Cessna UC-78C Bobcat         N52199                                 (c/n  4115)

                                            

                                                 The Cessna T-50 light twin was developed in 1939 and was recognized by the military of both
                                                 the US and Canada to have the potential for being a good twin engine conversion machine. Some
                                                 550 were supplied to the Commonwealth Joint Air Training Plan being set up in Canada, and there
                                                 they were known as the Crane.   (When I put my Canadian selection up you'll find several of them
                                                 there).    In the US, the trainer variant became the AT-17 and the light transport was the UC-78.
                                                 Officially the type was known as the Bobcat, but most air force types refer to it (somewhat
                                                 affectionately) as the "Bamboo Bomber", although bamboo it was not.  (Maybe spruce or pine,
                                                 but not bamboo).  The example above was actually an ex RCAF machine, originally to have been
                                                 AT-17D 42-72119, but delivered instead to the RCAF as UC-78C FJ604.  My shot was taken at
                                                 Fullerton Municipal Airport in 1961, where it was owned by the J.E. Riley Company.