|
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
| 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] |
| Peter Stekel Seattle, WA | I've just gotten off the phone with Mrs. Jeanne Pyle, a sister of Ernest Glenn Munn [7:30 PM PST 2/11/08]. Glenn was one of the cadets on the ship that crashed into Mendel Glacier in November, 1942. JPAC notified her and her family this afternoon that the person I found on the glacier last August was her brother.
If you're interested, check my blog at http://finalflightthebook.com/Final_Flight_bog_home.htm and I will post more data as it is known. Peter Stekel http://www.finalflightthebook.com 02/11/2008 @ 18:59 [ref: 19655] |
| Peter Stekel , WA | For nearly two years I've been conducting research for FINAL FLIGHT, my book about the Beech 18 AT-7 Navigator #41-21079 that crashed into Mt. Mendel in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks on November 18, 1942. The book project is the outgrowth of a magazine article I wrote for Sierra Heritage, published in Sept/October 2006. You can read a PDF version of the story at: http://www.peterstekel.com/PDF-HTML/Mystery.PDF
Two ice climbers discovered the body of Cadet Leo Mustonen on the Mendel Glacier in October, 2005. In August, 2007, while exploring the Mendel Glacier, my hiking partner and I discovered the body of a second cadet. There are many confusing reports about the crash. Some were created by the lack of records from the time and others came about by poor research on the part of past writers and the media during Cadet Mustonen's recovery and identification. This is not to bash the work of these other writers! Being a freelance writer I fully understand the crush of deadlines and of having assignments in fields I do not fully comprehend or understand. Journalists these days must often file a story/day [or more]. It is a hard job and errors are often made. To answer some previous poster's questions: There were four aviators [pilot 2nd Lt William Gamber and cadets Mustonen, Munn and Mortenson] aboard 41-21079 when it vanished. In 1947, some UC Berkeley students found wreckage from what was eventually identified as the plane below Mt. Mendel. One of the students guided a small recovery team consisting of Capts Robert Lewis [age 28, from San Bernardino, CA], Andrew Walton and Robert Goulding and USFS Ranger Neil L. Perkins. They horse-packed in from Florence Lake to the crash site. According to the 1947 USAAF report, "The remains of the deceased were not recoverable." In 1948, another attempt, commanded by Capt Roy F. Sulzbacher, from Ft Lewis, WA, to recover remains was made but to no avail. If anyone has knowledge of how to contact any of these captains [or their families], I would be most appreciative. I have designed a web page for FINAL FLIGHT where links to news articles may be found as well as information about my book project. I have also posted some photos from my August trip on the FINAL FLIGHT page including images of the aircraft's radial engines and what I believe to be is an exhaust manifold. I would be very grateful to hear from anyone who is knowledgeable about the Pratt & Whitney engines used in the Beech 18 - particularly the cryptic writing found inside the engine cowling. 09/06/2007 @ 12:29 [ref: 17856] |
| 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] |
| Nick Esqueda Fresno, CA | I was part of the Helitack Crew that went to recover the the body of Aviation Cadet Leo Mustonen, age 22 of Minn. on Mt. Mendel in Kings Canyon N.P. I am so glad that his family finally has found him and has given him a proper burial. 03/30/2006 @ 11:39 [ref: 12980] |
| Nick Esqueda Fresno, CA | I was part of the Helitack Crew that went to recover the the body of Aviation Cadet Leo Mustonen, age 22 of Minn. on Mt. Mendel in Kings Canyon N.P. I am so glad that his family finally has found him and has given him a proper burial. 03/30/2006 @ 11:39 [ref: 12979] |
| Woody Houston, TX | Press release today from DOD on Mendel & Darwin Glacier remains from AT-7
http://defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060309-12627.html Airman Lost In 1942 Crash Is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. Army Air Forces airman, missing since 1942, have been identified and will soon be returned to his family for burial. He is Aviation Cadet Leo Mustonen, 22, of Brainerd, Minn. The family has not set a date for his burial. Mustonen was one of four men aboard a routine navigation training flight that departed Mather Field, Calif., on Nov. 18, 1942. Their AT-7 Navigator aircraft carried about five hours of fuel, and when the plane did not return to base, a search was initiated. It was suspended about a month later with no results. In 1947, several hikers on Darwin Glacier in the Sierra Nevada mountain range discovered the aircraft wreckage. Human remains of three of the crew found at the site were buried in the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, Calif. Several other hikers on Mendel Glacier, which is adjacent to Darwin Glacier, discovered frozen human remains, circumstantial evidence and personal effects in October 2005. Park rangers from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and a forensic anthropologist from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) recovered the remains, which were later shipped to the JPAC laboratory in Hawaii. Scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools in the process. U.S. Army casualty and mortuary officials located and briefed representatives of the families of all four crewmen. For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169. 03/09/2006 @ 15:24 [ref: 12755] |
| David Bryant Newark Ca, CA | The parachute was unopened.
http://216.109.125.130/search/cache?p=%22kings+canyon%22+glacier+at-7&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8&u=www.modbee.com/local/story/11373471p-12120377c.html&w=%22kings+canyon%22+glacier+7&d=RY4sp46CLwSP&icp=1&.intl=us 11/30/2005 @ 21:38 [ref: 11851] |
Recent photos uploaded by our visitors
