Page 24 - Nov 2015 Volume 9, Number 11

Ted’s Twin(Part One)
In 1937, the Beech Aircraft Company introduced its first multi-engine, cabin-class transport that would become the undisputed icon of business aviation and the grand patriarch of the legendary Beechcraft King Air.
by Edward H. Phillips
It had been five years since the dreadful “Black Thursday” of October 1929 had inaugurated the worst collapse of prosperity in American history. Millions of people were out of work. Breadlines and soup kitchens struggled to fill empty stomachs. A new phrase, “Hey, buddy, can you spare a dime?” was heard from coast to coast. Worse yet, the Midwest “bread basket of America” turned into a gigantic dust bowl as layers of precious topsoil were blown as far east as New York City.
Despite these woes there was, however, a dim light at the end of the tunnel: President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s often controversial “New Deal” social and governmental programs were beginning to pay off, growing not only the economy, but creating jobs that put food on the table for millions of workers.
The aviation industry was an early victim of the debacle on Wall Street. Among the worst casualties was Wichita, Kansas. In the halcyon days of the “Roarin’ Twenties,” the city had proclaimed itself the “Air Capital of the World,” and by 1929 was home to three major airframe manufacturers – the Travel Air Company, Cessna Aircraft Company and the Stearman Division of the Boeing Aircraft Company. Travel Air, under the leadership of Walter H. Beech, became a subsidiary of Curtiss-Wright Corporation in August 1929, but was forced to close its doors in 1931.
In April 1932, Beech, in concert with his wife Olive Ann, engineer Theodore “Ted” Wells and a handful of ex-Travel Air employees, opened for business as the Beech Aircraft Company. Throughout 1933 and
into 1934, the infant manufacturer struggled mightily to sell a few Beechcraft Model 17R, A17 and A17FS cabin biplanes. Fortunately, Beech was quick to realize that the bullish, high-horsepower, fuel-guzzling (but magnificent!) biplanes, which sold for about $18,000, were grossly overpriced for a depression-driven market. Wells redesigned the expensive cabin biplanes into a series of smaller aircraft designated the Beechcraft B17. These ships were powered by fuel-efficient radial engines and, more importantly, priced at about $8,000 to fit a restricted market.1
As the national economy began what would be a slow, painful, but determined recovery in the mid-1930s, Walter Beech and his worldwide sales organization managed to sell 48 B17 airplanes. The company coffers were still thin, but the red ink that stole away any profit in 1932-1933 had disappeared by 1935. Beech, however, knew the company could not survive with only one product – the Model B17. He needed a new design, one that could compete with a flock of modern twin-engine, all-metal cabin monoplanes that were emerging from the drawing boards.
Although it remains uncertain precisely what prompted Walter Beech to develop a new aircraft, it is probable that a competition held by the Bureau of Air Commerce
In January 1937, a three-man crew took the Model 18A aloft on its maiden flight. Transcontinental and Western Air loaned two of its experienced multi-engine pilots to Walter Beech to conduct the flight test program.
The Model 18A was certified in March 1937, but more than a year elapsed before initial deliveries began. (EDWARD H. PHILLIPS COLLECTION)
22 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 2015