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Performance remained similar to the Model 100 with a maximum cruise speed of 271 mph at an altitude of 21,000 feet, and a service ceiling of 24,850 feet. Other minor changes included four-blade propellers with reduced span to increase ground clearance during taxi and landing. The FAA issued the A100 an amended Type Certificate May 7, 1971, and production continued until 1979 after 159 airplanes had been built. In addition to commercial sales of the A100, the U.S. Army, a longtime operator of King Airs modified for military missions, ordered five A100s in 1971 to serve as VIP and utility transports. Bearing the designation U-21F, all five were delivered in 1971. Except for certain Army equipment, the airplanes were identical to the commercial version.
The final variant of the Model 100 was the B100 King Air that made its initial flight March 20, 1975, from Beech Field in Wichita, Kansas. The B100’s major departure from the A100 was its Garrett AiResearch TPE-331-6-251B/252 turboprop engines that featured a fixed shaft design instead of the PT6A-28’s reverse-flow, free-turbine configuration. Installing Garrett’s
The Model 100 entered service in 1969 and quickly became the flagship of the compa- ny’s expanding fleet of King Airs. Beech Aircraft Corporation’s latest executive turbo- prop answered the call of customers for more speed, cabin comfort and utility. (Special Collections and University Archives, Wichita State University Libraries)
engine on a King Air airframe was not an epiphany. As early as 1972, Beech Aircraft Corporation’s experimental department had conducted flight tests of a company-owned King Air equipped with TPE-331 engines. That initiative was part of an in- house engineering feasibility study aimed at determining compatibility of the powerplants with the King Air airframe.
The engines, each rated at 840 shp but flat-rated to 715 shp, still propelled the B100 to a maximum cruising speed of 306 mph – more than 30 mph faster than its A100 stable mate. Other than its advantage in speed, the B100’s range (1,501 statute miles) and pressurization system were about equal to those of the PT6A- powered A100.
Throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s, demand for the A100 and B100 continued and both versions maintained their popularity with the business aviation community.
When production was terminated, Beech Aircraft had manufactured 246 A100s and 137 B100s across a 14-year span that ended in 1983. The time had come, however, for the 100-series airplanes to pass the crown to the company’s new flagship, the Model 200 Super King Air – an airplane that would set not only a new standard for cabin-class, turboprop business airplanes, but lift the company that built it to new heights of success. KA
Ed Phillips, now retired and living in the South, has researched and written eight books on the unique and rich aviation history that belongs to Wichita, Kan. His writings have focused on the evolution of the airplanes, companies and people that have made Wichita the “Air Capital of the World” for more than 80 years.
JULY 2021
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 27