The Buttonville Flying Club COPA Flight 44

 
The Airplane of the day is the Beech SNB-2.
 
The Beech SNB-2 was a derivative of the Beech Model 18, which had no fewer than 50 different military designations. The "Twin Beech", as it was better known, is a 6 to 11 place, twin-engine, low-wing, conventional-gear aircraft that was manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. This model saw military service during and after World War II in a number of versions including the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) C-45 Expeditor, AT-7 Navigator, AT-11 Kansan; and for the United States Navy (USN), UC-45J Navigator and the SNB-1 Kansan. An estimated aggregate total time in service for the aircraft is in excess of 20,000,000 hours.
Beech Aircraft first introduced the Model 18 to the civilian market in late 1937. With the outbreak of World War II, the Army Air Corps ordered 11 aircraft. Quickly realizing their full potential, the C-45 was ordered in large quantities to provide the coming flood of new airmen with a suitable training aircraft. Although used primarily as a transport aircraft, the C-45 was also produced in the AT-7 navigational training, F-2 photo-reconnaissance, and AT-11 weapons training version. Imagine taking fire from a Beech 18!
The Beech 18 is the most modified U.S.-certified aircraft design, with over 200 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) on record for the aircraft. The aircraft's uses have included aerial spraying, sterile bug release, fish seeding, dry ice cloud seeding, aerial firefighting, airborne mail pick up and drop, ambulance service, numerous movie productions, skydiving, freight, nefarious activities such as gun and drug smuggling, engine test bed, skywriting and banner towing. A Beech 18 was also entered in the record books as the only aircraft to have released 12 nude female skydivers! A number of Model 18s were operated as passenger aircraft; the Model 18 was the first aircraft flown by Philippine Airlines, Asia's first and oldest airline. Many are now in private hands as prized collectibles.
 
 

 
 
General characteristics
Crew: 2 pilots
Capacity: 6 passengers
Length: 34 ft 2 in (10.41 m)
Wingspan: 47 ft 8 in (14.53 m)
Height: 9 ft 8 in (2.95 m)
Wing area: 349 ft² (32.4 m²)
Empty weight: 6,175 lb (2,800 kg)
Loaded weight: 7,500 lb (3,400 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 8,727 lb (3,959 kg)
Powerplant: 2× Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-1 "Wasp Junior" radial engines, 450 hp (336 kW) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 225 mph (195 knots, 360 km/h)
Range: 1,200 mi (1,000 NM, 1,900 km) at 160 mph (260 km/h)
Service ceiling: 26,000 ft (7,930 m)
Rate of climb: 1,850 ft/min (9.4 m/s)