Spirit Rotorcraft

We teach in a very unique Aircraft and can train for all single engine rating plus acrobatic and formation introduction.

History: This T-34A Model A-45 was built by Canadian Car and Foundry in Williams, Ontario, Canada, mfg. serial number 34-119. It was 119th out of a series of 125 aircraft built under a contract with Beech Aircraft Corporation to supply the Air Force with a training aircraft.The Air Force accepted this airplane on 25 Jul 55 into their inventory with 3:50 hours on the airframe. The serial number was 53-4150.

The ship was assigned to the 3305th pilot training group at Malden Air Base, Missouri where it remained until 27 Dec 57 and 1318.10 hours.It was then transferredto 818th Combat Support Group, Lincoln AFB, Nebraska where on 10 Jan 58it was registered with the Civil Aeronautics Administration listing USAF owner/ Lincoln Air Force Base Aero Club, operator as N-7603B.

By 1 Sept 63 the aircraft had a total of 3183 total hours on the airframe and was still being flown by the Aero Club. By 29 Jun 66 the ownership of 7603B had transferred to the Civil Air Patrol with a total of 3442.9 hours on the airframe.It was then sold to Robert Griffin and became N69BG in May of 1971 with about 4300 total hours. By 2 Feb 74 had been sold to Edward Messick with a total of 4569.6 total hours and the ship was now registered as 34EM.Col. Messick owned the Aircraft until it was purchased by Spirit Rotorcraft, LLC from his Estate in January 2008 with 6221 hours on the Airframe.

Equipment: 34EM has been under the care of Earle Parks in Amarillo, Texas since it left the Civil Air Patrol in 1971.It has gone through a complete restoration on more than one occasion and all major modifications (STCs) have been performed by Mr. Parks.

Engine: 285hp IO-520BB with inverted fuel/oil system, air/oil separator and Smoke system.

Fuel System: Two main tanks and two tip tanks- total fuel capacity of 80 gal. Radios: Garmin 530W GPS navigation system, audio panel, and transponder. K-165A Nav/Com

Autopilot: S-tec 60-2 with GPSS

Airworthiness Directives: All complied with including Parks Wing Spar, H-beam carry-through and station 66 inspections to return the aircraft to full aerobatic unrestricted flight status as of January, 2008.

Paint: This is the only T-34 painted with these designs that is known to exist.It was designed to represent a German Messerschmitt Bf-109E squadron around the time of the Battle of Britain, World War II. The red Griffon is the insignia for that squadron, 9/JG26.The double chevron is the insignia for Gruppe Commander and the yellow 1 is the aircraft number.The yellow curved line indicates the plane belongs to Gruppe 3.

The Iron Cross insignia on the tail was displayed by some of the German aces with high kill counts with the number of kills noted where the “34” is in the scheme.