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Scramble 468
continued the production of the AT-16 well into the Fifties.
Bob Noorduyn passed away on 22 February 1959 in South
Burlington, USA.
Noorduyn AT-16 B-199
Another Noorduyn project is this former Royal Netherlands
Air Force AT-16 Harvard, a Canadian licence built version of
the famous North American T-6. The trainer is a composite
aircraft, which, while based on the fuselage of Harvard B-199
(14-610), also contains parts of its sisters B-69 and B-179. It
is finished as ‘B-69/FE876’ in early post war colours of cam-
ouflage upper surface and trainer yellow lower side. Unlike
the other aircraft in the museum, B-199 is not owned by one
of the foundations but given on loan by the War Museum in
Overloon. It is destined to be converted into a North American
NA-16 trainer, the mother of all Texans/Harvards. This type,
with fixed undercarriage and fabric covered fuselage, made
its first flight on 1 April 1935. It was ordered by the United
States Army Air Corps (USAAC) under the designation BT-9.
It was also used by the US Navy, RAF, RAAF,RCAF, French and
Swedish Air Force and several South American Air Forces. An
improved version of the NA-16, with a longer, metal skinned,
fuselage was known as the NA-64 Yale. Later, when a retract-
able undercarriage was introduced in the design this type
evolved into the T-6 Texan/Harvard, of which 15.500 exam-
ples were built.
Harvard to NA-27 conversion
Already in 1937, Anthony Fokker, the visionaire, saw the
potential of the design, and ordered a single aircraft, desig-
nated NA-16-2H(of Holland) or NA-27. This demonstrator,
powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp, was registered
as PH-APG. It had dual controls and was equipped to carry
a rearward firing machinegun in the aft cockpit and machi-
neguns in the wings. It was Fokker’s plan to become the sole
representative of the North American Aircraft Company in
Europe. Demonstrator PH-APG was eventually sold to Royal
Netherlands Air Force, and flew as ‘997’ It was destroyed on
the ground on the Isle of Texel during the May 1940 ‘Blitz’.
It is planned to finish the static ‘NA-27’ in these military
colours.
Cessna Bobcat
Designated T-50, this twin was developed by Cessna in the
pre-war years, intended as a light transport for the civilian
market. But soon after the outbreak of war, the USAAF saw
the type’s potential as twin-engined trainer and light trans-
port. During WW II more than five thousand aircraft of the
type were built for the military. The first aircraft delivered
were designated AT-8, comparable with the original civil-
ian T-50 design, except for their Lycoming engines. In the
next version, the AT-17, once again the original 245 h.p.
Jacobs R-755-9 radial engines of the T-50 were selected. An
improved version of the AT-17 was designated UC-78 Bobcat
by the USAAF, and JRC-1 for those used by the US Navy.
The type was also supplied to the RCAF, where they flew as
Crane I’s in the British Commenwealth Air Training Plan. The
Bobcat is of mixed construction, with tubular steel fuselage
and wooden wings, both covered by fabric. Postwar, surplus
AT-17s and UC-78s were converted by CAA-approved kits to
civilian standard, under the T-50s original type certificate.
They were used by small airlines, charter and ‘bush’ opera-
tors and private pilots. Some Bobcats continued in military
service with Brazil and Taiwan.
Bobcats in the Netherlands
As a type, the Cessna Bobcat is a representative of a little
known period in Dutch aviation history. Shortly after the war
had ended , Dutch entrepreneur Frits Diepen bought twelve
UC-78C Bobcats, to use these as aerial taxies. He wanted to
register nine of these aircraft, but finally only six were taken
up in the Dutch register: PH-NAZ ( 5782 ) ex 43-31804, PH-NBB
( 5742 ) ex 43-31804, PH-NBC ( 5758 ) ex 43-31820, PH-NCI ( 5918 )
ex 43-31980, PH-NCK ( 5789 ) ex 43-31851 and PH-NCL ( 5915 ) ex
43-31977. Registrations PH-NCM, PH-NCN en PH-NCO were
reserved, but never taken up. PH-NAZ was destroyed in a
crash in Hesnaes, Denmark, on 17 January 1949. The others
were cancelled from the Dutch register in January 1951 as
‘scrapped’. Two Bobcats were flown in the ‘West’: PJ-AAM
( 6568 ), ex 43-32650, was used by the Caribbean Flying Asso-
ciation of Aruba. It was written off in 1953. A second aircraft
was flown in Suriname as PZ-TAE ( 6683 ). This former USAAF
43-32745 was written off in 1960.
Bobcat N58147
The Bobcat in Nieuw-Vennep, was built for the USAAF as
43-31994 ( 5932 ) and delivered in 1943. Nothing is known about
the operational history of this machine, it is only known that
it was sold on the civil market shortly after the war. The air-
craft was then acquired by a company called Wiggins Airways,
‘The Community Airline’. Registered N58147, it was one of
the Bobcats used on their Boston Albany service. It was flown
by Wiggins until 1953. Somewhere in the early nineties, the
Bobcat was bought by Novaro Nichols of Mocksville (NC). He
started the restoration of the aircraft, with the intention to
return it to flying condition. But for several reasons Nichols
As can be seen, the Cessna Bobcat in the museum has seen some progress in its restoration, as the stationary vertical and horizontal parts of the
tail have been covered with fabric. Once restored, the type will be a rare exhibit in Europe.
