Ok so, as I have said multiple times here, I’m a Member of Air Heritage Inc. a local Aviation Museum and restoration shop near Pittsburgh, Pa.
Recently we were offered a Beechcraft C-45 (Beech 18) as a complete donation to us. Now the problem is, it’s located in Kansas which is about ~700nm flying distance away from us. The second problem is that it hasn’t flown in 17 years and has no engines with it, so the only way we could possibly get it here is by truck.
Now that is possible but it would cost a fortune. We did this last year when we had to raise 6,500 dollars to truck up an F-15A we had received from the government which wouldn't have happened if it wasn’t for one person who donated a very large sum of money towards it as he worked on the F-15 while in the military.

Now we also just found out that trucking it would be even more expensive because of the design of the plane. Like the B-29, its wings don’t separate from the fuselage at the wing root. Instead the wingtips come off (I’m guess just past the engine nacelles) reducing its overall width to 14ft. At 14ft wide, that would make it an oversized load! However after a very rough calculation, it might be able to be placed on an angle and fit on a lowboy trailer. However that still is going to be a very expensive job…
So here is the “Out of the box” thinking. There is only one other way to transport something over land other than by ground and that is by air and we have just the plane ourselves that might be able to do that. Our largest plane in our fleet is a Fairchild C-123K Provider.

Now if we could get the C-45 into the Pig, we could easily bring it back by air and would only have to pay for fuel. In fact, the C-45 will only weigh about 5000lbs since there are no engines on it, and the pig’s max cargo weight is 24,000lbs, but that was with the J-85 engines which ours is not equipped with. However, we still will be able to lift it. Since it won’t fit, the only other way is to tow it home.
So the idea…
Drive out to Kansas get all the control surfaces off the plane, get the main wing spar checked as the Beech 18 had a problem with them rusting out, and do an overall check of the aircraft and its systems. Determine what needs fixing to be able to be flown back home. Take everything that needs to be back to our shop, fix it all and load it up on the C-123K along with anything else we determined would need to be fixed out there that couldn’t be brought back home for the repairs and fly out to Kansas. Spend a week or two out there getting it ready and prepared for the flight home.
Now to tow it, we would have to come up with some sort of system, but whatever it is, we have the hard points on the floor that can be used. Likewise, the hard points on the C-45 would also need to be found, but I’m thinking possible good spots would be in the gear wells or engine mounts, but I have no clue really.
Now say we get the go ahead from the FAA and everything is ready to go. The flight back would be made in two trips. Kansas-Indy (or Cincy)-Beaver County. Now when it comes to landing, the C-123K would bring us in tethered but once we are almost over the threshold, the C-45 would release the cable and land on its own. Then the Pig would circle back around and land. After refueling, the pig would again take off with the C-45 in tow and we would repeat the process at either Beaver County (we only have 4500ft runway) or Pittsburgh. I include Pit because the FAA might want us there instead, but BVI would be the preferred final destination.
Now obviously, it would take a lot of work just to be able to do this. We almost would have to get it into an actual flying state without the engines or systems which alone would take a lot of work. I haven’t even dug into the FAR’s yet to see if this is even A) addressed or B) possible to do. It would also take some work by engineers to come up with the right way to do it and to make sure it would be safe to do it.
I dreamt this up a few nights ago… It’s pretty much for toejams and giggles, but hey it might work. As of now, we won’t be getting the aircraft due to the financial reason, so it looks like the plane will be heading to the scrap yard unfortunately. However there are a few of us at Air Heritage that as still looking into the feasibility of possibly getting it. One guy said he will be going back out there to look at it and to get all of the facts about the plane and see exactly what condition the plane is in.
Man what a sight that would be to see! It might be the first time that such an act of transportation was done by a restoration group to get a future project back to their home base.