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mohair fabrics made by Sanford Mills especially for the Beechcraft. 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.
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 business owners 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
28 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
FEBRUARY 2023