Page 20 - April 25

Beechcraft King Air Hall of Fame
Introduced at the 2022 King Air Gathering, this award was long overdue to honor
those past and present who have been instrumental to building the Beechcraft King
Air community. The selection committee considers whether possible honorees meet
one of two criteria: Would the King Air have ever been made without the recipient and/
or would the King Air have become the civilian aircraft with the longest production
run in history without the recipient?
Past recipients in alphabetical order:
Olive Ann Beech (posthumously) – CEO of Beech Aircraft when the King Air was
developed; she not only approved of but advocated for the King Air 90, which entered
service in 1964
Dean Benedict – 50 years maintaining King Airs; a trusted consultant to King Air
owners, pilots, managers, mechanics and readers of King Air magazine
Richard “Rich” Born – decades of contributions while selling King Airs and mentoring
colleagues
Don Cary – spent 37 years in training and customer support roles at Beech Aircraft
LeRoy Clay (posthumously) – 45-year Beechcraft engineer and executive heavily
involved with King Air development
Tom Clements – longtime King Air instructor, author of “The King Air Book” and
“The King Air Book Volume II”
Bud Francis (posthumously) – spent many years as Beech’s chief of Experimental
Flight Test; he made the first flights of the Model 200 in 1972, Model 300 in 1981 and
the Model 350 in September 1988
Tom Gillespie (posthumously) – Beech marketer who was a prominent advocate of
the fledgling King Air program; he’s credited with the vision of the turboprop future
Pratt and Whitney’s PT6 Design Team (posthumously) – Gordon Hardy, Jim Rankin,
Fernand Desrochers, Fred Glasspoole, Ken Elsworth, Allan Newland, Pete Peterson,
Hugh Lanshur, Jean-Pierre Beauregard, Elvie Smith, Dick Guthrie and Thor Stephenson
credited with developing Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6 engine
James Raisbeck – founder of Raisbeck Engineering, known for performance-enhancing
mods for the King Air family, including several incorporated into the production line
Raul “Rod” Rodriguez (posthumously) – earned accolades including the worldwide
record holder for total King Air sales during 34 years at Beechcraft West
James D. “Jimmy” Webber (posthumously) – Beech’s chief engineer of Experimental
Flight; he was PIC on the first flight of the King Air on Jan. 24, 1964
18 •
­ KING AIR MAGAZINE he knew they could do even more
for King Airs.
Jim forged a partnership with
Pratt & Whitney, convincing them
to supply engines for Blackhawk’s
transformative upgrades. Today,
Blackhawk is the largest non-OEM
buyer of Pratt & Whitney engines in
the world. More than 1,500 operators
now rely on Blackhawk-upgraded
aircraft – including about 900 King
Airs – experiencing unparalleled
gains in safety, speed, efficiency and
utility.
Jim has 11,000 hours total time,
including nearly 1,000 hours in King
Airs. Among his earliest King Air
memories was flying LJ-1 to an event
in Wichita where Olive Ann Beech
was in attendance.
“Early in my career, I had the
opportunity to fly the very first
King Air ever produced – LJ-1,”
he recalled. “I was asked to fly the
airplane to Beech Field in Wichita
for an event. I had no idea what the
event was for, I only knew to fly the
airplane there. Upon arrival, there
were a lot of media, even a band and,
of course, Olive Ann Beech herself.
I was treated like a celebrity even
though I was the backup pilot, but I
appreciated the history of the event.
Olive Ann was very gracious.”
Jim’s legacy is one of elevating
an already legendary aircraft to
new heights, ensuring its continued
relevance and reliability for
generations to come. KA
APRIL 2025