Page 28 - Volume 15 Number 11

pilot Clarence Clark and two other airmen. In addition, Hosch inspected the company’s manufacturing facility, paying particular attention to materials and processes used to build the Model “A” biplane and the new Model “BW” with its expensive Wright Whirlwind radial engine.
It is interesting to note that Travel Air, after only two years in the infant airplane business, had achieved sales of $54,936 (19 airplanes) in 1925 with a net income of $11,056 after taxes. In 1926 sales (46 airplanes) increased to $185,169 and profits stood at more than $25,000. By June 1927 the company had delivered 80 ships since 1925 and the factory’s expanding workforce was building almost one airplane per day.
Although Walter Beech was president and an increasing amount of his time was focused on leading the company, he remained an active pilot. In 1926 he was victorious in the Ford Reliability Tour and had competed in a number of local and regional air racing events, winning some and taking second place in others.
In 1927 he reluctantly declined a request from Charles A. Lindbergh for Travel Air to build a monoplane for the airmail pilot’s solo flight attempt from New York to Paris, but Beech expressed enough confidence in Lindbergh’s flight that he was among the first to send a cablegram of congratulations to Paris hours before the “Spirit of St. Louis” landed at Le Bourget Airport. That same year Walter was chiefly responsible for the decision to build not one but two Type 5000 monoplanes to compete in the Dole Race from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. The $25,000 first prize was captured by pilot Arthur Goebel and his navigator, U.S. Navy Lieutenant William Davis, flying the Woolaroc. The second ship, dubbed the Oklahoma, did not compete in the race.
Another of Walter’s important responsibilities was finding real estate for a new factory. The cramped space of the West Douglas site was woefully inadequate for building the large NAT monoplanes. It was imperative that Travel Air build a state-of-the-art facility to manufacture its current product line, as well as and
(Top Left) By 1925 Beech had joined forces with Clyde Cessna, Lloyd Stearman and Walter Innes, Jr. to form the Travel Air Manu- facturing Company in Wichita. Here, photographed with the Travel Air B6 Special biplane designed chiefly by Lloyd Stearman and Mac Short. (Edward H. Phillips Collection)
(Bottom Left) Aviator Beech (front cockpit) flashes a grin as navi- gator Brice Goldsborough shakes hands with Clyde Cessna dur- ing the 1926 Ford Reliability Tour. The Type BW was equipped with the latest navigation devices. (Edward H. Phillips Collection)
26 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 2021