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All of the Staggerwings built for the United States and its allies during World War II were based on the commercial Model D17S. The only changes between different versions, such as the UC-43 for
the U.S. Army Air Forces, the U.S. Navy’s GB-2 and the Mk. 1 Traveller for the British, centered on specific military equipment. (Edward H. Phillips Collection)
In 1937, China ordered a batch of Staggerwings modified to serve as air ambulances. These airplanes were painted white overall and marked appropriately with a large red cross on each side of the fuse- lage. (Special Collections and University Archives, Wichita State University Libraries)
their existence. In the 1970s, the author made inquiries to Beech Aircraft regarding information about these unique airplanes, but every request was met with a courteous, but firm, dismissal.
When Adolf Hitler plunged Europe into war in September 1939, Great Britain and France honored their pact with the Polish Government and took up arms against Germany. In response to pleas from Prime Minister Winston Churchill for help, in March 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress implemented the Lend-Lease Act that provided the British with the weapons they needed to fight back against the Wehrmacht on land, the Luftwaffe in the air and the Kriegsman on the sea.
MAY 2023
After the conflict, hundreds of war-weary Staggerwings found their way back into civilian hands and soldiered on for many years, eventually be- coming classics highly valued for their design, comfort and performance. Walter Beech did make one final attempt to resume production of the famous biplane with introduction of the Model G17S in 1945. The advent that year of the all-metal Model 35 Bonanza, however, sounded the death knell for steel tube and fabric biplanes. (Edward H. Phillips Collection)
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 25