Beechcraft Corporation: Pride in Manufacturing Aircrafts in the United States

In 1932, Walter Beech and his wife Olive Ann decided to create their own aircraft company. As such, they began their operations in an abandoned Cessna factory and the Beech Aircraft Company was born.

The company’s first aircraft called the Model 17 Staggerwing took to air for the first time in November 1932. Over the years, the company would build 750 Staggerwings with the private sector comprising the bulk of their customers. However, the US military also became interested in their aircraft and purchased 250 units.

In 1937, Beech Aircraft started production of the Model 18. Little did they know that this aircraft would play a huge role in the coming conflicts that the United States would be fighting in foreign lands. Although the Model 18 would not become actively involved in the front lines, it would provide training to about 90% of the bombardier pilots who fought in the war.  Their training would take place in derivatives of the Model 18, called the AT-7 and the AT-11.

Although the war provided much success for the Beech Aircraft Company, success did not end when the war ended. In fact, the war’s end marked the beginning of future success for the company when they unveiled the Model 35 Beech Bonanza in 1947. The high-performance single-engine aircraft would become the longest producing aircraft in history as it is still being produced to this very day.

In 1950, Walter Beech died of a sudden heart attack and his wife Olive Ann replaced him as president of the company. She would relinquish her position after Raytheon purchased the company in 1980. Raytheon would later merge Beechcraft and Hawker, another company acquired from British Aerospace, thus forming Raytheon Aircraft Company.

Over the years, the company has produced over two dozen civilian aircrafts and around 15 different models for the military, most being used as trainer aircrafts.