US Air Force - Beech Duchess?

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ateamer

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ateamer
A guy I know was in the military, and claims to have been a pilot in the USAF. I am a bit dubious, because he said he flew the Beech BE-76, which he described as a twin engine turboprop, and said it didn't have much load and was slow. So he got part of it right, but he says that he "flew generals around". He didn't know at the time that I am a pilot when he was making these statements.

Does the USAF use any Beech Duchesses? Seems to me that they wouldn't use a twin trainer as an executive transport. Is a more likely scenario that he attended a flight academy contracted by the USAF for IPT?
 
ateamer said:
[...] he said he flew the Beech BE-76, which he described as a twin engine turboprop, [...]
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Say what?!!
Does the USAF use any Beech Duchesses?
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I know USAF has at various times used Beech 18's, Barons and King Airs (US Army operated Twin Bonanzas and Queen Airs), but I've not heard of any military Duchesses.
 
Continue to be skeptical. I can recall seeing a few King Airs in Air Force livery but not any piston stuff ever outside of initial pilot training and the aero clubs.
 
The Air Force uses King Airs, not Duchesses, to ferry generals around. They call them "C-12's."
 
Here's the fact sheets for the Air Force's active fleet. I've certainly not seen a light piston twin in the Air Force livery recently.
 
Teller1900 said:
I've certainly not seen a light piston twin in the Air Force livery recently.
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IMG_1304.JPG


Okay, so technically not an USAF plane and not a twin, but it is a light piston airplane painted in Air Force colors. :) This one is owned by the curator of the 1940 Air Terminal Museum.
 
T-41 Mescalero

Several of these ex-military trainers have ended up in private hands. A few show up at SnF and OSH every year.

t0r0nad0 said:
IMG_1304.JPG


Okay, so technically not an USAF plane and not a twin, but it is a light piston airplane painted in Air Force colors. :) This one is owned by the curator of the 1940 Air Terminal Museum.
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Even if there was a Duchess in the inventory - would any real USAF pilot admit to flying it? :no:
 
smigaldi said:
BTW are O2's now officially retired? They are the only twin engine piston that I can recall the Air Force flying.
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Looks like they're "almost" retired.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-2_Skymaster

"Today, two O-2A are all that remain, flying from Laguna Army Airfield, Arizona as part of testing programs carried out by the Yuma Proving Ground. They are the only O-2A aircraft still in active U.S. military service."

Hmmm, doesn't say anything about the current status of the O-2B, except "O-2B Version designed for psychological warfare, and was equipped with loudspeakers and a leaflet dispenser, but otherwise carried no weapons."
 
Question is, how long ago was he in the air force? I have a picture of a Beech Duchess I took a few years ago at the Air Force Museum in Rapid City, SD. Not sure what they used it for, but its on display.




I just found the picture and I was wrong, its a twin Bonanza, not a Duchess.
 
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There's an aftermarket conversion to make the Duchess a turboprop, but I thought it was fairly recent.
 
JohnR said:
There's an aftermarket conversion to make the Duchess a turboprop, but I thought it was fairly recent.
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Uhhhhh....are you sure you aren't refering to the Duke? As in the Royal Duke conversion?
Royal.jpg
 
Probably, but boy would a Duchess scoot with two turboprops or what?!!!!!!:D
 
I've been on a tour of the Air Force one hangar at Andrews a few years back. There were several King Airs at the time used for transporting the lower ranked privileged.

In fact the tour was in thanks for a group of us reporting an in flight failure of a King Air who was shooting approaches into FDK. We spotted a wheel assembly bouncing across the runway after liftoff of an Air Force King Air. The scissor links broke and the wheel assembly separated from the strut.

We got on the radio and informed them of what we saw. They proceeded back home to Andrews and landed in the foam.
 
Okay, I will continue to take what the guy says with a truckload of salt. I know that anyone who has actually flown a Duchess knows it is not a turboprop.
 
ateamer said:
I know that anyone who has actually flown a Duchess knows it is not a turboprop.
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Maybe it was the examiner I had for my ATP who wanted the pattern flown at 1500' AGL in a Duchess. I'm not sure if he thought it was "large" or "turbine powered". Whatever...
 
They use them for IFS (Initial Flight Screening) also. This is a course that a pilot candidate attends prior to UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training)
 
I'll post this on the Beechlist and see if any of the guys there know. This would have been quite a while ago. In the late 60s and early 70s when I was in the Army some folks were still flying recips. I was rotary wing, so didn't keep up with it all, but know some folks that did. The turbine part sure seems incorrect.

Best,

Dave
 
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Henning, I think that is what I was referring to in my previous post.
 
AWACSEng said:
Henning, I think that is what I was referring to in my previous post.
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Yeah, I must have already had the thread open when you posted, I'm sure you're info on this is more valid than mine, but it seems the info I have is what you know as well.
 
Two initial posts from the Beechnet from guys that are former military guys:

Hope this helps:

Dave

Queen Airs in the past, King Airs now. Duchess - I never heard of that.
And when I was in the USAF, I never saw a Duchess. The Army had Twin Bonanzas, but I never heard of them using Duchess.
Steve

The C12 and variants (U21J) see
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/c-12.htm are used by the military.
King Airs. The guy probably did not know the correct name of the civilian version, which makes me think he was exaggerating (lying about?) what his role, if any, on the airplane was.

They used to fly Barons and Cessna 310s also, the 310 was called a "Blue Canoe". I don't think it was the Air Force that flew Barons, I think it was the Army or Navy. The Air Force had the Blue Canoes.

Stan
 
Henning said:
Yeah, I must have already had the thread open when you posted, I'm sure you're info on this is more valid than mine, but it seems the info I have is what you know as well.
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Got it. Didn't know if you were reffering to something else. I'm not a USAF pilot so i've never been to either course. Just what I pick up in conversation with the drivers I work with. I think the academy used Katanas before switching to the C1. Just a little tidbit to throw out there.
 
Short History Lesson:eek:...for those that are interested.:rofl:
Having werked for Beech in the 80's this peaked my interest. Never heard of A military version of the Duchess. Beechcraft has had close ties with the military since the 30's. Did a little research and came up with the following list of civilian production models of Beech that had military versions. There was a myriad of one off planes built for the military, and a whole bunch of unmanned drones and recon aircraft. Went out to the Beech factory for training and they were in the development stages of the Starship. They spent 300 million on that project and everybody thought they would lose their asses, which they did on that project. However the knowledge they gained by developing the composite technology to produce the Starship, provided them with a 700 mil. gov't contract to make composites for other military aircraft.

Beechcraft in the military.

Starting with the earliest I could find:
Model #
17...Staggerwing...UC-43
18...C-45, AT-7, AT-11
36...Bonanza...special data gathering version...QU-22B
45...2 seat trainer based on the Bonanza...aka T-34
50...Twin Bonanza...L-23
55...Baron...T-42A
80...Queen Air...U-8F
90...VC-6A, U-21A
100...King Air...U-21F
200...King Air...C-12, UC-12
No Model 76 Duchess

I am sure there are some I may have missed.
 
If he flew a BE-76 in the Air Force, it was with the aeroclub.
 
AWACSEng said:
They use them for IFS (Initial Flight Screening) also. This is a course that a pilot candidate attends prior to UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training)
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And the Diamonds are owned and/or leased by the contractor, not directly by the USAF.
 
Initial Flight Screening is done under contract by Doss Aviation at KPUB (Pueblo, CO).
 
Man, I'm surprised that Ric hasn't chimed in on this conversation yet... he used to instruct at the USAF Academy before ERAU got that contract. The DA-20's are owned by ERAU, who does all of the USAF IFT now.

The Cessna that I posted a picture of on the first page of this thread is actually a 172, but it's just painted to look like a T-41.
 
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