History

This exact Beech C45H Expeditor named “Southern Comfort” was built on December 4th 1942 as AT-7 and for the price of 56579 USD, it was delivered to Material Command, Wright Army Air Field, where it served the entire war.

After the war the aircraft was stored at Hill Air Force Base and in December 1951 it was converted to the Beech C45G. In January 1953 it was delivered as a Beech C45G 51-11701 to the March Air Base for the Strategic Air Command 807th Air Base Group, where it served as a courier/transport. Strategic Air Command was in charge of, among other things, the transport of VIPs, from this period comes the blue stripe with stars over the fuselage, this blue stripe marked all the aircraft for VIPs. The aircraft was then moved to Air Force Base Biggs, where it served until 1957. In 1958 it was transferred to Davis Monthan Air Base where it was stored until 1960.

In 1960 it was sold into private hands and received a civilian registration N9541Z. The aircraft has changed owners several times, until it was exported to the United Kingdom in November 1990, where it received a new civil registration G-BSZC and returned to the original colour scheme from the days it flew with the Strategic Air Command.

It was sold again in May 2005 to a private operator in Ireland who only performed a few flights between 2005 and 2006, the aircraft was grounded in 2006 for unknown reasons. In 2014 the current owner managed to discover and buy the aircraft. Although the “Southern Comfort” did not fly for eight years, after a brief inspection it was flown by experts from the Aircraft Restoration Company to Duxford in the UK where it remained for six months for a major overhaul. In September 2014 the crew of Mirek Sazavsky and Petr Bezdek flew it to the Czech Republic. Currently, the “Southern Comfort” is based at an airport of Letnany but is maintained by the Aircraft Restoration Company in Duxford.

| Back to Top |

The Aircraft

Beechcraft C-45G Expeditor

The U.S. Army Air Corps first ordered this type of aircraft in 1940 under the designation C-45, for use as a staff transport. These aircraft were re-designated UC-45s in 1943. Other variants included the AT-7 Navigator, introduced in 1941 for navigator training. This had a dorsal astrodome and positions for three trainees. Some 577 of these were built. The AT-11 Kansan, a bombing/gunnery trainer, was introduced in 1941. Production of the AT-11 totalled 1,582 and included 36 examples completed as the AT-11A navigation trainer. Another Model 18 variant was the F-2 photo-reconnaissance model, of which 69 examples were acquired. The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps also procured the Model 18, with a total of over 1,500 examples. The JRB-1 was the equivalent of the F-2, the JRB-2 was a transport, and the JRB-3 and -4 were the equivalent of the UC-45. The SNB-1, -2, & -3 were the equivalents of the AT-11, -7, and -7C, respectively. The F-2 was yet another variant of the Model 18 that was built to carry two to four aerial cameras and used for reconnaissance and aerial mapping. Only about 70 of the F-2 models were built. Other variants of the Model 18 included an air ambulance and an electronics countermeasure trainer. The Air Corps ordered 11 Beech Model B18s aircraft in late 1939 and designated them C-45s.

The planes were essentially identical to the civilian version of the aircraft and used by the Army for light transport, staff, and liaison missions. The plane was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior radials and cruised at 211 miles per hour carrying a maximum of six passengers and crew. The Air Corps ordered more than 1300 C-45s with most produced as the C-45F. During the early 1950s, Beech completely rebuilt 900 C-45s for the Air Force. They received new serial numbers and were designated C-45Gs and C-45Hs, remaining in service until 1963 for administrative and light cargo duties.

| Back to Top |

Gallery