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Description
| Notes: Improved RU-21B. | |||
| Manufacturer: | Beechcraft |
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| Base model: | U-21 | ||
| Designation: | RU-21 | ||
| Version: | D | ||
| Nickname: | Ute | ||
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | ||
| Designation Period: | 1952-Present | ||
| Basic role: | Utility | ||
| Modified Mission: | Reconnaissance | ||
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Known serial numbers
Recent comments by our visitors
| Bill Finney Muncie, IN | I flew the RU-21D out of Nha Trang with the 144th Aviation Company an later with the 146th Aviation Company out of Long Than North. I started as a WO-1 and was later promoted to CW-2. I flew it over 700 hours. The only problem I ever had was a slow loss of power from the power control unit on the left engine. I first noticed the problem when I was about 100 miles from my base. I elected to leave the mission area about 15 minutes early and return to base. When I started reducing my altitude the power temporarily returned. However, when I was a couple of miles out, the engine suddenly went to flight idle. I shut it down, feathered the propeller, and landed with no difficulty. I found the airplane to be a great joy to fly and one of the best landing airplanes that I ever flew. I have now owned a Cessna L-19/O-1 Birddog for almost 20 years. I fly it for fun and take it to air shows for display. I just returned from my 19th trip to Oshkosh with it. 08/09/2008 @ 18:15 [ref: 22409] |
| Ron Hall Pensacola, FL | I flew RU21-Ds during 1969 and 1970 for the 138th Aviation Company (RR) out of Danang and later Phu Bai. I attained nearly 400 flight hours of weather flying, mostly at night, and another 600 hours of fair weather flying. The aircraft was the best I've ever flown. Only malfunction I ever experienced was a prop governor failure forcing me to make a single engine landing. Extremely reliable and a pleasure to fly are words I'd use to describe this version of the King Air. My call sign was Vanguard 333 (triple 3). Oh, I was a CW2 at the time on my second tour having flown Hueys during the first tour. 05/20/2008 @ 12:24 [ref: 20961] |
| jim pearson , LA | I crewed on these aircraft flying out of An Khe and Nha Trang, then later (when congress found out how big ASA was and that we had been listening) was one of hundreds assigned to the 138th at Biggs to keep us out of sight. The comment about the WOs vs the officer pilots is right on, Mr.Thomas, Mr.Wells, and the other WOs are/were real pilots, most of the officers were amateurs (except for Cpts French and Brinkley) 04/17/2008 @ 08:18 [ref: 20590] |
| Danny M Koleski Sr. Louisville, KY | I was stationed at Biggs Army Air Field from January 1975 until January 1976. I loved the place to death and hated it when i received orders for Okinawa. My MOS was 05H2FY4. I was a crew member in the back of the Beechcraft RU21B's doing Radio Direction Finding. Most missions were rough flying over that hot desert in a plane that was overweight with radio gear and crewmembes. I finally had the doc put me on motion sickness pills and that help out so much. I was there when the plane caught fire in the hanger and burnt up. Luckily, no one was hurt. What was fun was if you got to be the person on the ground out in the desert in your jeep. We would stop at the store and stock up on junk food and drinks and get a local paper to read over the air waves. When we found our designated location, we would usually sit there and read the obituaries over the radio or some other so so story from the paper. The Warrant Officer that flew these planes were the best. You get a regular officer in there and you just hoped he didn't crash it. But the rougher the weather got, the better the Warrant officer did. I spend most of my time working in the training office as we only flew a couple times a month. 11/09/2007 @ 13:44 [ref: 18481] |
| Wesley G. Antwine Jacksonville, NC | I was stationed at Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Tx from 1972-1977... I was a DF operator on the Ru-21's in our unit... We Had 7 or 8 of them and then I transfered to the 2nd EW Co. Also, aviation out of the El Paso Natural Gas hanger and we flew the RU-21A/B/C/D models... We even test flew the Beech C-12 during the 70's... Tested it for them that is... The U-21's are one sweet bird.. Would love to catch a flight in one of them again.... Alas, but I am getting old I guess... 09/17/2004 @ 16:34 [ref: 8283] |
| John Cutler , CT | The RU-21 series of Beechcraft were U.S. Army, not USAF as stated on this page. The majority of RU-21 aircraft that returned to the states after service in Vietnam were bought by private companies and were converted to civilian aircraft. I was crewchief on 67-18127 from March 1971 through February 1972 at Long Thanh North Tactical Airbase. I was told that this particular aircraft was still flying out of Virginia as late as 1997. Long live the "Ute"! Great plane to maintain and the engines (P&W Canada PT-6A) were virtually trouble-free.
07/27/2001 @ 19:40 [ref: 2775] |
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