Unusual Aircraft in USAAC Service Pt 1

[hawkeye2an]

The C-79 was a Brazilian-registered Junkers Ju-52/3m, c/n 5283, registration PP-CBA, named "Aconcagua" of Sindicato Condor. Aircraft was impressed and transferred to the USAAF in May 1942, serialed 42-52883 and assigned to the 20th Troop Carrier Squadron. Aircraft was based in Panama, and was disposed of in December 1943; transferred to the US Public Roads Administration in Costa Rica. Aircraft later registered TI-60.

Prior to her life in South America, she carried German civil registration D-AENF. She was assigned to the Panama Air Depot (exact date of transfer was 9 May 42) and based at Albrook Fld, Canal Zone. Was transferred to Aruba on 9 July 42; apparently back to Panama 0n 25 November 42; and to Salinas-Equador 21 April 43. Records show aircraft was condemned on 20 Dec 43 or 7 Dec 44

Also reported to be used by the 49th SrG, USAAC.

It was involved in a taxiing accident in Trinidad on 9 June, 1943.

The aircraft was refitted with P&W R-1690 Hornets in modified DC-2 cowlings and the props look to be replacements too. The air-brakes were replaced with hydraulic brakes, a tail wheel was installed to replace the skid. All instruments and radio were replaced with U.S. equipment.

The aircraft was reputed to have been flown with no markings on "supply drops" to German subs, dropping ordinance instead.

Sources:
"U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909" compiled by John M. Andrade
Wings Palette – color plates of German and Ecuador markings
American Aviation Historical Society Vol 37 # 3 Fall 1992
'ALAE SUPRA CANALEM,Wings over the Canal' the Sixth Air Force and the Antilles Air Command, by Dan Hagedorn

 

[hawkeye2an]

Here's the photos

 

[hawkeye2an]

The Hamilton UC-89

The Hamilton UC-89 "Metalplane" was a 1929 era Hamilton H-47 used by Transportes Aeros Gelebert (Panama Airlines) Panama registration #R-12. It was "impressed" (drafted) for use with the USAAC in Decenber 1942, serialed 42-79546. It was assigned to the 20th Troop Carrier Wing. Some sources say it was sold back to it's previous owner and others say scrapped, where-ever it went it was s/o at the end of August1943.

side notes:

1. The only remaining example of this type of aircraft was sold at auction this past January for $620,000.

2. The plane was featured in the 1939 Cary Grant movie "Only Angels Have Wings" and the well-worn prop version turned up recently on the PBS series "Antiques Roadshow" given an appraisal of $5,000.

First pic is the UC-89 in Panama. Note the odd interpretation of the OD/Grey color scheme.
Second set of pics id the aircraft recently auctioned.

Sources:
"ALAE SUPRA CANALEM Wings Over the Canal" Turner
"The 'C' Planes" Holder Vadnais
Barrett-Jackson auctions

 

[evangilder]

Interesting. The Hamilton reminds me a bit of the old Tri-motor

 

[hawkeye2an]

Interesting. The Hamilton reminds me a bit of the old Tri-motor

Yeah, it's going to be a fun one to try and model. All that beautiful corrugated metal !!

 

[otftch]

Great Stuff. I've had a JU-52 tucked away for years. Just gotta do it !
Ed

 

[hawkeye2an]

Great Stuff. I've had a JU-52 tucked away for years. Just gotta do it !
Ed

I'm planning on doing it up in 1/48 with the Revell kit. Add 3 P W Hornets (Engines and Things brand available from Roll Models) modify some DC-3 cowlings (note that strange little lip at the top) and add that slightly 'off' paint job and it should look pretty cool.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very cool!

 

[ppopsie]

Amazing! The great Ju-52/3m was even in US service. I believe there had been no Ju52s in Japan either in military or civillian aviation.
I love the movie "Only Angels Have Wings" and this is for the first time I learned the airplane in the movie was this type; the Hamilton.
In my opinion "Only Angels Have Wings" is a little too romantic pre-war Hollywood motion picture but is excellently depicting the life, friendship, mutual trust, fear, death and love of the people who fly.

 

[hawkeye2an]

Smithsonian Air and Space magazine for November, 1995.
The name of the article is "Runways of Fire."

The first successful U.S. rocket-assisted takeoff was accomplished in an Ercoupe at
March Field by Captain Homer A. Boushey Jr. AAF (later to become Brigadier General),
with pressed-powder propellant JATO rockets developed by Cal Tech. He also made
the first American manned flight of an aircraft propelled by rocket thrust alone.
"The idea was we wanted to get as light a plane as we could," Boushey remembers.
"The Ercoupe belonged to the Army Air Corps. I flew it out from Wright Field to March
Field in California, where we made the test."
Eighteen rocket motors were delivered every other day for the first tests at March Field,
about an hour's drive from the project. During the first phase of the flight tests one motor
failed explosively in a static test and one while the Ercoupe was in level flight.
Thereafter, 152 motors were used in succession without explosive failure.
The tests were highly successful: three solid-propellant rockets were strapped under
each wing of the airplane, and the Ercoupe took off in about half the length of runway it
normally used. On August 16, 1941, Boushey made the first take-off of the Ercoupe with
six JATOs firing. Boushey ignited the blend of perchlorate, asphalt, and special oils with
an instrument panel switch, and in a blinding flash of light and dense smoke, launched
himself in only 300 feet and 7.5 seconds instead of the Ercoupe's usual 581 feet and
13.1 seconds!
At the end of the tests, Boushey recalls, "von Karman said, 'Just for history, let's
unscrew the propeller and be the first to fly an airplane with rocket power alone.' "
The first American manned flight of an aircraft propelled by rocket thrust alone was
made by Boushey on August 23, 1941. The propeller of the Ercoupe was removed, and
to be sure of getting off the ground, they doubled the number of rockets and started the
airplane rolling by towing it with a rope attached to a truck. Boushey left the cockpit
canopy open and held the end of the rope in one hand. Thus was born the little-known
and short-lived concept of Rocket-'n'-Rope-Assist.
"I guess I must have gotten 30 or 40 miles an hour before the tension got too great for
me to hold onto," Boushey said. "Then we lit the rockets - we put 12 on instead of six -
and it took off in a hurry." The airplane left the ground and reached an altitude of about
20 ft.

 

[hawkeye2an]

There were a total of three Ercoupes that served the AAC/AAF. One
was a YO-55 41-18875 and two XPQ-13 41-25196 and 41-39099.

 

[hawkeye2an]

Three Grumman F3F types were built for civil use. The first was the Grumman G-22 single seater of 1936 and presently on display at the Smithsonian. The second was the Grumman G-32, NC1326 c/n 446 and named "Gulfhawk III", built also for the Gulf Oil Company and delivered May 6, 1938.

The third was the profiled aircraft, built as the G-32A using F3F-2 and F3F-3 features combined with a two-seat fuselage and it was fitted with split flaps. The engine was a different version, a 775 hp Wright Cyclone 9 R-1820-F52 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial. It made its first flight on July 1, 1938, registered as NC1051, and was used by Grumman as a demonstration aircraft, an utility transport and photographic platform.

In November 1942, both the G-32 and the G-32A were impressed by the USAAF, designated UC-103, and assigned the s/n 42-97044 and 42-97045 respectively. Initially operated by the First Staff Squadron Headquarters at USAAF Bolling Field, near Washington, D.C., ferrying VIP's, in May 1943 they were transferred to the Caribbean Wing of the Ferrying Command at Homestead Air Field near Miami, Florida, and used as fighter ferry pilot trainers. Both were struck off charge on January 27, 1945.

Acquired by a private owner after WW II, the G-32 force-landed deep in the Everglades, Florida, in October 1948 and was lost. The G-32A came on the civil registry as NC46110 when acquired by Clayton Long, it was sold to Ben Bradley in 1947, and to an unknown person in 1948. It was obtained again by Clayton Long in 1949, and completely restored in 1962. By the time it was acquired by the well-known collector Doug Champlin of Mesa, Arizona, the aircraft was reregistered N7F and the aircraft was guised to simulate an USN F3F-2 in full pre-war colours, with the registration shown as a squadron code.

On August 7, 1971, the aircraft attended the EAA fly-in at Oshkosh (photo above), and while making a flight, the aircraft caught fire. The pilot and passenger parachuted to safety while the aircraft was demolished on impact. However, using the wreckage and three other wreckages recovered from Hawaii, a restoration to flying condition was started in 1988 by the Texas Airplane Factory at Fort Worth.

Registered as N100TF on September 4, 1990, and powered by an 1,050 hp R-1820-55, the aircraft made its second maiden flight in 1993, fifty-five years after the first. Since it has been seen all over the USA and Europe, wearing on the fuselage the Neutrality Star and the squadron insignia of VF-7, a Blue Burglar Wasp, added with a sailor's white hat and four boxing gloves.