The Lockheed 10 Electra was used by the military as a twin-engine trainer and light transport.
By: Norm Goyer
When the war clouds started appearing in Europe just prior to Pearl Harbor, the United States was sadly lacking in all types of military aircraft. What we did have were on the brink of being obsolete. The aircraft industry was about to be revitalized in a very big way. “Somebody call Rosie the Riveter.”
I live in Apple Valley, California very close to historic Rte 66, and a few miles from the railroad tracks that pass through the High Desert enroute from the east, the very same tracks that carried almost all of the troops sent to the Pacific Theatre. At the foot of Cajon Pass, 4,300 feet high, lies the outskirts of San Bernardino. Here the trains stopped and the troops were transferred to rows and rows of temporary bunk houses to await transport to the Islands. As I drive my Suburban over these tracks, which run through Mojave Narrows, I often wonder how many of our troops never came back and that this was their last ride through their homeland. It is a sobering thought.
The civilian Twin-Beech D-18 was purchased in huge numbers for use as a navigation and bomber trainer. They were also used for light transport duties.
War in any form requires huge transportation capabilities. Even small aircraft, pickup trucks and tiny Willys Jeeps are needed to move people and supplies. Large numbers of troops were moved with four-engine transports, parachute drops were conducted from Douglas DC-3s, now renamed as C-47 Dakotas. Top brass were shuffled from air base to air base in small four seat aircraft. Most of these were drafted into military service with nothing more than a new paint job and different frequencies on their radios. It took several years before the aircraft manufacturers could gear up and produce aircraft designed only for military service. This is such a vast subject we will restrict out discussion to those aircraft that were designed for civilian use and drafted into the military during the first years of our entry into World War II
This Canadian Cessna Crane T-50 is on display at a Canadian museum. This mostly wood. light twin was used as a twin-engine trainer. Thousands were built.
The airline industry supplied hundreds of Douglas DC-3s and Douglas DC-4s for troop transport. Douglas immediately made modifications to their assembly lines and started producing C-47s and C-54 Skymaster troop carriers. Curtiss was working on their new huge twin engine C-46 high altitude airliner, which was introduced at the New York World’s Fair in 1938. The airlines didn’t seem interested so the prototype was sold to the military who immediately ordered 200 of the new C-46 Commando. The more popular Douglas C-47 went on to be used in Korea and Vietnam. Many are still flying daily airline routes. The Curtiss was used by freight companies. I flew on several C-46 flights carrying bundles of the Wall Street Journal from Barnes Airport in Westfield, MA to New York City for distribution. The Lockheed C-69 Constellation came along towards the end of the war and a small number did serve as troop carriers during 1943 and 1944.
The Beechcraft D-17 Staggerwing was used by both the Army and Navy as an inter-base transport.
There was also a crying need for small twin-engine aircraft for use as multi-engine trainers, navigation trainers and personnel transportation from base to base. There were two civilian aircraft which fit the need perfectly, the Twin Beech D-18 and the Lockheed 10 Electra. Lockheed only built 310 Model 10s for both civilian and military use., Earhart’s fatal ride was a Lockheed 10E with 600 hp engines rather than 450 hp engines. In the end it was the Beech Model D-18 which fulfilled the needs of the military with several special purpose versions including the UB-45, AT-11 and the Navy SNB. Beechcraft built over 9,000 of the D-18 Twin Beech, thanks to Lockheed bowing out, due to pressures to ramp up production of the P-38 Lightning.
Cessna had produced the T-50 light weight, mostly wood, transport for the civilian market needing a small inexpensive light transport. The military tested the T-50 and found it ideal for use as a twin engine trainer and called it the AT-17, AT-8 and UC-78. Cessna built over 5,000 of them for the services, with a variety of engines and prop combinations. The little light twin worked perfectly. Due to its wood construction, many did not survive, but there are still a handful of Bamboo Bombers flying the air show circuit. As a sidelight, after the war, Cessna used the surplus T-50 Jacobs engines in their new Cessna 195 Businessliner.
The Curtiss C-46 was much larger than the C-47 and was used extensively flying cargo over the "hump" into China.
Four-seat aircraft were also needed for local transport. Military versions of the Stinson SR-9 Gullwing Reliant, as the V-77, and the Beechcraft D-17 Staggerwing, as the UC-43 Traveler. The Howard DGA-15 was pressed into service as a light transport for the
Army while the Navy used them as a multiple IFR instrument trainer. These models were designated as the UC-70 and NH-1. About 20 of the military Howards were obtained from civilian owners. Howard constructed over 500 of the DGA-15, (Damn Good Airplane), most for the military. Many are still flying, treasured by their owners. One of the most unusual troop transports, used in World War II, was the WACO CG-4 glider which carried troops, and even Jeeps, into battle, pulled aloft by C-47s to land behind the lines in France. This program was very costly in lives lost, it was not considered to have been successful.
There is a saying that our world moves on trucks but during battle, the world seems to move via aircraft. The Berlin Air Lift, immediately after World War II, proved that quite dramatically. When peace finally arrived, most of these aircraft were sold surplus and converted, once again, to their civilian role in aviation.