The Airplane Made From Steel

On a visit to the Pima Air Museum in Tuscon several years ago I came across this unusual military transport plane sitting in the bright Arizona sun and became intrigued by what I saw. This airplane- I believe it's the only one of its kind remaining- is the Budd RB-1 Conestoga. The Budd company, you may recall, is known for manufacturing rail cars, principally commuter trains. I think we've all heard of the name Buddliner or have seen one of their trains zipping through a rail road crossing. The Budd company developed a welding process allowing them to assemble its rail cars using stainless steel, thus making their cars lighter, stronger, and corrosion resistant.

During the first couple of years of World War II the U.S. found itself with a severe shortage of aluminum, so the military services were looking for alternative materials from which to build airplanes. The Budd company thought it could build a medium transport plane out of stainless steel using the same methods by which its rail cars were constructed. The Navy awarded Budd a contract for 200 units. For a long time airplane fuselages had been built out of thin-wall steel tubing but the Conestoga was very different from that. Budd skinned their airplane with stainless steel welded to longerons and frames also made of stainless steel; the outer wings and rudder were, however, fabric covered.

The Conestoga competed with the DC-3/C-47 for military business. Unfortunately the Conestoga weighed a ton-and-a-half more than the C-47. It was underpowered, too, due to it's robust construction. The plane could haul five tons of cargo, featured rear clamshell doors and loading ramp, and a 25 foot long, 8 foot by 8 foot cargo bay. The flight deck actually sat above the cargo bay so as to allow for more cargo room.

There were delays in producing the first Conestogas- in the meantime the aluminum mills caught up with production demands. The Navy amended the contract for 200 RB-1s to only 25; 17 were eventually delivered but used only for utility missions. At the War's end the aircraft were sold. Several were bought by a start-up civilian cargo hauler that eventually became Flying Tigers.

Interestingly, the Tucker Automobile Company bought a used RB-1 to haul around its prototype automobile. The Tucker is another beautiful piece of transportation art, as is the Conestoga. It would be wonderful to see the Pima Museum fully restore it's airframe, but unfortunately because the Conestoga is little more than an aviation curiosity, I imagine it will remain untouched for a long time to come.