© Castle Air Museum Foundation, Inc. Optimized for a screen resolution of 1024x768, using IE6+
5050 Santa Fe Drive • Atwater, California • 95301
Beech Aircraft Company YT-34 Mentor
MUSEUM HOURS
May 1- October 31
9:00am - 5:00pm
November 1 - April 30
10:00am - 4:00pm
The museum is open
daily year round,
except for the
following days:
New Year's Day,
Easter,
Thanksgiving and
Christmas Day.
Specifications
Country of Origin: United States
Manufacturer: Beech Aircraft Company
Role/Function: Trainer
Serial Number: 50-0735
Model Number/Mk. #: Model 45
Crew: 2 Crew
Power Plant: 1 - 225 hp Continental O-470-13 flat six engine.
Maximum Speed: 190 mph.
Cruising Speed: n/a
Service Ceiling: 20,000 ft.
Range: 821 mi.
Weights: Empty: n/a Gross: 2,900 lbs.
Wing Span: 32 ft. 10 in.
Length: 25 ft. 10 in.
Height: 9 ft 7 in.
Wing Area: n/a
Armament: None
Cost: n/a
# Built: 450 were built for the U.S. Air Force; 420 for the U.S. Navy and 25 by Canadian Car & Foundry.
# in Current Service: n/a
The T-34 Mentor is the military version of the Beech Bonanza aircraft. In civilian hands it is a popular low wing aerobatics aircraft. The Air Force received 450 Mentors and the Navy 420. The Mentor was also used by the military forces of at least 10 friendly foreign nations as a trainer. The "Y" designation indicates an aircraft procured for service testing prior to the award of a production contract.
Canadian Car and Foundry Company built 25 Beech T-34A Mentors that were acquired for the Air Training Command to replace some of the aging Harvards, but these were not found to offer any great improvement and were subsequently sold to Turkey.
The U.S. Air Force moved to all-jet training during the years from 1960 to 1964, when most of the civilian owned Mentors came on to the market. Curiously, after all-jet training was deemed a failure by the Air Force, it turned to Cessna's 172 Skyhawk, a slow, high-wing prop plane, for the first 30 hours of training.
The aircraft on display at Castle Air Museum was one of three procured in 1950 for testing and evaluation. It served at Randolph, Goodfellow, and James Connally Air Force Bases in Texas. In July 1953, it became a ground instructional airframe at Goodfellow AFB. Production contracts for the T-34 came in 1953. Many Navy T-34s were upgraded with turbo-prop engines.
On the web at: www.t-34.com
