Page 20 - Volume 11 Number 9

Baron - The Businessman’s Beechcraft PartTwo
In 1968, Beech Aircraft Corporation engineers employed their airframe “cookbook” to create the versatile Model 58 Baron, followed later by the turbocharged 58TC and the pressurized 58P.
by Edward H. Phillips
By the late 1960s, the Beechcraft Model 55 series “Baron” and the muscular Model 58TC had proven to be highly successful additions to the company’s product line. It had begun in 1960 with introduction of the Model 55 that eventually replaced the aging Model 95 Travel Air that had entered production in 1956 and continued to be manufactured until 1968.
Although the Model 95 series was well received by Beechcraft dealers and customers, the Model 55 was a thoroughly modern lightweight, twin-engine Beechcraft that met the demands of a constantly evolving market. By 1971 more than 2,300 of the twin-engine Baron series had been built, attesting to its solid popularity.
Throughout the 1960s, Beech Aircraft was faced with stiff competition from Piper Aircraft Corporation’s turbocharged Aztec and Cessna Aircraft Company’s family of 400-series airplanes such as the unpressurized Model 401 and 402 and later the pressurized Model 414 and Model 421. Gradually, Beechcraft dealers and distributors began to clamor for a larger Baron, one that would compete head-to-head with Piper and Cessna in terms of cabin size, comfort and performance.
As always, company President Frank E. Hedrick and Chairman of the Board Olive Ann Beech listened to what their salesmen were saying. During regional sales meetings held in 1969 in Phoenix, Arizona; Dallas, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia; company officials unveiled plans for the 1970 model year lineup that included the Model 100 King Air – the first evolution of the venerable turboprop-powered Model 90 that had increasingly dominated the turbine-powered business aircraft market since its introduction in 1964.
During the past 47 years, the Beechcraft Baron 58 series has been highly successful beginning with the Model
58 that was introduced for the 1970 model year. The turbocharged 58TC was less successful with only 151 built. The pressurized 58P (shown) made its debut for the 1976 model year and 495 were built before production ended in 1985. (EDWARD H. PHILLIPS COLLECTION)