Cessna T-50 Bobcat

The Cessna T-50 was the first twin-engine airplane Cessna built and its first with retractable landing gear, and the prototype first flew on 26 March 1939. Cessna produced the wood and tubular steel, fabric-covered T-50 in 1939 as a lightweight, lower cost personal twin, and it received Approved Type Certificate 722 on 24 March 1940. Military versions bridged the gap between single-engine trainers and larger multi-engine aircraft in World War II: the AT-8 and AT-17 Bobcat advanced trainers, the C-78 and UC-78 transports, and the Crane Mk.I in Canadian service. The Royal Canadian Air Force ordered 180 Cranes in September 1940, then the largest order Cessna had received, and the AT-17 carried two 245 horsepower Jacobs R-755-9 radial engines. Aircraft flown by the American military and the Canadian air force were retired soon after the war and many were exported.