Page 28 - August 2015 Volume 9, Number 8

Beginning in 1968, all Model 35 Bonanzas were designated by the letter “V” to distinguish those airplanes from the Model 33 Bonanza with its conventional empennage. The 1970 V35B (flown here by company test pilot Bob Buettgenbach) represented the pinnacle of Bonanza development.
The last V-series Bonanza was built late in 1982, bringing an end to uninterrupted, 35-year production run of more than 10,400 airplanes since 1947. (TEXTRON AVIATION)
stall characteristics. He was impressed with the ship’s overall behavior, and after landing declared to Walter Beech, “It’s the best airplane we’ve built yet!”4
The second flight-test prototype, equipped with the Continental E-165 and NACA 23000 airfoil, flew soon after the first airplane. A comparison of the two found that both airplanes were capable of cruising at 175 mph. In the wake of further tests, the NACA airfoil was chosen for production airplanes because it was easier and less costly to build. During 1945, the certification program continued to advance, but one of the pre-production airplanes was destroyed and the pilot killed when the V-tail separated from the fuselage (the observer bailed out and reported what happened). The accident occurred during high-speed dive tests aimed at determining maximum dive airspeed when balance weights on the empennage separated from the control surfaces, inducing flutter. Deeply grieved at the loss of the pilot, Harmon’s team pushed forward and implemented design changes to the empennage that resolved the problem.
To ensure that the airframe, engine, propeller, landing gear, flap systems and their components were ready for production and certification, Walter Beech ordered what today is known as “Function and Reliability” flights using three airplanes. The Beechcrafts were flown day and night in all weather conditions (except icing) along a 170-mile course that included 10 airports. Pilots eventually accumulated up to 600 hours on each of the airplanes, making a minimum of three takeoffs and landings per hour. The flights served their purpose, revealing minor problems affecting landing gear and flap motor operation as well as reliability issues with a few other components, all of which were quickly resolved.
As the certification program drew to a close, and before final specifications were released to Beechcraft dealers worldwide, Beech Aircraft Corporation received
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orders (with cash deposits) for 500 airplanes. When specifications were released, the orders swelled to 1,500 airplanes! Finally, on March 25, 1947, the CAA issued Approved Type Certificate A777 for the Model 35 Bonanza, paving the way for series production to begin. Initially, the factory manufactured 12 airplanes per day during 1947. Production slowly accelerated and by the end of 1948, 1,500 Bonanzas had rolled off the assembly line and into the hands of new owners.
As for the competition, the Republic’s SeaBee amphibian soon failed, the victim of steadily rising production costs that forced an end to the program. Only the Navion posed any serious threat to the Bonanza’s rapid dominance of the high-performance, four-place small airplane market. The Navion’s level of high performance fell short of that of the new Beechcraft. Despite adding more and more horsepower to the airframe, the Navion was consistently 25 mph slower than the Bonanza.5
In 1949, the A35 Bonanza made its debut and was the first Model 35 to incorporate a sheet metal spar carrythrough that replaced the tubular steel unit used in early production airplanes. It was the first Bonanza to be licensed in the Utility Category at a maximum gross weight of 2,650 pounds. Beechcraft workers built 71 A35s before introduction of the improved B35 for the 1950 sales year. It featured a Continental E-185-8 engine that developed 196 horsepower for one minute (at 2,450 RPM), and engines installed in the C35, D35 and E35 versions produced from 1950 through 1952 featured more horsepower, the chord of the V-tail was increased by 20 percent and dihedral angle increased to 33 degrees. As the years went by, the Bonanza continued to evolve through the F35, N35, P35, S35 and finally, the V35.
Introduced in 1966, the V35 was powered by a Continental IO-520-B engine rated at 285 horsepower and could attain a maximum speed of 210 mph (sea level). Maximum gross weight was 3,400 pounds – an increase of more than 800 pounds since the Model 35 of 1947. Both the V35 and V35A (introduced in
According to Beech Aircraft records, the final V-tail Bonanza (V35B) was delivered to a customer in August 1984. (TEXTRON AVIATION)
OCTOBER 2015