Beechcraft
BE35 Bonanza
Photo: Robert Deering 6/15/2013
Denton Municipal Airport (DTO)
Denton, Texas
Beechcraft is an American manufacturer of general aviation and military aircraft, ranging from light single engine aircraft to business jets and light military transports. Previously a division of Raytheon, it has been a brand of Hawker Beechcraft since 2006.  
PHOTOS        
General Aviation Aircraft        

BE35
Bonanza

BE36
Bonanza
  

BE50
Twin Bonanza
  

BE55
Baron
 
Business Aircraft        

BE18
Twin Beech

BE90
King Air

BE300
Super King Air
  

BE2000
Starship  
  
 
Military Aircraft        

AT-10
Wichita

AT-11
Kansan

C-12
Huron

C-45
Expeditor

GB
Traveller

JRB

QU22

T-1
Jayhawk

T-6
Texan II

T-34
Mentor

T-44
Pegasus

U-21
Ute

UC-43
Traveller

VC-6     
 

HISTORY

Beechcraft was founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1932 by Walter H. Beech and his wife Olive Ann Mellor Beech. The company began operations in an idle Cessna factory. With designer Ted Wells, they developed the first aircraft under the Beechcraft name, the classic Model 17 Staggerwing, which first flew in November 1932. Over 750 Staggerwings were built, with 270 manufactured for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.

Cessna factory. With designer Ted Wells, they developed the first aircraft under the Beechcraft name, the classic Model 17 Staggerwing, which first flew in November 1932. Over 750 Staggerwings were built, with 270 manufactured for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.

Beechcraft was not Beech's first company, as he had previously formed Travel Air in 1924 and the design numbers used at Beechcraft followed the sequence started at Travel Air, and were then continued at Curtiss-Wright, after Travel Air had been absorbed into the much larger company in 1929. Beech became President of the Curtiss-Wright's airplane division and VP of sales, but became dissatisfied with being so far removed from aircraft production and quit to form Beechcraft, using the original Travel Air facilities and employing many of the same people. Model numbers prior to 11/11000 were built under the Travel Air name, while Curtiss-Wright built the CW-12, 14, 15 and 16 as well as previous successful Travel Air models (mostly the model 4).

In 1942 Beech won its first Army-Navy ‘E’ Award production award and became one of the elite five percent of war contracting firms in the country to win five straight awards for production efficiency, mostly for the production of the Beechcraft 18 which remains in widespread use worldwide.

After the war, the Staggerwing was replaced by the revolutionary Beechcraft Bonanza with a distinctive V-tail. Perhaps the best known Beech aircraft, the single-engine Bonanza has been manufactured in various models since 1947.  The Bonanza has had the longest production run of any airplane, past or present, in the world. Other important Beech planes are the King Air/Super King Air line of twin-engine turboprops, in production since 1964, the Baron, a twin-engine variant of the Bonanza, and the Beechcraft Model 18, originally a business transport and commuter airliner from the late 1930s through the 1960s, which remains in active service as a cargo transport.

In 1994, Raytheon merged Beechcraft with the Hawker product line it had acquired in 1993 from British Aerospace, forming Raytheon Aircraft Company. In 2002, the Beechcraft brand was revived to again designate the Wichita-produced aircraft. Randy Groom, now President of Groom Aviation LLC, was President from 2003 to 2007, when Raytheon sold Raytheon Aircraft to Hawker Beechcraft. Since its inception Beechcraft has resided in Wichita, Kansas, also the home of chief competitor Cessna, the birthplace of Learjet and of Stearman, whose trainers were used in large numbers during WW2. 

Source: Wikipedia & Seattle Museum of Flight

The First Lady of Aviation

Olive Ann Beech and her husband Walter established the Beech Aircraft Corporation in 1932. He was president and she was secretary-treasurer. During World War II, Mrs. Beech temporarily headed the company while her husband was ill, helping prepare the military versions of the Beech 18. When Walter died in 1950, Olive Ann Beech was chairman of the board and president of the corporation. Under her leadership, Beech made aircraft, missile targets, aircraft components, and cryogenic fluid systems for the nation's space programs. Olive Ann Beech, named "The First Lady of Aviation," was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1981.  

AIRCRAFT 
Model 16 - Single-engined, all-metal training aircraft
Model 17 Staggerwing - (UC-43 / GB Traveller) Single-radial-engined fabric-covered biplane utility aircraft, tailwheel landing gear
Model 18 Twin Beech - (AT-7 Navigator/C-45/UC-45/JRB Expeditor) Twin-radial-engined all-metal utility aircraft, tailwheel landing gear
Model 19 Musketeer Sport - Lower-powered trainer developed from Model 23
Model 22 - Unbuilt high speed bomber
Model 23 Musketeer / Custom / Sundowner - Single-engined all-metal utility aircraft
Model M-23N - Unbuilt carrier based scout bomber
Model 24 Super/Sierra - Higher-powered development of Model 23
Model 25 - Prototype twin-engined trainer entered production as the Model 26
Model 25J - Unbuilt twin engine observation airplane
Model 26 - (AT-10 Wichita) – Twin-engined trainer built primarily of wood
Model 026 - Unbuilt observation airplane
Model 28 - (XA-38 Grizzly) – Prototype twin-engined attack aircraft
Model 33 Debonair/Bonanza - Model 35 with conventional tail
Model 34 Twin-Quad - Prototype small airliner; the largest aircraft ever built by Beechcraft
Model 35 Bonanza - Single-engined utility aircraft, retractable tricycle landing gear, V-tail
Model 36 Bonanza - Lengthened development of Model 33 with conventional tail
Model 38P Lightning - Experimental turboprop utility aircraft.
Model 40 - Twin-engined Bonanza, only one produced, two engines driving one propeller
Model 45 - (T-34 Mentor) – Tandem two-seat single-engined trainer
Model 46 - Twin-engined trainer for the USAF as T-36A, program canceled.
Model 50 Twin Bonanza - (U-8A through U8E Seminole) - Twin-engined utility aircraft
Model 55 Baron - (T-42 Cochise) - Derived from the Model 95 Travel Air
Model 56 Baron - Turbocharged variant of the Model 55
Model 58 Baron - Lengthened development of Model 55
Model 60 Duke - Twin-engined high-performance utility aircraft
Model 65 Queen Air - Derived from the Model 50 Twin Bonanza
Model 70 Queen Air - (U-8F Seminole) - Derived from the Model 65
Model 73 Jet Mentor - Prototype for two-seat tandem jet trainer
Model 76 Duchess - Twin-engined trainer developed from Model 24 Sierra with new T-tail
Model 77 Skipper - Single-engined two-seat primary trainer with fixed tricycle landing gear
Model 79 Queen Airliner - Variant of the Model A65 for regional airlines, not built
Model 80 Queen Air - Twin-engined transport aircraft; Model 65 with swept tail
Model 87 - One Model A80 with turboprop engines.
Model 88 Queen Air - Model 80 with pressurised 10-seat cabin
Model 89 Queen Airliner - Variant of the Model A80 for regional airlines, not built
Model 90 King Air - (U-21Ute / T-44 Pegasus / C-6) - Twin-turboprop-engined transport developed from the Queen Air 88
Model 95 Travel Air - Twin-engine development of the Model 35 Bonanza
Model 99 Airliner - Twin-turboprop-engined small airliner derived from the Queen Air 80
Model 100 King Air - Developed from the King Air 90
Model 112 - 1957 twin-turboprop project, not built
Model 115 - 85% size concept prototype for the Model 2000
Model 120 - 1962 twin-turboprop project, not built 
Model 200 Super King Air - (C-12 Huron) - Development of the King Air 100
Model 220 Denali - Single-turboprop high-performance utility aircraft
Model 300 Super King Air - (C-12S Huron) - Development of the King Air 200
Model 390 Premier - Twin-turbofan-engined utility aircraft
Model 400 Beechjet - (T-1 Jayhawk) - Twin-turbofan-engined utility aircraft, originally designed and manufactured by Mitsubishi
Model 1001 - (AQM-19) – Target drone
Model 1019 - (AQM-37) – Target drone
Model 1025 - Drone, later MQM-25
Model 1074 - (QU-22A Pave Eagle) – Drone variant of the Model 33 Bonanza
Model 1079 - (QU-22B Pave Eagle II) - Drone variant of the Model 36 Bonanza
Model 1300 - Proposed 13-seat commuter variant of the Model B200
Model 1900 Airliner - (C-12J Huron) - Airliner development of Model 200 Super King Air
Model 2000 Starship - Twin-turboprop-engined aircraft with canard configuration and pusher propellers
Model 3000 - (T-6 Texan II) – Turboprop trainer