Page 31 - Volume 14 Number 2

The sole Model 70 first flew in January 1934, and later was designated XPT-943 by the Army Air Corps during flight evaluations.
(Kansas Aviation Museum)
Revival!
In 1933 the Stearman Aircraft Company’s Model 73 biplane helped save the company and brought national recognition of Wichita, Kansas, as a major provider of commercial and military aircraft.
Five years after the worst economic debacle in American history had gutted Wall Street and laid waste to billions of dollars-worth of investments, personal fortunes and corporations, the fragile aviation industry in Wichita, Kansas, was beginning to rise from the ashes.
Southeast of the city at the Stearman factory, more than 100 employees were laboring to build components and assemblies for the new Boeing Model 247 airliner. Designed as an all-metal, twin- engine monoplane with retractable
landing gear, the airplane was state-of-the-art, and United Air Lines was anxious to place the sleek ship into service on its expanding system of routes.
East of downtown, the Beech Aircraft Corporation, under the able
guidance of Walter H. and Olive Ann Beech, was just beginning to manufacture the Model B17L cabin biplane designed by engineer Theodore “Ted” Wells. The Beechcraft featured a negative- stagger wing arrangement and, like
by Edward H. Philips
FEBRUARY 2020
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 29