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Description
| Manufacturer: | Budd |
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| Base model: | RB | ||
| Designation: | RB | ||
| Version: | -1 | ||
| Nickname: | Conestoga | ||
| Designation System: | U.S. Navy / Marines | ||
| Designation Period: | 1931-1962 | ||
| Basic role: | Transport | ||
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Known serial numbers
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| Pima Air & Space Museum | Tucson | Arizona |
RB-1 on display
Pima Air & Space Museum |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Ron Merriman Smithville, MO | I used to work for Flying Tigers Air Cargo. When the company first started it was made up of old Flying Tigers AVG group people from WWII. The first aircraft that Flying Tigers had were 14 Budd Conestogas. They didnt last to long as they had a lot of problems with them. Also the first flight to Mexico in them. was a flight of 2 ships. which were seized by the Mexican goverment upon landing and were never recovered.
04/22/2014 @ 06:45 [ref: 68461] |
| Ace Drummond , NJ | Depending upon when you contacted Budd, it may not have even been there. The Red Lion plant stopped operations in 1983 or 1984 with the delivery of the last of a CTA (Chicago) transit car order. The factory was then dismantled and the equipment sold at auction. The factory lay empty for about 10 years while Budd's owner, Thyssen Steel of Duisberg, West Germany decided what to do with the property. Then about 1994 or 1995 the factory was torn down and a golf course installed. We believe the Budd Railway Division's successor, Transit America, has become part of Thyssen Holdings.
As a sidenote, there is another stainless steel aircraft outside the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. It was named the Pioneer and was a sea plane designed and built in the early thirties. the wings were fabric covered and the spars are now visible to passers-by. The aircraft was flon by a man named Lou Argentine who became a sales rep for stainless steel railcars in Europe. He was based in the Paris office. 01/21/2010 @ 14:25 [ref: 25612] |
| Ned Fogler Clearwqter, FL | I was in the Navy, an AMM2C, ASSIGNED TO VPWI, stationed at Mirimar NAS when we were assigned a Budd Conestoga to test as a Radar ship.I was the plane Capt, or crew cheif if you would rather use that term. Flying in the after station was like being inside a bass drum. The noise was deaffening. That was in 1946 0r there abouts. I still suffer hearing loss as a result of about 200 hours flight time in this stainless steel monster. One of our pilots was Pug Piper. He is the only one that I really remember. After all that was over 60 years ago.I am now 84.I was 22 0R 23 at the tine. The VA has offered me hearing aids, but I just never bothered to go through the red tape needed to get them.
Ned Fogler 02/01/2009 @ 08:08 [ref: 23599] |
| HOWARD B. GIBSON BURLINGTON, NC | I WAS NAVAL AVIATION CHIEF ELECTRONICS TECHNICIAN ATTACHED
TO THE RADIO TEST SECTION OF PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION (1943-1944). RADIO TEST HAD ONE RB-1, AND FLIGHT TEST HAD ONE OR MORE OTHERS. I PARTICIPATED IN SEVERAL FLIGHTS, TESTING IFF EQUIPMENT. OF PARTICULAR NOTE HERE WAS OUR RECORDING EQUIPMENT, WHICH USED MAGNETIC WIRE. WE DID NOT EXPERIENCE IT, BUT SEVERAL RB'S HAD PROBLEMS IN LOWERING RIGHT & LEFT LANDING GEARS SIMULTANEOUSLY. 10/25/2007 @ 20:51 [ref: 18305] |
| Aaron Robinson Wilmington, NC | Even though it never saw frontline service, the Budd Conestoga featured a number of innovations which were found in later cargo aircraft.
The U.S. Military planned to use the Conestoga in large numbers. The USAAF placed in order for 600 C-93s, while the US Navy ordered 200 RB-1s, both aircraft adopting the Conestoga appellaion after the pioneers` covered wagon. However, problems fabricating the stainless-steel parts that made up the Conestoga delayed production, and it was not until March 1944 that production RB-1s began to reach the Navy. By that time, the USAAF had canceled its entire order, and only 17 RB-1s were acquired by the Navy, with which they had a short career before their retirement in early 1945. 09/20/2007 @ 16:47 [ref: 17978] |
| Kat Cuevas Seattle, WA | I read on a lost airfield website that this was originally tested by a man named Guy Miller. Does anyone know who he was? The test pilot? 12/29/2006 @ 13:45 [ref: 15033] |
| PF , MI | Just came across a Training Course written for welders of the RB-1 Conestoga. The manual, produced in 1943, reproduced a series of 11 lectures offering a comprehensive review for the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company of the SHOTWELD welding system for stainless steel.
It was the same welding system used on stainless steel Budd railway cars from 1931-1981. 09/25/2006 @ 19:01 [ref: 14287] |
| John Tucker Ann Arbor, MI | The Tucker Automobile Corp had on of these to transport the Tucker Automobile around the country. It was apparantly a real slug and they finally left in at an airport somewhere down south. 05/14/2006 @ 12:59 [ref: 13276] |
| David J. Leidel Arlington, TX | I was in Tucson on business, so I visited the RB-1 at the Pima Museum. Came from service in Mexico as I was told. My dad was the Flight Test Engineer on the RB-1 at Budd Field on Red Lion Rd. in Philadelphia. Bill Page was the Test Pilot as I recall. I still have dad's flight log and it recorded a couple of forced landings. Where are all the drawings and records of this Navy program? Does Budd still have them or were they discarded years ago?
It would be nice to see the Pima ship assembled and on display. I tried to interest Budd Co. but I never even got the courtesy of a reply. 12/12/2001 @ 16:11 [ref: 3812] |
| Walt Bauer Cedar Park, TX | My great Aunt was a "Rosie the rivater" at Budd Corp. during the WWII.
She was the only woman to ride in this bird and on landing, they had a small mishap whereas the plane ran off the runway and put a dent in the stainless steel, nose area. They sent some to Pax River NAS, where after the war, they pushed them into the river, guess they are still there. They were gas hogs so they didn't pan out as far as the military was concerned.Lots of good storys about this aircraft. Flying Tiger Cargo Co. purchased some to fly also. This is the only place I know, that there is one on display.If any one knows the whereabouts of others, please contact me. I hope to get up to see it sometime. 06/05/2001 @ 20:48 [ref: 2412] |
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