glacier between granite boulders, his undeployed parachute, stenciled "US ARMY," just inches (centimeters) away. The Air Force was part of the Army until 1947.

On board were Mustonen, of Brainerd, Minnesota; pilot William Gamber, 23; and aviation cadets John Mortenson, 25, and Ernest Munn, 23, of St. Clairsville, Ohio. A blizzard is believed to have caused the crash.

The second set of human remains was found in an alpine region of Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra Nevada range on Wednesday, as little as 50 feet from where climbers spotted the ice-entombed body of Leo Mustonen in October 2005, park officials said.






08/21/2007 @ 09:02 [ref: 17702]

 

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