RB Conestoga

The RB-1 Conestoga was a twin-engine, stainless steel cargo aircraft designed for the United States Navy during World War II by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although it did not see service in a combat theater, it pioneered design innovations later incorporated in modern military cargo aircraft.

Design and development

World War II created a great demand for military transport planes in the United States. Because of initial fears of a shortage of aluminum, the War Department explored the use of other materials for aircraft construction. Budd, the developer of the shotweld technique for welding stainless steel and a manufacturer of stainless steel railroad cars, automobile, bus, and truck bodies, hired an aeronautical engineering staff and worked with the U. S. Navy to develop a new twin-engine transport plane constructed primarily of stainless steel. The Navy accepted the proposal for the new aircraft, and placed an order for 200, to be designated RB-1. The U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) followed with an order for 600, designated C-93.

The Conestoga was a twin-engine high-wing monoplane with tricycle landing gear. The elevated flight deck was contained in a distinctive, almost spherical nose section. Its two convert|1200|hp|abbr=on Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 air cooled 14-cylinder, twin-row, radial engines, the same engines fitted to the C-47, drove three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic constant-speed, full-feathering propellers and powered a 24-volt electrical system. While the fuselage was thin-gauge stainless steel, only a portion of the wing was made of the metal; the trailing section of the wing and all control surfaces were fabric-covered.

Innovations

The RB-1/C-93 was radical for its day, introducing many of the features now standard in military transports. The flight deck could accommodate three crew members, pilot and copilot side-by-side, the navigator behind them. Stairs connected the flight deck to the cargo area, which was convert|25|ft|m long with an unobstructed cross-section of 8 x 8 feet (2.4m) throughout its length. Cargo loading and unloading could be accomplished in two ways: through 40 x 60 inch (102 x 152 cm) doors on both sides of the fuselage or by an electrically operated 10 x 8 foot (3.0 x 2.4 m) ramp at the aft end of the cargo area under the upswept tail. The loading ramp, accessed by manually operated clam-shell doors, along with the tricycle landing gear, meant cargo could be loaded/unloaded at truck-bed height. A manually-operated two-ton (907 kg) hoist for unloading trucks and a one-ton winch for pulling cargo up the ramp were also provided in the cargo area. The aircraft could accommodate
*24 paratroopers, or
*24 stretchers and 16 sitting wounded, or
*9,600 pounds of cargo, or
*a 1-1/2 ton truck, or
*the largest ambulance in use by the U.S. military.

Operational history

The prototype first flew from the Budd Red Lion Factory Airfield in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 31, 1943, piloted by Guy Miller. [Juptner, Joseph P., "U.S. Civil Aircraft Series", TAB Aero (1993), ISBN 0830643737, 9780830643738] The prototype had a takeoff run when empty of just 650 feet, and could carry a maximum payload of 10,400 pounds with a takeoff run of 920 feet. [Merriam, Ray, "U. S. Warplanes of World War II", Merriam Press (2000), ISBN 1576381676, 9781576381670, p. 45] However, the aircraft demonstrated greater than expected fuel consumption; the range with a standard payload was only 700 miles, 650 miles with a maximum payload. [Merriam, Ray, "U. S. Warplanes of World War II", Merriam Press (2000), ISBN 1576381676, 9781576381670, p. 45] Three prototype aircraft: "NX37097", "NX41810", and "NC45354" were built; one was used for testing radio equipment, while the other two were used for flight test evaluations. [Freeman, Paul, "Budd Factory Airfield, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania" [http://www.airfields-freeman.com/PA/Airfields_PA_Philly_NE.htm#budd Budd Factory Airfield] ] [Juptner, Joseph P., "U.S. Civil Aircraft Series", TAB Aero (1993), ISBN 0830643737, 9780830643738] During testing, a few aircraft had difficulty with the simultaneous deployment of the right and left landing gear. With the same engines as the C-47, but with 3,000 pounds more weight (empty), the aircraft was relatively underpowered; it was reportedly said that for an aircraft built by a railroad car company, it indeed handled like one.

At the Budd factory and airfield in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there were construction delays due to cost overruns and problems with stainless steel fabrication. By late 1943, aluminum production had been increased with the construction of new processing facilities, and other more conventional cargo planes (such as the Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando and the Douglas C-47 Skytrain) were being produced in large numbers. This caused the Army to cancel its order for the C-93 and the Navy to reduce its RB-1 order from 200 to 25, of which 17 were delivered in March 1944.

On April 13, 1944, during a Naval Air Training Command (NATC) evaluation flight of RB-1 prototype U.S. Navy "NX37097" at Patuxent River NAS, Maryland, the aircraft crashed, killing one of the crew. [Report of Aircraft Accident, U.S. Navy NX37097 (Budd RB-1 Conestoga), 13 April 1944 [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19440413-0 Aviation-Safety.net] ] . The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off, but the pilot reported that the stainless steel construction of the plane contributed to saving his life.

Production RB-1 aircraft never entered squadron service with the Navy, but a few were briefly used by Naval Air Stations as utility aircraft. With only seventeen aircraft in inventory, the RB-1 was not feasible to maintain on the active list, and it was retired from U.S. Navy service in early 1945. The extant RB-1s were then transferred to the War Assets Administration (WAA) to be sold as war surplus. In 1945, the WAA sold 12 Conestogas to the National Skyway Freight Corp [ [http://www.flyingtigerline.org/History/1940s.htm Flying Tiger History - The 1940s] ] for $28,642 each at a time when new C-47s were selling for approximately $100,000 each. The new company, founded by members of the AVG Flying Tigers immediately sold four RB-1 aircraft to other buyers, which paid for the entire WAA contract. [ [http://www.flyingtigerline.org/History/1940s.htm Flying Tiger History - The 1940s] ]

The seven remaining [ [http://www.flyingtigerline.org/History/1940s.htm Flying Tiger History - The 1940s] : The company lost one RB-1 on its initial flight at a crash in Fort Worth, Texas; it was sold for $500 and used as a hamburger stand.] National Skyways planes were used to transport a variety of cargo, shipping fruit and furniture from its base in Long Beach, California. [ [http://www.flyingtigerline.org/History/1940s.htm Flying Tiger History - The 1940s] ] Pilots reported that the Budd transports were temperamental; in particular, exhaust stacks kept falling off and causing engine fires. [ [http://www.flyingtigerline.org/History/1940s.htm Flying Tiger History - The 1940s] ] There were three more crashes of the Conestogas while in service with National Skyway Freight, one each in Virginia, New Mexico, and Michigan. [ [http://www.flyingtigerline.org/History/1940s.htm Flying Tiger History - The 1940s] The Michigan crash occurred when a National Skyways RB-1 was forced to make a belly landing in a Detroit graveyard. There were no casualties, but the co-pilot had had enough; he stalked off into the night and was never heard from again.] The crash in Virginia was a belly landing at a country club brought on by fuel exhaustion as the result of weather-related problems. The Albuquerque, New Mexico crash was apparently due to pilot error when the exhausted pilots fell asleep; they awoke in time to make a forced landing, but pilot and copilot were killed when they were thrown through the windshield and the plane skidded over them; the flight engineer survived. [ [http://www.flyingtigerline.org/History/1940s.htm Flying Tiger History - The 1940s] ]

In 1947 the Army (and later the Air Force) gave National Skyway Freight a large contract for trans-Pacific freight, for which it leased military aircraft. The company changed its name to Flying Tiger and replaced the RB-1s with C-47s for its US freight routes; the RB-1s were sold off to other buyers. [ [http://www.flyingtigerline.org/History/1940p2.htm Flying Tiger History - The 1940s] ] One of these aircraft, a prototype RB-1 - "NC45354" - was sold to the Tucker Motor Company to transport its demonstration car to auto shows around the U.S.A; it was reportedly later abandoned at an airfield in Oakland, California after repeated mechanical troubles. [ [http://www.flyingtigerline.org/History/1940p2.htm Flying Tiger History - The 1940s] ]

A single unrestored Budd RB-1 is on display at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

pecifications (RB-1)

aerospecs
ref=
met or eng?= eng

crew=
capacity=
length m=20.73
length ft=68
length in=0
span m=30.48
span ft=100
span in=0
swept m=
swept ft=
swept in=
rot number=
rot dia m=
rot dia ft=
rot dia in=
dia m=
dia ft=
dia in=
width m=
width ft=
width in=
height m=9.68
height ft=31
height in=9
wing area sqm=130.06
wing area sqft=1,400
swept area sqm=
swept area sqft=
rot area sqm=
rot area sqft=
volume m3=
volume ft3=
aspect ratio=
empty weight kg=9143
empty weight lb=20156
gross weight kg=15359
gross weight lb=33860
lift kg=
lift lb=

eng1 number=2
eng1 type=Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 air cooled radial engine
eng1 kw= 890
eng1 hp= 1200
eng1 kn=
eng1 lbf=
eng1 kn-ab=
eng1 lbf-ab=
eng2 number=
eng2 type=
eng2 kw=
eng2 hp=
eng2 kn=
eng2 lbf=
eng2 kn-ab=
eng2 lbf-ab=

max speed kmh=317
max speed mph=197
max speed mach=
cruise speed kmh= 266
cruise speed mph= 165
range km=1127
range miles=700
endurance h=
endurance min=
ceiling m=
ceiling ft=
glide ratio=
climb rate ms=
climb rate ftmin=
sink rate ms=
sink rate ftmin=

armament1=
armament2=
armament3=
armament4=
armament5=
armament6=

Notes

References

*

External links

* [http://www.flyingtigerline.org/History/1940s.htm History]
* [http://www.generalaviationnews.com/editorial/articledetail.lasso?-token.key=10168&-token.src=column&-nothing Editorial]
* [http://www.microworks.net/pacific/aviation/rb_conestoga.htm Pacific Aviation]

ee also

* Curtiss C-76 Caravan
* List of military aircraft of the United States
* List of military aircraft of the United States (naval)