The Model A17F and A17FS were like no other Beechcrafts ever built – powerful, brutish machines whose high performance was nothing short of spectacular for their time.
Despite America’s bleak economic situation, Walter Beech and his chief engineer, Ted Wells, held tenaciously to the belief that there was a small, but profitable market for a single-engine, high-performance business aircraft. In 1932, the first Model 17R had proven that such an airplane could be built, but would it sell? Time would tell. Undaunted, Beech also offered the Model 17 airframe mated to a Wright “Cyclone” air-cooled, radial engine and dubbed the combination the A17F.
As 1933 drew to a close Walter Beech and his infant airplane company had sold one airplane – the second Model 17R built – and had orders in hand for two additional aircraft. Unlike the first Beechcraft, however, these two machines were to be powered by fire-breathing, nine-cylinder Wright Cyclone radial engines. The first ship built, the Model A17F, mounted an R-1820F11 rated at 690 hp; the second, the A17FS, was equipped with a supercharged SR-1820F3 engine that produced an earth-shaking 710 hp.
Advertisements for the powerful Beechcraft had caught the attention of a company in New England. The first A17F was ordered by the Goodall-Worsted/Sanford Mills company to fly corporate officers to its various clothing factories operating in several states. The second ship had been ordered and was designed specifically to compete in the MacRobertson International Trophy Race scheduled for 1934. The grueling, 12,000-mile route would begin at London and end at Melbourne, Australia.
Beech Aircraft Company completed the A17F in May 1934. It was the ultimate single-engine, four-place business airplane of the mid-1930s and could attain a maximum speed approaching 220 mph – a speed that placed it in the same class with only a few military or commercial airplanes of the day. To feed the thirsty Cyclone powerplant the A17F’s fuel tanks held 155 gallons; the A17FS would hold even more.
The aircraft was delivered to Goodall-Worsted pilot Robert Fogg on May 27. The airplane’s interior was plush, luxuriously outfitted with Goodall-Worsted velour and mohair fabrics made by Sanford Mills especially for the aircraft. As a final custom touch, the company had the Beech factory paint the words “Tailored by Goodall from the Genuine Cloth” on both sides of the aft fuselage. Priced at $24,500, the bullish biplane was resplendent in its glossy black and red paint scheme trimmed in cream to match the interior. As the A17F departed that day from the old Travel Air field in East Wichita, Fogg knew he was flying one of the world’s fastest biplanes, and speed was its most salient characteristic.
(University Archives and Special Collections, Wichita State University Libraries)
As he flew eastward to the company’s headquarters in New England, the big Beechcraft drew attention wherever it landed for fuel. After arriving in Boston late that day, Fogg wired Walter Beech expressing his admiration for the mighty A17F, “Breakfast in Wichita, dinner in Boston and headwinds all the way. Congratulations on your latest masterpiece – the world’s finest aircraft. Progress demands creation rather than imitation, and you have achieved it again.” Despite Fogg’s praise for the speedy ship, after only one year in reliable service to the company, the vagaries of an economic depression forced Goodall-Worsted to sell the A17F to the Hughes Tool Company.
The ship was later bought by race pilot Robert Perlick and prepared for competition in the 1937 Bendix Trophy race. Unfortunately, during the takeoff roll the heavy weight of fuel caused the landing gear to collapse and Perlick was out of the race. He tried again in 1938 and was poised to win the event when the Cyclone engine went silent due to fuel starvation. To add insult to injury, in 1944 the Beechcraft met its end in a hangar fire.
As for the A17F’s more powerful brother, the A17FS, its career was short-lived and uneventful. The airplane was completed too late to enter the MacRobertson race. The many promises of support and money made by Wichita businessmen and other people were not forthcoming and the situation was further compounded by the high cost of shipping the biplane to England. Louise Thaden, who was chosen to pilot the A17FS on its epic journey, estimated the cost of logistics to support the ship during the race would be at least $8,000, including the cost of shipping the disassembled Beechcraft to London. Further costs would be incurred to reassemble, fly the airplane and prepare it for a journey that promised to be fraught with more than its share of risks.
With his hopes of racing glory dashed to the ground, Walter Beech suddenly had an expensive “hangar queen” on his hands to the tune of about $25,000, money his infant airplane company was desperate to recover as quickly as possible. Undeterred, Beech began a vigorous campaign to sell the orphaned airplane. As the weeks passed, Walter grew increasingly irritated. Despite his best sales efforts, no serious buyers stepped forward to acquire the massive A17FS. In 1935, however, Walter finally found a willing and able buyer – the United States government’s Bureau of Air Commerce. The agency planned to have its aviation inspectors fly the airplane on inspection tours around the country.
After a series of modifications demanded by the Bureau were completed, the Beech Aircraft Company finally delivered the aircraft in July 1935. The Bureau’s pilots were awed by the ship’s power and speed, but those virtues also led to frequent repairs to the welded steel tubing that suffered from vibrations and cracking. In addition, the Wright Cyclone gulped fuel at an alarming rate that soon began to put a dent in the agency’s aviation budget.
The Bureau continued to operate its unique but controversial airplane for about one year before its high operating and maintenance costs could no longer be ignored. Despite the airplane’s drawbacks, Bureau officials initially decided to retain the Beechcraft. They eventually changed their minds, and in June the A17FS was flown to Cincinnati, Ohio, and relegated to a dark corner of a hangar to await its fate. These issues, coupled with the availability of new, more modern and fuel-efficient airplanes, led the Bureau to strike the A17FS from its fleet inventory in August 1936.
Although the reason remains unclear nearly 80 years later, Walter Beech bought back the ship from the Bureau and in August it was retrieved from the hangar and shipped to the Wichita factory. Its exact fate remains a mystery, although rumors persisted for years that Walter eventually resold the airplane to a buyer in California. Another possibility is that Beech had the aircraft dismantled and destroyed to prevent further use.
It is undeniable, however, that the A17F and A17FS were unique airplanes, the “sui generis” of their time. Not only were they the most powerful Beechcrafts built until the advent of World War II, but more significantly they were created as hand-crafted flying machines fabricated during the “Golden Age of Aviation.” Yet, Walter Beech’s “Thunder Birds” with their bellowing Cyclone radials will never be forgotten. They appeared on the aviation scene only briefly, but unlike any Beechcraft before or after them, they made a lasting impression on those pilots fortunate enough to experience the sheer thrill of flying airplanes that had no equal.
This article was previously published in the January/February 2010 issue of King Air magazine.