Cessna 310: Our Cessna 310 model airplane is made of the finest grade materials which underwent stages of meticulous and careful sanding, carving and modeling to its original form. Our craftsmen and artisans ensure finely handcrafted Cessna 310 model airplane with precise blueprint details of the original airplane. The Cessna 310 model airplane’s paint scheme, markings and parts are extremely accurate and complete, reflecting the true original Cessna 310 model airplane. It also comes with a sturdy, durable base with a chrome steel support mounting rod. This top-quality Cessna 310 model airplane will surely mesmerize anyone who receives this elegant desktop display as a gift. Cessna 310 History: Songbird, The - Twin-engine Cessna airplane known as the "Songbird," flown by Skylar J. "Sky" King (Kirby Grant), "America's Favorite Flying Cowboy" and the proprietor of the Flying Crown Ranch on the western adventure SKY KING/NBC/ABC/1952-59. Sky, a former WWII naval aviator tuned rancher, used his plane to patrol his property and fight the bad guys who messed with his ranch and nearby neighbors. The Songbird (I.D. #N87832 later #N5248A) was a Cessna 310-B with wing-tip tanks that provided fuel for more than a thousand miles of air travel. It cruised an average speed of 210 mph. During the first season, Sky flew a Cessna T-50 Bobcat. The Songbird was once referred as The Flaming Arrow in the 1952 episode "Designing Woman." Assisting Sky was his niece, Penny King (Gloria Winters); his nephew, Clipper (Ron Hagerthy); local Bob Carey (Norman Ollestad); Jim Bell, the Flying Crown Ranch foreman (Chubby Johnson) and the local sheriff Mitch Hargrove (Ewing Mitchell) from the nearby town of Grover City, Arizona. In real life, Kirby Grant had been an aviator who spent a WWII tour of duty as an Air Force flight instructor. Aerial footage for the series was shot by Paul Mantz, a one time advisor to Amelia Earhart. The SKY KING program originated on radio where it ran from 1946 to 1954. Originally a daily fifteen minute serial, by 1947 it had become a twice-weekly thirty minute program sponsored by Peter Pan on ABC. It aired on Mutual from 1950-1954. For more information on the Cessna aircraft read Jane's Book of World Aircraft. The Cessna 310 was designed by Cessna to use in World War II. The Cessna 310 Song bird was the first twin engine aircraft that flew on January 3, 1953. The new Cessna 310 Song Bird has very innovative features such as an engine exhaust thrust, augmentor tubes and the storage if all fuel in tip tanks in early models. The naming conventions of the Cessna model were by adding a letter and so to identify the changes to the original design. The Cessna 310C was one of the most powerful produced Cessna which has 195 kW Continental IO-470-D engines. In 1960 the Cessna 310D was released which featured swept back vertical tail surfaces. For the Cessna 310 F, an extra cabin window was added. Numerous adjustments were made to the Cessna 310 Song Bird over the years. Jack Riley produced two variants of Cessna 310 such as the Riley Rocket 310 and the Riley Turbostream 310. The Riley Rocket is said to be the highest performance civilian piston light twin in existence. Cessna 310 Song bird has a lot of advantages over its competitors. The Cessna 310 can access short fields while carrying a large useful load of 2000 pounds at the same time. Other competitive planes produced under Cessna 310 were the Raytheon Baron, the Piper Seneca and some models Aero Commander. As of last year, 2006, many Cessna 310s were in operation in air taxi service world wide.