If you have any information or experience regarding the Model 72, please email me at billla@warbird.org.
Many thanks to Mark Cyrier, Tom Rochford and the Vought Aircraft Industries Retiree Club!
Ryan Model 72
L-17.ORG is still researching all the aspects of the Model 72, but this is the information we have to date. There is definitely contradictory information regarding the differentiation between the USAF and Navy competitions, we are researching this now.
The Model 72 was Ryan's entry into a primary/basic trainer
competition held by the
U.S. Navy in 1953-54. The U.S. Air Force had
already selected the Beech T-34A Mentor
in February 1949, so it was included in this competition by default. The other
competitor was
Temco's Model 33. Temco had also competed
in the 1949 USAF competition with the
TE-1A,an uprated,
tandem-seating Swift. At the end of the Navy's competition the
Beech's Model
45 was selected and given the designation T-34B.
Although the Model 72 does survive (and from the Navioneer article, we learn that it was airworthy in 1965) it is currently not in flying condition and from first-hand accounts would be very difficult to restore. Also from first-hand accounts, it would be virtually impossible to apply the Model 72 design to current NAvions to produce an aerobatic bird without a complete rebuild of the aircraft.
Big thanks to Tom Rochford for sharing his experience with the Model 72! Tom is sitting on the left in the cockpit picture shown.
"Scanned the attached pages of the Model 72 Handbook. Hopefully you can tell the differences in the cockpit layout. Note the open bucket seats. Our chute in a seat pack with a seat cushion was dropped in. In a previous photo we are walking away from the aircraft carrying the chutes. The seats were stationary and we adjusted the rudder pedals. The student flew and soloed from the right seat. That conditioned the student to use the left hand for the throttle quadrant and his right hand on the stick which is the normal tactical aircraft setup.
As, I remember the evaluation program between the 3
aircraft was to replace the SNJ. I
also have a flight manual. It's rather skimpy compared to other manuals and
contains NO flight operation section as I remember.
The evaluation program had four instructors and 12 students with various
backgrounds. Four students to each aircraft and the instructors rotated. I was
Marine 1st Lt recently back from Korea. I did
not know or meet the other students flying the Navion. We were all from
different flight classes. I was the first to
solo the Navion and that was for one flight. The talk at the time seemed to be
that most liked the Temco, probably
because it had a hotter look. The Navion was the only side by side which
probable helped me adapt easier watching the instructor and him watching my
cockpit procedures. Spins were demonstrated on the 3rd flight and were routine
in most early flights. Acrobatics also became routine. The Navion was too stable
and you had to work at spins,etc. I had a total of 34.8 hours in the Navion.
Because they only had one aircraft I received one solo flight, that was No 10 or
12 flight?? After the eval we started in the SNJ program for about 150 hours.
During the time I was involved with the Navion, I was a student without any pilot experience. The ground school was built around the SNJ. There was extensive ground school on the SNJ but none on the Navion. We knew the training in the Navion was for an evaluation and we would get our real basic in the SNJ. I was never in a standard Navion, so I can make no comparison except what I remember being told. So my knowledge of the aircraft is limited to what was in a preliminary pilots handbook."
The T-28B was new to the Advanced Training Command and I flew the T-28 about 6 months or so later in All Weather Flight.
What HP was the Model 72? It had a six cylinder horizontally opposed air cooled Lycoming engine, Model GO-435 C2B if that helps.
Where
was the extra fuel located? and how much? Two main fuel tanks, holding
20 gallons each were installed, one in
each wing panel, in addition a 20 gallon auxiliary fuel
was mount under the flooring of the baggage compartment floor. Total useable
fuel was 59.5 gallons. The auxiliary tank had its own accumulator tank and a
separate fuel gauge.
Gross weight 3100 lbs
Vmax 151
kts
Vne
190kts
Vcruise SL 75% nrp 135kts
Max Range 637nm
Vstall clean 67.7
kts, gear and flaps 52.3kts
The seats were not adjustable. We sat on parachutes and adjusted the rudder pedals. The baggage compartment behind the seats was accessible from the cabin All acrobatic maneuvers were permitted."
The Model 33 Plebe was Temco’s entry into a U.S. Navy competition in 1953-1954 for a trainer aircraft. It was a two-seat low-wing monoplane with an aluminum fuselage and tandem cockpits with dual controls. Although it was flight tested successfully, it did not win the competition.
Source: Vought Aircraft Industries Retiree Club
The T-34A was used by the USAF for primary flight training during the 1950s. The original Mentor, a Beechcraft Model 45 derived from the famous Beechcraft Bonanza, was first flown in December 1948. The first military prototype, designated YT-34 by the USAF, made its initial flight in May 1950. After extensive testing the USAF ordered the Mentor into production as the T-34A in early 1953. The first production T-34A was delivered to Edwards AFB in October 1953 for evaluation, and deliveries to the Air Training Command began in 1954. Photos of the T-34A can be found here.
Source: United States Air Force Museum
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/index.htm
Raytheon Aircraft Company was able to provide some additional information. The Model 45 Mentor was first flown on December 2, 1948. It was developed as a private venture to provide a basic trainer for the military. 3 YT-34s were ordered by the U.S. Air Force in 1950 for service evaluation as a basic trainer. The Air Force ordered an initial production batch of 88 in 1953 (2 were delivered September 1953, 88 by September, 1954) and the aircraft was given the designation T-34A. The U.S. Navy also purchased the Mentor as it's primary trainer after an exhaustive operational evaluation, taking delivery of 45 T-34Bs in December, 1954.
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
