Beechcraft U-21 Ute

what is it?

The Beechcraft U-21 Ute is an American utility aircraft built by Beechcraft for the United States Army. Originally developed as a re-engined turboprop version of the Beechcraft Queen Air, the YU-21 prototype served as a proof of concept for the highly successful King Air family, from which the later U-21F variant was directly derived. While most U-21s were built as utility aircraft, some were either built or modified for the signals intelligence role as the RU-21.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 turboprops · 14 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 426 km/htop speed
• range 1,956 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 10passengers
• size 4,377 kgmax take-off weight
• built 171made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 63 years ago, in 1963.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.3× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 14 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🌍Range of 1,956 km: 11× Amsterdam to Brussels.

turboprop: A jet-style turbine turning a propeller: efficient on short hops.

spec sheet

first flight

1963

introduced

1967

retired

2000

status

retired

number built

171

role

utility aircraft

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Beechcraft

engines

2× Pratt & Whitney Canada T74-CP-700 (PT6A-20)

crew

2

passengers

10

length

10.8 m

wingspan

14 m

height

4.3 m

max take-off weight

4,377 kg

top speed

426 km/h

cruise speed

328 km/h

range

1,956 km

ceiling

7,970 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family