Beechcraft Travelers for the RAF & RN
During World War II, a total of 105 Beechcraft Model D17S/UC-43/GB-2 Staggerwing biplanes were ordered for the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy under "Lend-Lease" arrangements, to be used as communications aircraft. In addition, four pre-war, U.S. registered Model 17s were impressed in the United States and were assigned British serial numbers.
Many of the RAF & RN Travelers carried as many as four different military serial numbers. Military Beech 17s were bought under USAAF and/or U.S. Navy contracts. The British Travelers were assigned British serials and the RN Travelers returned to the U.S. after the war and before sale, were assigned new U.S. Navy serials numbers.
The first six RAF Travelers (FL653/658) were flown from the Beechcraft factory at Wichita, Kansas, to Fort Dix (now McGuire AFB), during the winter of 1942, where they were dismantled and crated for transport by rail to Newark, N. J. Here, they were loaded aboard the SS Tabian, which departed on March 25, 1943, for the Middle East, arriving on July 1.
The next batch of twelve Travelers for the RAF (FL659/670), were loaded aboard the SS Agurmonte (6,879 tons) and departed for the Middle East. These Travelers were lost off Cape Province, South Africa, when the ship was sunk by a German U-boat on April 20, 1943, at position 34.52S 19.33E. The possibilities of undersea search and recovery of these crated Travelers was considered in the late 1980s, but no further action was taken.
Seven of the twelve replacement Travelers for the RAF, FZ428/439 (FZ429 crashed before delivery), were shipped aboard the SS Philip Schugler on October 7, 1943, and the final four were delivered to Cairo aboard the SS Sibury arriving on February 1, 1944.
Upon arrival, the RAF Travelers were assembled and flown by the Aden Communication Flight, the Northwest African Air Force, 201 and 205 Group Communication Flight, the Mediterranean Air Force, the Levant
. . . . . . . . . .
|

Beechcraft D-17S Traveler
|