Page 10 - June 2022

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)
Dean Benedict
Pratt and Whitney’s PT6 Design Team
There is no doubt that a tremendous amount of the credit for the King Air’s success must be attributed to Pratt & Whitney Canada. Developing the PT6 engine was another project that was a huge gamble in time and money. In an effort to become Canada’s prime engine company by focusing on a small gas turbine engine, Pratt & Whitney Canada’s President Ronald Riley ordered engineering manager Dick Guthrie to hire a team of gas turbine specialists to design what would later become the PT6. The new engine first flew in May 1961 and followed on into King Air production and service entry in 1964.
For this amazing accomplishment, posthumous Hall of Fame awards go to Gordon Hardy, Jim Rankin, Fernand Desrochers, Fred Glasspoole, Ken Elsworth, Allan Newland, Pete Peterson, Hugh Lanshur, Jean- Pierre Beauregard, Elvie Smith, Dick Guthrie and Thor Stephenson.
Living Recipients
During the King Air Gathering in May, the following people were personally presented with a King Air Hall of Fame inductee award, which were mounted blades of an authentic King Air propeller.
Dean Benedict
Having maintained King Airs for over 47 years, Mr. Benedict started working at a Beechcraft service center straight out of A&P school. He first worked on early King Air 90 models and moved on to the 200, B200 and subsequent models. He worked his way up to facility manager, but customers never let him stray too far from their aircraft. After 10 years he left to be the Director of Maintenance for a corporate flight department that included King Airs and during that time his Beechcraft customers would call him during evenings and weekends ›
8 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JUNE 2022