Julie Clark’s T-34 Mentor | EAA Warbirds QR Code Website

History:
First flown in 1949, the Mentor was demonstrated by famed acrobatic pilots Bev Howard and Betty Skelton at the Cleveland Airshow.
The T-34 eventually won a long competition to determine a new trainer, but Walter Beech did not live to see production. He died of a heart attack in 1950. The T-34 went into service with the USAF (T-34A) in 1953 and with the U.S. Navy (T-34B) in 1955. It was also license built in Canada, Japan and Argentina. T-34A production ran from 1953 to 1956.
Restoration fans will appreciate that Julie bought her Beechcraft T-34A in 1977, “sight unseen” at a government surplus auction, in Anchorage, Alaska, for $18,000. She flew the airplane, dubbed “Free Spirit”, 2,900 miles to her home in California. Julie then personally began the painstaking process of restoring the hand-polished, aluminium airplane inside and out. “Over the next four years, I spent many long hours bringing the airplane back to mint condition” says Clark, “and it requires daily maintenance to keep it that way”.
Beginning with her own creative version of the “Air Force One” paint theme, the aircraft is constantly undergoing upgrading and modification. Julie’s T-34 now sports a “Straos Plus” series engine. This fully blueprinted 300+ horsepower engine, built by Eagle Engines, replaces the original stock 225hp engine. It is coupled with a Hartzell propeller featuring their “Designer*Prop” custom paint process, designed and serviced by American Propeller of Redding, California
Julie chose the T-34A because she had flown many hours in T-34′s while a civilian instructor for the U.S. Navy at Lemoore Naval Air Station in 1974-75. She was Navy trained in tactical maneuvers, formation flying and aerobatics. Although T-34 aircraft saw countless hours as trainers, for both the U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots, in the 1950′s, the airplane demands tremendous skill to fly aerobatics.
Julie explains, “The T-34 requires great concentration and anticipation during aerial maneuvers, as the aircraft does not have an inverted oil or fuel system, so inverted flight must be very carefully calculated.”

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Specifications

Registration Number	Date of Manufacture
N134JC	1953
Aircraft Role	Nickname
Trainer	Wally
Aircraft Type:	Wingspan:
Beechcraft T-34 Mentor	32 feet 10 inches
Overall length:	Empty weight:
25 feet 10 inches	2055 US pounds
Gross weight:	Fuel capacity:
2900 pounds	500 MILES
Oil capacity	Engine type:
	Straos Plus fully blueprinted 300+ horsepower engine, built by Eagle Engines
Propeller type:	Max Speed
Hartzell propeller	214 KNOTS
Rate of Climb	Cruise Speed
1,000 FPM	160 KNOTS
Service Ceiling	Number of Crew
20,000 feet	Two Tandem
Armament	Bomb Load
None	None
Number Built	Number Surviving
1300+	400+