Beechcraft 1900 variant
Beechcraft 1900 1900C-1
The wet-wing 1900Cs, UC series: entire sections of the wing sealed as fuel tanks, substantially extending range. One hundred and seventy-four built, the most numerous of the low-cabin versions.
- 174
- Units built
- 19
- Passengers
History
The wet wing
Later 1900Cs dropped the bladder tanks for a wet-wing system: instead of holding sealed bags inside the wing box, whole sections of the wing itself were sealed off and used as tanks. The change carried considerably more fuel and substantially increased the aircraft's range, without altering the cabin or the powerplant.
These airframes were given UC serial number prefixes, which is why they are also called 1900C-1s. Operators liked the wet wing: with one hundred and seventy-four built, the UC is the most numerous variant of the whole low-cabin 1900 and explains the model's longevity in freight work in Alaska, Canada and Africa.
A distinction that matters
The difference between a UB and a UC is invisible from outside but decisive in use: two aircraft sharing the 1900C designation have different ranges depending on the series. It is one of those distinctions fleet lists respect and sales brochures do not.