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Description
| Manufacturer: | Beech | |
| Base model: | SNB | |
| Designation: | SNB | |
| Version: | -5P | |
| Nickname: | Navigator | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Navy / Marines | |
| Designation Period: | 1939-1948 | |
| Basic role: | Scout trainer | |
| Modified Mission: | Photographic reconnaissance/Survey | |
| See Also: | C-45 | |
Specifications
| Length: | 35' 12" | 10.9 m | |
| Height: | 9' 4" | 2.8 m | |
| Wingspan: | 49' 8" | 15.1 m | |
| Wingarea: | 360.7 sq ft | 33.5 sq m | |
| Empty Weight: | 5,680 lb | 2,575 kg | |
| Gross Weight: | 8,000 lb | 3,628 kg | |
| Max Weight: | 9,900 lb | 4,489 kg | |
Propulsion
| No. of Engines: | 2 | ||
| Powerplant: | Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-3 | ||
| Horsepower (each): | 450 | ||
Performance
| Range: | 1,626 miles | 2,618 km | |
| Cruise Speed: | 207 mph | 333 km/h | 180 kt |
| Max Speed: | 234 mph | 376 km/h | 203 kt |
| Climb: | 1,490 ft/min | 454 m/min | |
| Ceiling: | 23,300 ft | 7,101 m | |
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| Pima Air & Space Museum | Tucson | Arizona |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Bob Lawson PHCS(AC) USN(Ret) St. George, UT | I started my naval career as a plane captain on the JRB-4, sister ship to the SNB. My first flight in a SNB-5P came in 1953 at Photo School Pensacola, Fla. This was the first of 1,000 hours flying mostly in the photonavigator seat in the "Bouncing Bitch," as many pilots referred to it, at NAS Pensacola, NAS Denver, NAS Barbers Pt. and NAS North Island. The Beech could emit the loudest silence in the world when both engines would quit form fuel starvation because we would forget to switch tanks in time. Restarting was no problem.
My most memorable flight was at Barbers Pt. when we were on final behind a WV-2 "Connie" and hit her wake turbulence. Suddenly the sky was on the bottom and the ground was on the top. Fortunately we had a great pilot who rolled the old gal on over and landed without further excitement. 12/23/2014 @ 23:42 [ref: 68840] |
| Bob Lawson PHCS(AC) USN(Ret) St. George, UT | I started my naval career as a plane captain on the JRB-4, sister ship to the SNB. My first flight in a SNB-5P came in 1953 at Photo School Pensacola, Fla. This was the first of 1,000 hours flying mostly in the photonavigator seat in the "Bouncing Bitch," as many pilots referred to it, at NAS Pensacola, NAS Denver, NAS Barbers Pt. and NAS North Island. The Beech could emit the loudest silence in the world when both engines would quit form fuel starvation because we would forget to switch tanks in time. Restarting was no problem.
My most memorable flight was at Barbers Pt. when we were on final behind a WV-2 "Connie" and hit her wake turbulence. Suddenly the sky was on the bottom and the ground was on the top. Fortunately we had a great pilot who rolled the old gal on over and landed without further excitement. 12/23/2014 @ 23:41 [ref: 68839] |
| Bob Lawson PHCS(AC) USN(Ret) St. George, UT | I started my naval career as a plane captain on the JRB-4, sister ship to the SNB. My first flight in a SNB-5P came in 1953 at Photo School Pensacola, Fla. This was the first of 1,000 hours flying mostly in the photonavigator seat in the "Bouncing Bitch," as many pilots referred to it, at NAS Pensacola, NAS Denver, NAS Barbers Pt. and NAS North Island. The Beech could emit the loudest silence in the world when both engines would quit form fuel starvation because we would forget to switch tanks in time. Restarting was no problem.
My most memorable flight was at Barbers Pt. when we were on final behind a WV-2 "Connie" and hit her wake turbulence. Suddenly the sky was on the bottom and the ground was on the top. Fortunately we had a great pilot who rolled the old gal on over and landed without further excitement. 12/23/2014 @ 23:41 [ref: 68838] |
| Bob Lawson PHCS(AC) USN(Ret) St. George, UT | I started my naval career as a plane captain on a JRB-4, sister to the SNB (later -C-45) and made my first flight in the SNB-5P in 1953 at Photo School at Pensacola, Fla. During the next seven years I would log nearly 1,000 hours in it, at NAS Denver, NAS Barbers Pt. and NAS North Island, mostly in the photo-navigator seat. The "Bouncing Bitch," as it was fondly referred to by many pilots, was a great airplane, but the loudest silence in the world came when both engines would quit due to fuel starvation because we would forget to switch fuel tanks. Restarting was no problem.
My most memorable flight was at Barbers Pt. as we were landing behind a WV-2 "Connie," we got tangled up in her wake turbulence and suddenly the sky was on the bottom and the ground was on the top. We had a great pilot who's name I can't recall, and he merely rolled the old gal on over, landing with no further excitement. 12/23/2014 @ 23:20 [ref: 68837] |
| glenn dunham redlands, CA | I was a plane capt for a snb and a snj at nalf miramar in 1952. at that time miramar didn't have any jet squadrons on base. the base was way out in the boondocks but was great duty. I left thereand went to a utility squadron in hawaii and worked in a target drone unit then went back to nas miramar and worked on F7U-3 cutlasses until I was dischrged in 1955. 3 years, 11 months, 28 days and an hour and a half of super duty working as an ad. 07/21/2012 @ 19:58 [ref: 63811] |
| Larry Niebanck Hobe Sound, FL | Just like brother Bruce, below, I survived the SNB (Secret Navy Bomber),from Nov 20,1959 - Jan 20, 1960, flying under the hood for about 43 hours. 05/21/2012 @ 11:16 [ref: 57549] |
| Bruce Niebanck , MS | When I was a flight instructor on the T-34B at VT-1, I was checked out on the C-45 in March 1966 and had the distinction of being the only Ensign in the US Navy check out on it. 02/17/2012 @ 12:37 [ref: 53112] |
| james moody manning, SC | I WAS A PLANE CAPTAIN ON A SNB BEACH CRAFT< WHEN I WAS IN THE NAVY, AT THE NAS IN MELTON TENN, NOT TO FOR FROM MEMPHIS. THAT WAS IN THE 60' WAS PLANE CAPTIN ON TWO OTHER ALSO A T28, AND At2vJET. I STAID 4 YEARS, WISH I HAD DONE 20 YEARS .KNOW I AM PUSHING 70 YEARS OLD , HOW TIMES FLY. 02/21/2010 @ 19:25 [ref: 25764] |
| Chuck Amsler St. Louis, MO, MO | I was in Photo "A" School at Pensacola, FL from Sep 1949-Mar 1950. I was in the Aerial rather than Ground school being stationed at NAS St. Louis, Lambert Field at the time. During my Aerial Phase, we were doing Mapping Problems in a SNB. It had the camera mount in the center of the floor with two seats facing forward and two facing aft. One morning our pilot, a Marine Master Sgt. (AP) and a A/C Mech riding "eyes", three students and our instructor prepared for takeoff. The pilot revved up the engines, released the brakes and we started our take-off roll. As we reached lift off speed our landing gear retracted. Not having enough speed, we settled and slid on the belly down the runway spewing a plume of sparks. As soon as the A/C stopped the guy closesest to the door, pulled the emergency release, kicked the door out and the six of of ran in our seperate directions all thinking our A/C would burst into flames. Fortunately it didn't.
The Navy tried to "hang" that Master Sgt for pulling a fighter take off, having the landing gear in the up position so when the weight of the A/C came off the gear would neatly fold into the body and the plane would be airborn close to the ground. I was facing forward and testified at the hearing the pilot had one hand on the yoke and one on the throttles and never touched the landing gear switch which was in the down position the whole time. After a very thorough inspection, it was learned the A/C had just come out of complete overhaul there at Pensacola and the landing gear switch was mounted INVERTED!. So when the selector was in the down position, it was in reality in the up position. I think the people at O and R at Pensacola took a heavy hit for not drop testing that bird before delivery. Oh yes, and as soon as the instructor and us three students got back to the flight line we were assigned another airplane and crew so we could get our Mapping Problem done. Needless to say all four of us were a bit nervous about that next take-off. Back at NAS St. Louis, we had a couple "glass nosed" SNB's. We found them an excellent platform for Aerial Oblique Photography as the optical clear class in the front avoided any distortion in our photographs. After all these years I still love that Airplane. Chuck Amsler, PHA-1/c, USNR 1947-1955 11/24/2008 @ 07:54 [ref: 23134] |
| Carl Wayne King, USN, Ret , CA | I was a Plane Capt. on SNB-5 & JRB-4 at NAAS Monterey, CA in 1953. I 1955 I went VJ-61 (Heavy Photo Squadron) and ended up as Plane Capt. on an SNB-5P. This aircraft had camera mounts in the cabin just forward of the two front observers seats and the doors were opened by manually cranking the actuator rods. It had a full oxygen system and Hamiliton Standard Full Feathering Props. I seem to recall it having an auto-pilot. When our squadron of AJ-2Ps moved to Agana, Guam, we took the SNB with us. This was much nicer then the first SNBs I was associated tith. 07/02/2008 @ 08:03 [ref: 21743] |
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