Original subtitles

- I'm Matthew Burchette, and this is Behind the Wings.

Oh yeah, Baby!

This is the good life right here.

(uplifting music)

(air craft engine roaring)

- [Narrator] This program was made possible

by Wings Over the Rockies.

Educating and inspiring people of all ages

about aviation and space endeavors

of the past, present and future.

(upbeat music)

This program made possible by:

- [Narrator] Little learner's can read, write, talk,

sing, and play at our Arapahoe Libraries.

Make a play date.

Join a story time.

Build a masterpiece and present a puppet show

all in one morning.

More at Arapahoelibraries.org.

- [Narrator] This episode made possible by:

- [Narrator] The Denver's 300 days of sunshine

make the smiles a little wider.

They definitely make the energy here stronger.

So your family can enjoy every unexpected

encounter and outdoor adventure.

Denver, soak it all in.

(uplifting music)

- [Matthew] Now I say this a lot.

But how cool is this?

(helicopter blades whirling)

This is lieutenant Zach Farrell.

To my right, is Jay Gates, the amazing Gene Kranz.

You've never seen aerospace like this.

(Jet engine roaring)

(upbeat music)

(uplifting music)

The beech aircraft company was founded in 1932

by Walter Beech in the air capital

of the world, Wichita, Kansas.

Determined to produce an aircraft for the

business executives of the day,

Beechcraft found success in their first aircraft,

the Model 17 Staggerwing.

By the late 1930's, Beech knew that his company

needed a new design and the Model 18 was born.

First flown in 1937, the Beechcraft Model 18

became the perfect aircraft for the private owner

and charter operator.

But with the onset of World War II,

the U.S military adapted the versatile Beech 18

for military use.

Thousands of Beech 18s were used by the United States

military for photo reconnaissance, light transport

and bombardier and air crew training.

The four variants used by the army air forces

included the AT-7 Navigator,

AT-11 Kansan,

C-45 Expeditor,

and the F-2 Expeditor.

In the post war era, the Beech 18 resumed its role

as a distinguished business aircraft, and regional air liner.

Over its life span, more than 9000 of these aircraft

were built, making the Beech 18 one of the most

widely used light aircraft in the world.

Let's check out some of the features of the C-45

at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum

with pilot and our long time volunteer, Jay Gates.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Glad to be here.

- Tell us a little bit about how you became a pilot.

- Well, it was by

default in some respects as my grandfather

was a World War I pilot.

My father was a World War II pilot,

and I then I joined he national guard

when I was 18 years old.

So I didn't have too much of a choice.

- I was about to say, you didn't have a choice.

You actually fly for the commemorative air force

and you fly their C-45 now.

How did you get involved with that?

- I've been involved with the commemorative air force now

for almost 20 years.

They have a B-17 and several other kinds of airplanes,

B-25, and I started flying those airplanes.

And then the guy's up here in Denver said,

"Hey we need a Beech 18 pilot.

"Would you come over and help us with that?"

So I've been now with the Mile High Wing

for about six years.

- So we're just standing here in front of this

really highly polished, gorgeous lady.

One of the things that I am noticing are two pitot tubes

on this thing.

Let's start there.

Two pitot tubes, what's up with that?

- Well, it's a back up system.

You have a primary and a secondary so to speak.

Either one is the same.

But one goes to the pilot side of the instrument panel

and the other one goes to the co-pilot side

of the instrument panel.

So you have a back up and their both connected

so if one should block, you still have air speed

on both sides.

- Is that normal for every plane?

- In the early days, they did that a lot.

Today, in modern aircraft, you may see two pitot tubes,

but one is for back up computers and the other ones

for the primary computers, okay.

- All right, redundancy is a good thing when you're flying.

- Especially in an old airplane.

(laughter)

- No kidding.

One thing we've got to talk about before we go any further;

during World War II, nearly every single Beech 18

that Beechcraft built went straight to the army air forces,

the navy, or the marine corp.

And the reason they did that because they needed them

to train pilots in many different roles.

And the way to differentiate

some of those roles is real easy.

It's just by the nose.

Let's check that out.

(uplifting music)

Our model is C-45 which is kind of the

V.I.P transport, cargo transport version.

But there were two others that the air force

and the navy and the marines flew,

and one of them was the AT-7 which was the navigator

which actually had a nose very similar to this.

But then there was the AT-11 which was the Kansan.

What was so cool about that one?

- Well it had a glass nose and it had a bombadier position.

And believe it had a norden bombsight in it.

And that actually trained students to drop bombs

in this airplane or the airplane AT-11 could drop,

I think, two bombs and practice bombs.

- That's very cool.

I have heard a statistic that

90% of all the bombardiers in the U.S

air force trained in one of these during the World War II.

- It was a very cheap way to fly and a cheap way

to train people instead of putting them in a big

bomber or a like a simulating as they use to as well.

So it was easy to go out and train.

They put a couple of bombardier's in here

and the instructor would instruct them how to do it.

And they would actually fly the airplane automatically.

- That is really cool.

I kind of wish we had that version.

It would be so neat.

In fact, in some of the AT-11's,

they even trained gunnery students and they had a top

turret and even a tunnel gun back there.

I mean, this was a really, really

versatile little air craft.

(uplifting music)

All right Jay, so let's talk about this Pratt and Whitney.

These are, what?

- [Jay] 985-AN-14 B's

built for this airplane.

And there 450 horsepower each.

If you go back to when they first built these,

they put wasps on there at 350 horsepower.

So by putting the Pratt and Whitney's on there,

which really was a little better engine for this type of,

what they were using it for.

Gave it a little bit more horsepower and allowed it

to climb up to a higher altitude as well.

Even today, they use some of these as crop dusters.

- Oh, no kidding!

That's a stylish little crop duster.

- Well it is, and it is fully aerobatic in some respects.

There are some people who actually

use them in shows and stuff.

- No kidding!

Wow, that's really cool.

Well, let's keep going.

I wanna take a closer look

at this plane 'cause it's so gorgeous.

(uplifting music)

Whoa, we've got to check out that tail.

Sorry Jay, I had to stop you but this is not really

a tail that you see a lot these days.

- No, it has two vertical stabs.

Two vertical stabilizers and the idea behind that

again is a little repetition.

During the war, if there was a problem with one rudder,

you still had another rudder to work with.

With that also, you eliminate

having one great big huge vertical stab and a rudder.

- Yeah, kind of like the B-17.

- Correct.

- Now, while we're right here, I'm noticing that

all the control surfaces on this aircraft

are fabric covered.

And there's a pretty specific reason for that.

- Well, again, during the war, if a bullet went through

one of the control surfaces, it went clean through.

And if it was metal, it would disturb the metal

and probably disturb the air flow over that

particular surface, which could be difficult to fly.

- Then you induce flutter and all sorts of bad things.

- Right, and then the mechanics,

it was real easy 'cause you just slap some.

- [Matthew] Patch right on it.

- [Jay] A patch and that was it.

- [Matthew] Next day, you're back over Germany.

Well, while we're also here,

that is what they called the football.

- [Jay] Right.

- [Matthew] and there's actually antenna

inside that covering.

- It's a loop antenna and what it is, it's for

A.M frequencies and it's a directional finder for the pilots

to navigate to a particular station.

Example, any of the radio, A.M radio stations

in the Denver area, you would turn it

and focus on that frequency

and it would tell you where that antenna is.

So you would fly directly to it.

- It's like an old, old, old school G.P.S.

- They called it ADF on your instrument panel

at the automatic directional finder instrument and it would point

at that all the time.

So you would just steer to it.

- Oh, that's really cool.

(uplifting music)

- So Jay, this probably looks a little bit

familiar, doesn't it.

- It does.

It's a more set up for 1942.

- So let's walk through this.

Let's start with the throttle quadrant.

You've got your two throttles.

Prop pitch.

Mixture.

But then, what is this down here?

- Well you have the manifold heat carburetor.

Ice is a problem for carburetor's,

especially when it starts getting,

when you're up at altitude.

So what we do is, we introduce a little bit of heat to

the carburetor to keep it from forming

and that's what these two do.

Then over on the other side, you have oil shutter's.

As you get up in altitude,

the oil has a tendency to cool off a little bit

and you want to keep it at a certain temperature.

So what you do is you close off the intake for the

cooling air, so that now you shut down that cool air

and that keeps the oil warmer.

- Oh, that's very cool.

All of these are your instruments for engines.

- Yes.

- So, you've got cylinder temperature, temp, RPM,

manifold pressure and all that kind of stuff.

But over at your side, what do people tend to refer to

as a six pack.

- The six pack navigation system

with the artificial horizon,

you have the altimeter, air speed obviously,

you have turn and bank on the left hand side.

And then this particularly air plane

in the early days of the 40's, the VOR started coming out.

And so this particular airplane actually has a VOR

gauge in it which would have been later after the war

in some cases.

- This guy, magneto switches, I know that.

But this bad boy, that's like master switch.

- That's the master ignition switch, okay.

If you had a problem like you were,

had to make an emergency landing,

instead of turning off your engines, you just hit that,

and it's a done deal.

- Everything goes.

- Yeah.

- And then, your two feathering switches which then actually

takes the blades of the propellor

and turns them directly into the wind.

So instead of biting like this, they just.

- Correct, and basically with an engine shut down,

you want less drag.

With the propellor windmilling,

it creates a lot, a lot of drag and right after take off,

in some instances, you don't really need that drag.

Okay, so you hit the button.

It feathers the engine

and you go through the process of

completely shutting it down and then you come back

around and land.

- What's it like flying this old girl?

- It is a piece of history, number one.

And it's an honor to fly a Beech 18.

- Oh, I bet!

- Especially, the one I fly,

which is a navy version, SNB-5.

But flying that airplane,

it's just a dream to fly.

It's very stable.

It'll climb up to altitude.

We fly it over the mountains.

We go to Telluride and Steamboat.

- Oh, wow!

- It's just a really fun airplane to fly.

- Oh, that's really cool.

You know, it's amazing, Beechcraft has been in business

since what, 1932 I believe?

- I believe so.

- That's amazing and they are still making aircraft today.

In fact, our Colorado State Patrol Aerial Division,

is flying Beechcraft aircraft

and I think we probably ought to go

check that out.

Even though, it is very cool to be in here.

- Believe it or not,

it's because of this particular airplane,

the Beech 18, the King Air was born.

- No Kidding, oh, well, I'm out!

I got to go check that out.

From Wings Over the Rockie Space and Air Museum,

we're heading down to Centennial airport to visit the

Colorado State Patrol's Aviation section.

As one of the many units to the state patrol,

the aviation section is responsible for

transportation of government personnel

and assisting in traffic enforcement.

If you've ever seen the road signs that say,

speed enforced by aircraft, that's the state patrol

making Colorado roads safer by tracking speeders

and alerting officers on the ground.

The entire state of Colorado is patrolled with just

five aircraft, including three Cessna 182's,

a Cessna 340 and this souped up Beechcraft King Air

that we're going to check out with pilot

and good friend of mine, Phil Curry!

You are like a king air aficionado.

Are you not?

- I am, I'll claim that with 7,000 hours in the airplane.

- Wow, that's a ton of hours.

Now, here's something that

a lot of people don't know and it's kind of a big deal.

You are the first civilian employee of the

Colarado State Patrol's Aviation Section in

their 53 accident free year history.

- That is correct.

They were looking for somebody

with a ton of hours, which I just mentioned.

- Yeah.

- And a lot of experience.

Plus, I think some military background too, helped.

Yeah, I am the first true civilian pilot

to fly for the Colorado state.

- That is really cool, that's amazing.

That's a lot of time!

- It's an honor, it's a very big honor.

- Oh, yeah, no kidding!

Well thank you for your service.

Speaking of service, what is the King Air do

for the Aviation Section?

- This King Air is a King Air 200.

We use this for air pull missions which in any state

agency can use this airplane to transport their

employees within the state.

- So we were talking earlier and one of the things you

mentioned is that you have flown organ's in this thing.

Transplant missions.

- As part of the University of Colorado Health,

that hospital, they had a kidney transplant team

that we fly regularly to most places within the state.

- That's really great.

- But we do fly out Billings, Montana is one of the

other places that we go to.

- That's a worthwhile mission.

- And that's a very rewarding flight to say the least.

- I bet.

Well, let's take a walk around this aircraft.

Maybe we start at the engines and kind of go from there.

- Yup, start at the front.

- All right cool.

So Phil, tell us a little bit about the plane.

Like, what's the wing span of this monstrosity?

This is not a small plane.

- It's not a small plane.

We're standing at the front of

44 feet of length, about 50 feet of wingspan

and about 15 and a half feet of tail light.

- [Matthew] That is a tall tail.

- [Phil] Tall tail is right.

- [Matthew] With some big hanger doors to go with it.

- [Phil] Yup.

- [Matthew] And then these guys, you've got two of these

monster engines on this thing and they are turbo props.

- Turbo props, right.

- Which means what?

- The jet engine powering a gear box, powering the prop.

- Okay.

- Our engines have 850 shaft horsepower, two of them.

So we have 1700 horsepower on a 12,500 pound airplane

which is pretty good power to weight ratio.

- What's your top speed?

- About 300 knots, no wind,

so that's 350 miles per hour this plane will go.

- [Matthew] Whoa.

- [Phil] Even up to 30,000 feet.

So it's pretty good deal with this airplane.

- [Matthew] No kidding, I can see why there so popular.

- Yup, and one other feature about this, it's a jet engine,

turbo prop like you said.

It reverse flows on the airflow.

Most jet engines down the intake, out the tail pipe.

- Right.

- Right straight out the tail pipe.

This engine actually makes 180 degree turn on the air.

Comes back to the front of the engine,

here where the exhaust ports are, and exhausts.

- That's crazy.

- And the other thing we would point out,

that no mechanical connection to that power

turbine right now.

- So I could literally just hold on to this thing while

you started the engines?

- You could hold it for awhile until it develops its

850 shaft horsepower, and you're not

going to hold that anymore.

- Yeah, let's not try that.

- Yeah.

(uplifting music)

- [Matthew] This is pretty schmancy in here.

- [Phil] Pretty cool huh?

- [Matthew] It is really nice.

Now you said that you flied

the governor and other state officials but the King Air

as a whole, is really versatile air plane.

So what are some of the other roles that this guy fulfills?

- It really is, the government fly's them.

Embassy's overseas use them for transport just like

we do with the state.

But there's also some few special mission airplanes

that are out there that the military uses.

The fire crew use a couple of models of the King Air

for fire support, fire spotting, here in Colorado,

quite a bit.

- Oh, yeah.

- [Jay] If you see a King Air down low over the tree's

in the mountains, there's usually a

leaker or tanker behind him.

- [Matthew] Yup.

- But, as King Air go to, as I was talking about how

stout and safety these airplanes are,

coming back in from Craig to Denver,

took a lightning strike

at 25,000 feet from this side, the right side

of the airplane, to that side.

The bolt actually hit the prop,

arched over to the aileron on that side.

Two big burn holes in the aileron

and a big chip our of the prop

with a glass cockpit similar to this.

Not even a flicker.

That tells you how well grounded

that airplane is 'cause it should have fried

about anything else.

It should have fried everything.

Uneventful landing.

New engine, new aileron and we're good to go!

- Back in the air. - Back in the air.

- That's amazing, all right, before we go flying,

'cause we're burning some really nice blue skies,

I just want to show you something really cool.

Look at this.

How cool is that?!

I'm more enthralled with this than anything else!

I'm a simple man.

All right, let's go fly!

- You didn't pick it, but you are in the governor seat

more often than not.

That's the seat that he really likes to sit in.

- [Matthew] Oh really?

- [Phil] I think the reason why he tends

to sit where I'm sitting, he can sort of see

what's going on up front.

But you are in that seat of honor I should say.

- Well, and there you go.

(uplifting music)

(man on radio speaking faintly)

- Gears coming up.

- [Matthew] Get up and go.

- [Curry] That should does it.

- [Matthew] Oh wow, that's a heck of a climb rate.

- [Radio Chatter]

- Yeah baby.

- These things perform unbelievably well at these altitudes.

- No kidding.

So of all the Beechcraft products that you've flown,

which is your favorite?

- I'd think any of the King Air series

is my favorite by far.

You know, I'm sort of biased by flying them

for the last 20 something years.

But we're talking about

before the engines, the air frame,

one of the safest airplanes in the sky.

The performance for us, state patrol

or anybody flying in the mountains is phenomenal.

- [Matthew] You know 34 or 35,000 foot ceiling,

I mean, getting over

our 14er mountains is no big deal.

Having those twins out there, just, that kind of gives you

a nice sense of security.

- You know, I'm sort of biased with that,

only because of the mountains.

There's a lot of very good single engine

turbine airplanes around but you'll like to have two

when you go to that side, to the west.

- [Matthew] Yeah, no kidding.

(airplane traffic communication)

- That's.. NORAD.

- Oh, okay.

- What's the mountain.

- Cheyenne Mountain, that's NORAD, that's a no go.

Let me scroll over there, we should highlight it,

it's really cool too.

- Air restrict.

- Yup.

Flying there, you'll find some

F-16 buddies hanging around you.

(laughing)

(beep)

- [Narrator] Previously on Behind the Wings.

- [Matthew] That is really cool!

- Whoa, whoa, uh oh.

- [Man] He's going to bottle nose.

He's dispensing flares.

- [Matthew] He's popping flares, we are in trouble now.

- [Man] That is a signal that we're in serious trouble.

We are going to follow this guy before he decides

he needs to escalate even further.

- [Matthew] Yeah, that's not good.

(beep)

- You've been flying how long did you say?

- About, my first flight was when I was 10.

So that was about 55 years ago.

- Wow.

(airplane traffic communicator)

- [Curry] I'll wait on that one.

- [Matthew] Yeah, we got to get into the pattern.

(air traffic communication)

We're actually flying here so, we got to

(air traffic communication)

Between the chatter on the radio, I learned that

in Phil's flight career,

he's flown many of the Beechcraft products,

including the Bonanza, the T-34C Mentor,

and of course the classic Beech 18.

While the original flight plan was to circle around

Pike's Peak and fly over downtown Denver,

the skies were a bit too bumpy for our camera crew

who were getting sick in the back seat.

But closing in on Colorado Springs, we took the

opportunity for a touch and go landing.

- There's the Spring's airport.

- 12 o'clock out there.

- [Curry] See we're lining up right on the run way.

- [Matthew] That's so cool.

- There is three to your right.

The other one is way over on the left side.

We're clear for that option.

So we'll do a touch and go.

As we get closer to the runway I'm

getting below the glide slope but I know that's it.

Plenty of runway to land on that's for sure.

- [Matthew] So is that why we're showing three red?

- [Curry] Four red, right below the vasity

which you could see where it would take you,

the black marks on the runway.

A little late but we're fine.

(air craft radio communication)

- [Curry] We are clear for the option.

Okay, I'll reset the flaps.

Prim and off we go.

Look at that, 8,000 feet remaining.

Easy 8,000 feet remaining.

(laughing)

- [Matthew] Man this thing's got some pick up.

- And off we go again.

- [Matthew] Oh, yeah baby!

- Turn the light's off.

- [Matthew] That's another one I can put into my book.

My first touch and go.

- Is it?

- [Matthew] Yeah,

- [Jay] Oh, cool.

- [Matthew] Got to do it with you.

- [Curry] Yeah, what an honor.

(uplifting music)

It's one of the most widely used

light aircraft in the world.

Having been flown by both military

and civilian personnel for decades.

From exploring the C-45 Expeditor at

Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum,

to visiting the Colorado State Patrol's Hangar

at Centennial airport.

And even taking a flight in a souped up Beechcraft King Air

over the Colorado front range.

We've taken you Behind the Wings of the Beechcraft Model 18.

(upbeat music)

- [Matthew] Better?

(beep)

(yawn) Sorry.

(beep)

Give us a little bit, sorry, okay, hold on.

I've got to get my brain going.

(beep)

So cool.

(beep)

Jay, thank you so much for.

(laughter)

I always forget to say I'm going to shake your hand

'cause then people are looking at me like.

Oh, right.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] Little learners can read, write, talk, sing

and play at Arapahoe Libraries.

Make a play date.

Join us story time.

Built a master piece and present a puppet show

all in one morning.

More at arapahoelibraries.org.

- [Narrator] Duo Denver's 300 days of sunshine

make the smiles a little wider.

They definitely make the energy here stronger.

So you can enjoy the blue skies and mountain view sunsets.

Denver: soak it all in.