Page 26 - April 2015 Volume 9, Number 4

The following is only a sampling of important speed and distance records captured by Beechcraft airplanes during a 30-year period.
1949: Captain William Odom, Beechcraft Bonanza A35; Honolulu-Oakland, 2,406.9 miles in 22 hours, six minutes.
1949: Captain William Odom, Beechcraft Bonanza A35; Honolulu-Teterboro, New Jersey, 4,957 miles in 36 hours, two minutes.
1952: Paul Burniat, Brussels, Belgium; world speed record of 225.7 kilometers per hour, Beechcraft Bonanza.
1953: Mrs. Marion Hart, nonstop Newfoundland-Ireland, Beechcraft Bonanza.
1958: Pat Boling, world record for nonstop flight in a light airplane; Manila, Philippines-Pendleton, Oregon; 7,090 miles in 45 hours, 43 minutes; Beechcraft Bonanza J35.
1960: James D. Webber; world altitude record of 34,862 feet, Beechcraft Model 65 Queen Air.
1966: Robert and Joan Wallick; round-the-world record for piston-powered aircraft; 23,629 miles in five days, six hours, 17 minutes, 10 seconds; Beechcraft C55 Baron.
1971: Travor K. Broughan and R.N. Dickeson; around-the- world record for piston-powered aircraft; 24,800 miles in five days, five hours, 57 minutes; Beechcraft B55 Baron.
1971: Louise Sacchi; speed record for Class C-1.d Group 1 aircraft; New York-London, 3,443.5 miles in 17 hours, 22 minutes, 54 seconds; average speed: 198.8 mph; Beechcraft Bonanza A36.
1975: Denys Dalton and Terry Gwynn-Jones; around- the-world record for piston-powered aircraft; 24,854 miles in five days, two hours, 15 minutes; Beechcraft Model 60 Duke.
1977: Jack Rodd and Harold Benham; shortest elapsed time around the world in a single-engine aircraft; 10 days, 23 hours, 33 minutes; Beechcraft Bonanza S35.
1977: Dieter Schmitt; 4,300 miles nonstop, New York City-Munich, Germany, in 25 hours, 48 minutes; Beechcraft Bonanza F33A.
1978: F.T. Elliott, Jr., Thomas Clements; three speed records over a recognized course; 233.2 and 206.2; distance in a straight line, 2,033.9 miles, San Francisco- Poughkeepsie, New York; Beechcraft King Air C90.
1979: Marie McMillan; world speed record for National Aeronautics Association Class C1c aircraft; Fresno, California-Las Vegas, Nevada; Beechcraft Bonanza F33A.
1979: Jeanette Fowler; world speed record; Sacramento, California-Los Angeles; 220 mph, Beechcraft Bonanza A36.
Record-Setting Beechcrafts: 1949-1979
but he needed an airplane that was up to the challenge. He found it in the Beechcraft Model 35. Developed during 1944 and 1945, the all-metal Bonanza was a major step forward in postwar light airplane design and replaced the aging but classic, steel tube and fabric- covered Model 17 cabin biplane.
The Model 35 first flew on December 22, 1945, with Beechcraft engineering test pilot Vern Carstens at the controls. The airplane quickly earned an Approved Type Certificate from the federal government and initial deliveries to customers began in 1947. By the time Odom was preparing for his flight, more than 1,900 Bonanzas were flying not only in America, but in Europe, India and many other countries. The Model 35 selected for Odom’s flight bore serial number D-4 and was among the very first Bonanzas built by the Beech Aircraft Corporation. During the three previous years, it had served the company well as an experimental engineering platform and had been flown (unmanned and under radio-control) through a series of high-speed dives that approached 300 mph, followed by high-G pullouts.
The Beech Aircraft Corporation sponsored both the first and second flights made by Odom. Walter and Olive Ann Beech not only supported Bill’s plans, they also threw the weight of Beech Aircraft’s technical expertise behind the project. The only major change made to the
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airframe was installation of a Continental six-cylinder, E-185 engine that was standard equipment in the current production Model A35. In addition, special fuel and oil tanks were installed that held 288 gallons and 7.5 gallons, respectively. The aft cabin seats were removed and replaced with fuel cells that held 126 gallons, and wing tip tanks each contained 62 gallons.1
In 1949, the record for light airplanes in the Model 35’s weight category (aircraft weighing 2,204.7 to 3,858 pounds) had been held by Russian pilots Goussarov and Glebov since 1937. In September of that year, they flew a Moskalev monoplane powered by a 100-hp M-11 engine an official distance of 2,061.7 miles, from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk. Odom, however, was aiming to break not only that record but also exceed the mark for nonstop miles flown by a light airplane established in 1938 by German aviators Horat Pulkowski and Lieutenant Jenett flying an Arado AR 79. They covered a distance of more than 3,917 miles from Bengasi, Libya, to Gaya, India.
In January 1949, Odom was ready to make his assault on both records. The Model 35 was disassembled and shipped from Oakland, Calif., to Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, via a Douglas DC-4 freighter operated by Pan American Airways. After the airplane had been assembled and given a series of test flights, Bill and his trusty Bonanza were ready for takeoff. Their destination
APRIL 2015