Have any of you got the DVD for a Frank Sinatra/Steve McQueen movie called, "Never So Few"?

I just watched it again for the first time in some years and wonder about the twin-engine plane used to extract the OSS guerillas from Burma and take them to HQ in India?

This is NOT the C-47 used to drop supplies and parachute them back into the jungle.

I think it's a Lockheed or Avro design. Have seen it on an airplane desk calendar but can't find it tonight. It's some sort of light transport and executive plane.

Thanks.

Cessna Bobcat commercial T-50/military AT-17? Don't have a clip of the movie handy so can't confirm but will look after a couple more cups of coffee.


Bob

I got mixed up for awhile and was thinking of the movie, "None but the brave" that sounds very similar. Frank sinatra stared with clint walker that was a pilot that crashed landed, I think, a C-45 on a remote island.

None But the Brave - Bing Movies

Never So Few - The Internet Movie Plane Database

ahhh search engines

Cessna Bobcat, it is! Thanks. Had no idea this database existed, although I've seen one for guns.

Glad I found this thread.

With 50 plus years of interest/work with aircraft was never aware such an aircraft existed.

It has a tube steel fuselage and wooden wings, both fabric covered. No wonder there are so few left.

There were several variants of the Cessna Bobcat in US and Canadian military service. There were the AT-8, AT-17(several variants), C-78, UC-78(several variants), Navy JRC-1, and Canadian Crane-1 and 1-A.

They were used as transport hacks, light cargo and bombardier training aircraft. They were powered by two Jacobs radials commony referred to as Shaky Jakes. They had one magneto and one automotive distributor!

The aircraft was commonly referred to as the "Bamboo Bomber" due to the large amount of wood in its structure. Being somewhat under-powered didn't help it's reputation. The UC-78 variation was commonly referred to as the "Useless 78".

An early 1950s western themed TV series titled "Sky King" prominently featured a Bobcat as the centerpiece of the show. Episodes of Sky King are available on Hulu if you want to see a Bobcat flying.

__________________
Gunsmithing since 1961

Seems I heard they also were used to tow our gliders? I think I recall a old instructor of mine telling me he towed gliders with them.

I recall Sky King and his neice Penny very well. I knew he had a Cessna but didn't think of this one.

That was one of my favorite TV shows as a kid.

By the time my family got its first TV set, Sky King was flying a Cessna 310 and on occasion some sort of small Piper Cub. ........ Big Cholla

Yeah, that's what threw me about the Bobcat; I kept thinking of the 310. I saw those flown from a local airport and knew the design. But I think I saw episodes with the Bobcat, too.

I also lived near an AFB and got to see many warplanes, including B-25's that were still flying. The B-25 engines had a distinctive sound, and I could spot them by hearing them before I saw them. I read, "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" from the school library and loved seeing the Mitchells.

These spartan aircraft from the late 30s are my favorite design. They had one at the EAA museum in oshkosh wisconsin.

Spartan Photo

I remember one of these "Bamboo Bombers" hangered at a small airstrip that I used to frequent. It eventually was put in flying order and was destroyed in a crash.

Remember seeing the first Cessna twin then the upgrade to his new tricycle gear Cessna. Up until today always thought it had been a Beech 18.
Now it all makes sense because it wasn't big enough to be a Beech. But then again haven't seen an episode since then. Will have to check them out on Hulu.

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