Page 28 - March 2023

IN HISTORY
Bygone Bush
Beech 18
Loaders rolling dynamite kegs into a ski-equipped Beechcraft S18A-172, registered CF-BGY, in Hudson, Canada (located 166 miles northwest of Lake Superior) recognized the “twin-tailed wonder” as the first of its type working commercially beyond the U.S.-Canada border. No one on that frigid January day in 1938 could have known that lessons learned would one day be incorporated into the King Air aircraft family. A National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 23000 wing series became the general airfoil following through the years in commercial and corporate aviation.
Designed by former farm boy Walter H. Beech and Engineer T. A. Wells, prototype Model 18 NC 15810’s inaugural flight took place Jan. 15, 1937, with test pilot James N. Payton in Wichita, Kansas. In April, Beech’s
personal demonstrations from Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and other foreign locales attracted interest including a ground-breaking order from bush air service owner Robert Wright Starratt of Starratt Airways and Transportation
by Robert Grant
On May 20, 1938, the Department of Transport (Canada’s FAA) reported that CF-BGY’s seaplane floats and ventral fin weighed 840 pounds and with- out load, the seaplane version showed 4,742 pounds with a 1,008-pound carrying capacity. (Credit: Thunder Bay Flying Club)
26 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
MARCH 2023