CESSNA CRANE MK.IA

The Cessna Crane was a Canadian training and training plane, American production from the Second World War. The first flight of this machine in Canadian colors took place in early 1941. In the basic version, the drive was provided by two Jacobs L-4MB engines with 225 HP each. The length of the machine was approx. 10 m with a wingspan of approx. 12.8 m. The machine did not have on-board weapons. The Cessna Crane is in fact a Cessna T-50 aircraft modernized for military purposes, which made its debut on the American aviation market in 1939 as a light communication plane. It is worth noting that when designing this machine, special emphasis was placed on its low costs - both in terms of production and operation, which was largely successful. With the outbreak of the war, both the American and Canadian air forces (RCAF for short) expressed a lot of interest in this machine. The latter aimed at acquiring a training and training machine that would complement Avro Anson planes supplied from Great Britain. The first deliveries of Cessna Crane machines began in early 1941 and continued until mid-1943. Airplanes were used primarily for training pilots who were to fly multi-engine machines in the future, but were also used as light transport or liaison aircraft. In total, during World War II, the RCAF received 826 aircraft of this type.