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When the company began in 1925 it had built only 19 airplanes during its first year, but in the summer of 1929 three shifts of workers were struggling to build 25 biplanes and monoplanes per week, so great was the demand. For example, in March of that year so much money was available for loans that buying an airplane was as easy as buying a Model A Ford or Chevrolet three-window coupe. Travel Air broke all sales records that month when orders for $300,000-worth of airplanes were on the books. By comparison, one year earlier total sales for all of 1928 were only $100,000. In addition, one share of company stock worth $100 in 1925 was, after the company’s absorption by the giant Curtiss- Wright Corporation in August 1929,
suddenly worth a whopping $4,000!
Keeping customers happy and delivering their new Travel Air ship on time was a formidable task as production had to increase to keep pace with demand. Walter Beech’s man for that job was the indomitable William “Bill” Snook, factory manager. He had been with the company since its founding late in 1924 and had proved to be an excellent choice for a tough job. Assisting Snook were a team of highly-trained inspectors stationed throughout the factory complex. It was their job to ensure that every part and assembly met blueprint specifications and quality control standards.
Walter Beech once told Wichita reporters that the five-building factory campus had to run like clockwork: “There is no stoppage of materials from the time they come into the plant until they emerge as a completed airplane.” He added that “We have no stock of raw materials in storage and stock of airplanes on hand. We are not paying interest on non-motion.” By mid-1929 the
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workforce was increased to about 600 men and women from 350 late in 1928.
Although Travel Air offered buyers a stable of nine robust biplanes, it could offer only two monoplanes – the highly successful and popular Type 6000B and the rare Type A6000A. Walter Beech, however, gradually became aware that the company’s product line needed a smaller and less expensive cabin monoplane than the Type 6000, of which more than 100 had been built since 1928.1
The engineering department had a promising design in mind, and by late 1928 preliminary drafting work
View of the cockpit shows throttle, mixture and spark advance/retard controls mounted in a central position similar to that of the larger Type 6000B. Original wood control wheels resembled those of an automobile and were completely circular, not 180 degrees as shown here. (Nigel Hitchman, courtesy Eagles Mere
Air Museum)
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 21 NOVEMBER 2018