I've compiled several new sources into this short article which complements what's already been written previously in this topic:
In January 1953, the last details were fixed in order to start full-scale production of the largest aircraft ever designed by Beechcraft. Canadair was allocated 40% of the detail design and 60% of production because of the larger capacity of its Montreal plant, while a new factory was completed by Beechcraft in Wichita especially for the remainder of the contract.
However, the T-36 was canceled on June 10, 1953, just as the prototype was ready to fly. Canadair's US$100 million contract called for 227 aircraft, Beechcraft's contract was for 193 aircraft (not including the 2 prototypes), for a planned total of 420 production aircraft. According to the official announcement at the time, the T-36 was reviewed as part of a $5,090,000,000 reduction in the 1954 USAF appropriation, and was eventually eliminated as being "not essential to the Air Force pilot, navigator, and bombardier's training program" on the grounds that its duties could be "handled by other types". Beechcraft was nevertheless supposed to complete two aircraft, but apparently this never came to be.
Overnight, half of Beechcraft's order backlog was lost, and the employment level of 13,000 was also reduced by half. The company eventually made up for the loss by subcontracting more, and also by expanding its activity to the field of pilotless vehicles, drones, and still taking the lion's share in military sales of general aviation types. Employment at Canadair was also reduced from approximately 12,000 in 1953 to only 10,000 the following year. Some of the workers were soon rehired when Canadair received a contract to build a maritime reconnaissance version of the Bristol Britannia later in the year, and employment further rose with the start of the North American Sabre and Lockheed T-33 production.
Main sources:
- Aeroplane and commercial aviation news, Volume 85
- A history in the making by Donald M. Pattillo
- Beech aircraft and their predecessors Par Alain J. Pelletier
- United States Congress. House Committee on Appropriations hearings