Page 29 - Volume 10 Number 10

it was the Special that
stole the show. It had
easily beaten the other
airplanes, including
the biplanes entered
by one of Travel Air’s
chief manufacturing
competitors, Waco
(Weaver Aircraft Com-
pany) based in Ohio.
Back in July, Stearman
and Short had approached Beech about building a “speed ship” that would be capable of at least 120 mph. Walter soon became excited about the proposal and enthusiastically gave his consent to design and build the airplane. Beech knew that in the infant airplane business, speed was paramount. It slashed long-distance travel times to hours instead of days, it was aviation’s greatest asset, but above all, speed sold airplanes.
By 1925 Walter Beech was no stranger to air racing and exhibition flying. By July 1921, when he went to work for the E.M. Laird Company in Wichita, Beech had accumulated about 200 hours in the air since learning to fly in 1919.1 After serving in United States Army Signal Corps during World War I as an aircraft engine mechanic at Rich Field near Waco, Texas, Walter was put on the company payroll in July 1921. Laird referred
to Beech as “a pilot of limited experience” and Walter soon proved it by demolishing a Swallow. The loss of the airplane was a serious financial blow, but both Beech and Laird’s company managed to survive the debacle.
Walter’s introduction to aerial competition came when he and a few other employees assisted Laird in construction of a biplane designed strictly for air racing. Plans called for the ship to have a wingspan of only 20 feet and be powered by the ubiquitous Curtiss OX-5
The Swallow was powered by a war-surplus Curtiss OX-5 engine and featured a front cockpit for two occupants. Slow, heavy on the controls but well built, the Swallow was E.M. Laird’s first truly successful commercial airplane design. More than 40 were sold between 1920-1924.
Laird and Beech were responsible for many of those sales. (EDWARD H. PHILLIPS COLLECTION)
OCTOBER 2016 KING AIR MAGAZINE • 27