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Nope, Beech U-8 Seminole (Twin Bonanza)

Not a twin Bonanza. See http://www.stinsonflyer.com/prop/l23d-1c.jpg

The twin Bonanza was a scaled-up Bonanza. (I was told that the original concept had both engines in the nose, driving a gearbox that turned the propeller.) The L-23 that I flew in the Army at the Aviation Test Board at Fort Rucker had the throw-over control wheel, but the airplane was a narrow three-seats wide so when the control wheel was thrown over to the right, it had to be flown from the middle seat.

It is a T-42, a variant of the Beech Baron, used for instrument training provided by civilian instructors when I was at Fort Rucker in 69-70. The big number was intended to discourage low flying. All the aircraft at Cairns Army Airfield were marked that way.

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I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the T-42 is from Ft. Wolters, TX (RIP) or Ft. Rucker, AL due to large "86A" on fuselage which is a training a/c marking.

To be Ft. Wolters, it would have to be taken in the late 60s/early 70s.

Deuce in background is TX ANG out of Ellington, near Houston.

Not sure about the Blue Canoe (U-3) in the middle but I suspect it is an AF bird due to color scheme.

Rick in Maine, who is a native Texan and feels old remembering these things!

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A/C isn't tied down, that's a ground wire runnning to the grounding point, (earthing to some of you Brits) a long copper rod hammered into the ground. If your going to be gassing up your aircraft in a diorama, you will need to run a grounding wire from the aircraft to ground, another from the refuelling tender to the same ground, and then the refueller is bonded to the aircraft before the filler cap is removed. There is usually a grounding wire attached to the end of the hose, which plugs into a grounding point within a foot or two of the gas cap. I remember in my ramp rat days, we had a Beech Baron, it was handy for teaching multi engine, and IFR, but was otherwise not well liked. Registration was C-FPFS, but we all called it PI**, F**K, S**T

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