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number LA-1, was later converted to the experimental G90 King Air and given serial number LE-0. The G90’s chief modification compared to the F90 centered on a modified, steeply sloped windshield installation. The G90 was not placed into production.
For the 1983 model year, Beech Aircraft engineers incorporated technical improvements applied to the C90-1 into the F90-1. These included pitot-type engine cowlings with improved air intake characteristics, particularly at high altitudes, and the use of tapered exhaust stacks. The F90’s PT6A-135 engines were replaced with PT6A-135A versions that each retained a rating of 750 shp. With a span of 45 feet 10.5 inches, the F90-1’s wings contained main fuel cells that held 388 gallons of jet fuel with another 41 gallons available from auxiliary tanks installed in the wing center section.
First flight of the F90-1 prototype, serial number LA-91, occurred on Jan. 5, 1981, with Vaughn Gregg at the controls. That event was followed nearly a year later by the first flight of a type-conforming production airplane, serial number LA-202, on Dec. 7, 1982, flown by pilot Don Benes.
Beech Aircraft Corporation had built only 33 examples of the F90-1 when the decision was made in 1985 to stop
production. That decision was based chiefly on the fact that demand for the F90 and F90-1 had declined steadily through the mid-to-late 1980s with only 11 airplanes built in 1983, 1984 and 1985. In 1986 only one airplane, serial number LA-237, was built.
Although the F90 series represented a major improvement over the E90, it was built in much smaller numbers than its stablemate but continued to serve its owners and operators as a unique version of the legendary Beechcraft King Air. KA
Editor’s note: King Air first published this column in 2012.
Ed Phillips, now retired and living in the South, has researched and written eight books on the unique and rich aviation history that belongs to Wichita, Kansas. His writings have focused on the evolution of the airplanes, companies and people who have made Wichita the “Air Capital of the World” for more than 80 years.
NOVEMBER 2024
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 27