Page 26 - Volume 12 Number 12

Ted was under tremendous pressure. Desperate to meet the deadline, he fired off a telegram to officials at the Aeronautics Branch:
“We are in a jam regarding delivery of this ship, as the owner wants to go on an important trip Friday morning, June 16, and he is liable to do things if we cannot deliver the ship then. The customer is standing around fuming, so I would appreciate your authorizing flight tests by wire. I realize this is putting quite a bit of pressure on you, but it would certainly help out a starving airplane company if you can do it.”
“Starving” was the correct word. The Beech Aircraft Company’s coffers were fast approaching empty, and Walter desperately needed to deliver the airplane and receive the balance due. Fortunately, Ted got his wish and flight tests were authorized for June 15. Four days later inspector George Gay conducted the flights. In his report to Washington, Gay noted that there was little or no perceptible difference between the first Beechcraft and the second (in 1933 he had conducted tests of NC499N). He praised the new tailwheel arrangement with its shock absorber that made taxiing over unimproved sod and grass runways much smoother.
The rst Beechcraft sold was Model 17R-2, registered NC58Y to the Lof and Brothers oil company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Four circles aft of the baggage door are aerial ares that could be deployed to illuminate the ground in case of an emergency landing at night. In 1935 Tom Lof and traded the ship for a new Beechcraft Model B17E. NC58Y was dismantled at the factory and disappeared from company records.
(Textron Aviation)
24 • KING AIR MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2018