Page 22 - June 2015 Volume 9, Number 6

A Marriage Made
in Wichita
The union of Pratt & Whitney Canada’s revolutionary PT6 turboprop engine with a pressurized Beechcraft airframe proved an unbeatable combination that set a new standard for small, cabin-class business aircraft.
by Edward H. Phillips
As World War II drew to a close, the introduction of turbojet-powered military fighters did not escape the notice of Walter H. Beech. Speed was in his blood, and to an aviation pioneer like Beech, the quest for more speed was a never-ending odyssey. After his death in 1950, it fell to his wife and company co-founder, Olive Ann, to take the greatest gamble in Beech Aircraft’s 31-year history.
Beginning in 1958, Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) officials consulted with Beech Aircraft Corporation in an attempt to determine the size and configuration of a small gas turbine engine. The Kansas-based company was studying concepts for a new, turbine-powered business airplane and had unveiled its latest design at the National Business Aircraft Association convention in 1961. To the shock and dismay of PWC representatives who saw the design, it was displayed with French Turbomeca Astazou turboprop engines on the wings.
The reason was simple: the PT6 was not even included in Beech Aircraft’s shortlist of potential engines. Instead,
in May 1961, company executives attended the 24 International Air Salon in Paris to see the latest in aerospace products. While in France they met with officials of the Societe Francaise d’Entretien et de Reparation de Materiel Aeronautique (SFERMA), with whom the company had previously signed a technical agreement aimed at co-development of turboprop engines. Beech officials proposed installing SFERMA’s Turbomeca Astazou gas turbines in the twin-engine Baron and Travel Air, and the more powerful Turbomeca Bastan in the venerable Model 18.
It is important to note that large turboprop-powered business aircraft, particularly the Gulfstream I equipped with Rolls-Royce Dart engines, already were in service and proving popular with corporate flight departments. What was missing, however, was a small, cabin-class,
PART TWO
On December 22, 1963, personnel at Pratt & Whitney Canada posed for the camera as the first production PT6A engine was prepared for shipment to Beech Aircraft Corporation. (PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA)
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20 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JUNE 2015