Warbird Information Exchange

... is up for grabs. I seem to remember that there was someone on here that had a direct interest in the AT-21 type and will be happy to send an October 30, 2005 feature article from the Burlington, NC Times-News about the local manufacture of the type during WWII.

Please email or PM me an address to send it and I will be glad to. Thanks!

Ryan Keough

Cvairwerks is the proud owner of the last AT-21, a Bellanca-built example
ta boot. At the Off-topic forum he just posted that he's taking some time off from the forum..but he has an e-mail address in his profile.

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

What kind of shape is his example in? Is it under restoration? Any Pics? Veery interesting aircraft....

_________________
Civis Aerius Sum

I am a citizen of the Air

Slinky...no photos yet..but he's one busy dude! Here's a thread from '04..
http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... 00cd6ab729
..gives you an idea of what he had on his plate THEN...you can only guess
what now!! ...P-66 lofts on Auto-Cad...WOOF!

"Search" Aero Commander for a recent heart-breaker
Dunno Cvairwerks personally...and don't let zee-cat-out..but I'm a bit of a
fan...

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

Ryan,

Did you already mail Craig Cantwell the AT-21 article? If so, did you make a photocopy? I sent you a PM on December 28th.

I believe from a note I made once that Craig's AT-21 is 42-48053, second one in a batch of 39 built by Bellanca.

William T. Larkins has posted photos on the web of a black civil AT-21, N63432. I think he said it was 42-11715. There was another in the background of one of his photos that he felt was 42-48432. These were at Vail Field near Los Angeles in May 1946.

My dad ferried two AT-21s for a civilian buyer in 1946 or 1947 and I have a couple of photos of one somewhere misplaced in a move we made klast month). No registration visible. I know he flew two unidentified "Fairchild" aircraft in 1947 from studying his logbooks. One was registered 48800 and was flown at Las Vegas on 10 February 1947. The other was registered 63120 and flown at Van Nuys, CA on 17 November 1947. Now, either or both of these could be Model 24s or PT-19/23/26's, I don't know. He flew some of each of those also. Most of the old N4880_ series were Aeronca O-58/L-3s. I also found in some digging that some of the original N6312_ series registrations were BT-13s.

Somewhere I have a photocopy of page 160 of the JOURNAL American Aviation Historical Society, Summer 1988 where Bill Larkins sent a letter of some history of civil AT-21s and four photos. If I recall correctly one of those was Mexican registration XA-FUI.

A Clyde Sturgell Jr., of Tuscola, Illinois had two AT-21s N64468 42-48440, and N64469 that he registered with serial "19." I have no other info on those.

Craig, do you have any idea of the registration number on yours and is the serial above correct?

Lowell

In a google search I found a photo of another civil AT-21 NX25663 credited to K.O. Eckland. See at:

http://aerofiles.com/_fair.html

On another note, the Clyde Sturgell, Jr. owned AT-21 42-48440 mentioned above, was the second to last of at least 30 built by a McDonnell-operated plant in Memphis, Tennessee.

Lowell: I don't know if Ryan made copies or not, but I'll be happy to copy that one and a couple of others that I have in aircraft file.

As to the serial numbers, I'll have to pull the file to be sure, but that sounds correct for mine. I don't think it was ever on the civilian registry.. or at least there is no record of an N number in the file that I got with the airframe. I did note that within the last two years or so an AT has popped up on the N number database. I haven't had time to drop them a note yet, but I will sometime in the next week or two.

Got to drop now and get back to work....got some leading edge flap problems on the bird that I'm on tonight and got to try and get it all fixed so they can fly her on Monday.

I found one also, to my surprise, in 2002, registered to Ozark Management Inc., Jefferson City, MO as N96VC, serial 303.

But after a quick inquiry it had been identified by the owner
as NOT an AT-21, but a Fairchild / Merlin IIIB of much more recent
descent! Some type of FAA Registration glitch must have occurred
when it was coded in. This owner does have a nice P-51D ("Kansas City
Kitty") and an AT-6D and he even remarked, "I wish it was an AT-21
instead"

N96VC is now registered to:

NATIONAL CHILDRENS LEUKEMIA FOUNDATION
BROOKLYN NEW YORK

Still listed as an AT-21.

I was wondering what the National Childrens Leukemia Foundation was
doing with an AT-21.

So, there are two AT-21...possibly 3, if Sturgell still has both of his?

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

The Sturgell listing is one of those you have to wonder about. Seems some registered owners of warbirds stay on the books for ages after the aircraft are long gone. Yet, the possibilities of uncovering something a widow, or son/daughter inherited... in a dusty barn somewhere always keep the imagination alive!

I found the Sturgell listings (no street address given) in a July 1, 1964 edition of the Civil Aircraft Register.

Lowell

Ahhh..1964, 'twould be a stretch to think he still had them, but as you
mentioned Lowell..dusty barns. On a side note on the FAA registry, a few
months back I was able to peruse the Registrations At Risk..by state, if
I remember correctly..but now you have to input an N-#. I was, at the
time, thinking it would be interesting to follow up the info to do some
barn-hunting. That possibility seems to be gone now.

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

Hey Airnutz: We'll have to get together the next time I wander down to the Galveston area. Been promising the other half that I would slow down and not work as much overtime this year as I did last year, though you couldn't tell if you saw my ot list....two weeks into the year and already worked 22 hours ot.
Got to get down and see Lone Star and Moody Gardens, as both opened long after I moved out of the area. Also want to show the 5 year old the Gulf and the beaches that I played on down there. He'll have a blast over at the old implacements over on Boliver, assuming they are still accessable.

Now if you drag yourself up here, then I'll haul you around to a few choice places..

That would be a pleasure Cvairwerks! Although, I'd be getting the better
end of the deal..I'm not very hooked-up with the museum stuff and such.
There are other WIX-guys local here, who could probably show you the
ins and outs of Lone Star or Collings etc. I pays my 8bux and occasionally
get run off the ramp when my curiosity is my guide. (I must fit some sorta
Al Quaeda profile or sumthin'...or they know a nut when they see one).
So if your idea of fun, is getting the wife to bail us out from airport
security ...There are a few things I think you'd like to see, though.

As to the Bolivar gun emplacements, I'll have see if any are publicly
accessable these days. The one I used to play on over by the old Ft.
Crockett on Seawall Blvd, is now the cornerstone of a major hotel. The
local-lore that I still remember from when I lived on the Island in '70-71
was..in the 60's, hippies ran a discotheque in that bunker with the cashbox
kept in the center of the room in terrarium filled with rattlesnakes. It's on
50-something&Seawall...the San Luis Resort..that's it.

One thing we could do..if the timing is right, I have a pilot-buddy with a
45' Seamaster who loves to take 'er out on the drop-of-a-hat. I can
guarantee you, the wifey, and yer "AT-21 apprentice" a relaxing day with
some tasty eats, grogg, good chatter and we'll drag the young'n in a tube
if he wants. If the wind is right, we could drag out the spinnaker or just
putt-putt...as you like.

As for your invite Nawth...H*ll Yeah! I'd reallllly like to see your barn, and
a "passle o L-5's" near Justin! Take it easy Craig.
Jim

ps edit
The gun emplacement actually is THE cornerstone facade of the south
corner of the San Luis...didn't want anyone to think it was buried during
the construction...

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

Hey Airnutz: To give you an idea, Collings and Lone Star were not even the twinkle in anyones eye when I last lived in the area.

As to the Seamaster, heck yeah... hoist the spinnaker and let's fly...haven't been out on anything bigger than our little race boat in more years that I care to think about. Last thing I sailed in the bay was a Cal 33 that belonged to some friends of friends. They cooked and talked down below and I sailed her solo for most of the day. I've been adventurous enough to take the race boat out in some pretty wild winds down on Clear Lake...more like wavecrest surfing rather than sailing.

My sailing motto: If the rigging ain't singing, haul the sails in tighter..

Soon as it gets warm enough we'll definately set the sailing up. Val and Mac ought to get a real kick out of it, but it needs to be warm enough that they don't have to bundle up. Me, if there isn't any ice, it's warm enough to sail.

Haul your self up here just about any weekend you want. I get my weekend overtime schedule usually on Wednesday night, and unless something really bad goes down on Thursday or Friday, it doesn't get changed. Justin is close, Doc Hospers' B-17 is nearby, Cavaneau(?) is an hour or so away, AA's museum is in town and over at Love is Frontiers of Flight Museum. Down south a bit is the old , but still going Pate Museum. Dan L. could probably pop in and recommend anything else that I've forgotten that is in the area. Time it right and I'll see what I have to do to get you in at work and run up and down the production line.....no photos and have to stay in the walk isles, but still a real eye opener.

Craig