Convair C-131/R4Y Samaritan

The Convair company is best known in US aviation history for developing famous bombers and flying boats, including the PBY Catalina, PB2Y Coronado, B-24 Liberator (including the RY, C-87, and C-109 transport versions and PB4Y-1 patrol version), B-32 Dominator, B-36 Peacemaker, and PB4Y-2 Privateer. However, shortly after World War II, Convair dipped its toes into the development of civil and military transport planes, including the creation of turboprop-powered airliners rivaling the UK's Vickers Viscount. During my visits to the Yanks Air Museum in Chino and the March Field Air Museum in Riverside, I happened to come upon two examples of a twin-engine piston-powered plane similar to appearance to the C-54 Skymaster. Eventually, it would be clear to me that the twin-engine plane wasn't a Douglas plane, but instead the C-131 Samaritan, a military version of the Convair CV-240/340/440 airliner series.

                                                    

Top: Convair C-131F (originally R4Y-1) BuNo 141000 in flight, 1970s

Bottom left: Convair C-131B (serial number 53-7184) of the New Mexico Air National Guard, 1950s 

Bottom right: T-29A trainer (serial number 49-1941 at RAF Burtonwood, Lancashire, 1957

The Convair C-131 Samaritan had its genesis in the Convair CV-240 piston engine airliner that first flew on March 16, 1947 and entered service in February of the following year. The US Air Force expressed interest in the ConvairLiner series and asked Convair to build two military versions of the aircraft, the C-131 Samaritan transport and the T-29 Flying Classroom trainer. The C-131, like the CV-240/340/440 series, had two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial piston engines each delivering 2,400 horsepower, but it featured provisions for either 39 troops or 20 stretchers and 7 seats. The T-29, on the other hand, featured 14 fully equipped stations for students or instructors and one radio operator's station, with each student having access to a map table, Loran scope, altimeter, and radio compass panel. The T-29 made its first flight on September 22, 1949, and the first T-29A was delivered in March 1950, with the initial T-29A version having an unpressurized fuselage and later versions (T-29B, T-29C, and T-29D) featuring a pressurized fuselage; production of the T-29 totaled 365 planes. The T-29's purpose was to instruct bombardiers, navigators, and radio operators for Air Force planes. There was a planned bomber training version of the T-29 with a transparent nose, the T-32, but this design was not built. The C-131 Samaritan, meanwhile, did not reach USAF service until 1954, and it was primarily used for medical evacuation and personnel transportation, with a few C-131s being retained for training and testing. The Samaritan was ordered by the US Navy under the designation R4Y, and the first of 36 R4Ys was delivered in 1952. The R4Y had a seating capacity of 44 passengers and it was assigned to Navy and Marine Corps squadrons as logistic and administrative aircraft. One C-131 was used in 1959 for training astronauts as part of the first US manned spacecraft program, Project Mercury. The C-131s were retired from active USAF units in the late 1970s, but the Air National Guard and Navy continued to operate the aircraft until 1990.

Left: Convair C-131D (serial number 54-2808) on display at the March Field Air Museum, Riverside, California 

Right: Convair C-131F (originally R4Y-1) BuNo 141013 on display at the Yanks Air Museum, Chino, California

The Samaritan that I saw at the Yanks Air Museum was originally built as an R4Y-1 with Navy BuNo 141013 and delivered to the US Navy on January 3, 1956. It served with the Navy for 26 years before being retired to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center in 1982, where it remained until May 26, 2004, when it was transferred to the Yanks Air Museum with the civil registration N9030V. Following the Defense Department's creation of the Tri-Service designation system for all US military aircraft on September 18, 1962, the R4Y-1 was re-designated C-131F, while the R4Y-1Z and R4Y-2 versions became VC-131F and C-131G respectively. On the other hand, the C-131 Samaritan on display at the March Field Air Museum is of the C-131D version and bore the US Air Force serial number 54-2808, with its first flight on July 28, 1954, and delivery to the Air Force on October 19. It served as a VIP transport initially with the Military Transport Command and later the Tactical Air Command until May 31, 1989, when it was retired from USAF service.