Page 27 - Nov 2015 Volume 9, Number 11

accounted for about 50% of the company’s production. The Type 6000’s growing dominance made it clear that businessmen preferred an enclosed cabin to the rigors of open cockpit flying.
The decision to design and build the Beechcraft Model 18 was made in the autumn of 1935, and preliminary work was already underway by December. In addition to chief engineer Wells, Wilfred Wallace and Dean Burleigh contributed their talents to the process, but a majority of the final decisions were made by Wells. Mr. Beech offered his input as he saw fit.
News of a new Beech airplane soon hit the pages of major aviation magazines. In the December issue of “Aviation,” journalists reported that “...it is a fair guess that the machine is being prepared to meet the specifications of the Department of Commerce for a transport for feeder airline service.” The brief article went on to state that the cockpit would accommodate two pilots, while the cabin would seat up to six passengers. Projected performance included a cruising speed of 185 mph, a service ceiling (two engine) of 20,000 feet and a single-engine service ceiling of 8,500 feet.
As work progressed, the new design was given the designation “Model 18.” The choice of engines was relatively easy because only two powerplants, the static, air-cooled radial Wright R-760 and the Pratt & Whitney R-985, met Wells’ horsepower requirement. Both engines were highly reliable and benefitted from years of refinement and improvements since they were introduced in the late 1920s, and both had been installed in many Model 17 “Staggerwing” biplanes since 1934. Ted chose the seven-cylinder R-760E-2 that was rated at 350 horsepower.4
The Model 18A prototype (Beech Aircraft Corporation airframe constructor number 62) was built in the former Travel Air factory complex located on East Central Avenue in Wichita. The facility, which included five large buildings, had sat idle since 1931 when parent company Curtiss-Wright moved production to its campus in St. Louis, Missouri. During 1932-1933, however, Clyde V. Cessna and his son Eldon had leased one of the Travel Air buildings to design and construct (with assistance from engineer Garland Peed) two small, low-horsepower racing monoplanes known as the CR-2 and the CR-3. In an ironic twist of fate, during those two years Cessna was building monoplanes in Walter Beech’s biplane factory while Beech was building Model 17 biplanes in Cessna’s monoplane factory.
Having selected the engines for the new Beechcraft, Wells and his team began investigating a series of airfoils. It was imperative that the wing produce generous lift with minimum drag, but also had to possess an acceptable lift/drag profile at low airspeeds, and demonstrate safe stall characteristics. To test various airfoils, a wood model was built and suspended in a basic but useful
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KING AIR MAGAZINE • 25