Walter Herschel Beech (January 30, 1891 – November 29, 1950) was an American aviator and early aviation entrepreneur who co-founded the Beech Aircraft Company (now called Beechcraft) in 1932 with his wife, Olive Ann Beech, and a team of three others.[2]
Biography
He was born in Pulaski, Tennessee, on January 30, 1891. Beech started flying in 1905, at age 14, when he built a glider of his own design. Then, after flying for the United States Army during World War I, he joined the Swallow Airplane Company as a test pilot. He later became general manager of the company. In 1924, he, Lloyd Stearman, and Clyde Cessna formed Travel Air Manufacturing Company. When the company merged with Curtiss-Wright, Beech became vice-president.[3]
In 1932, he and his wife, Olive Ann Beech, along with Ted Wells, K.K. Shaul, and investor C.G. Yankey, co-founded the Beech Aircraft Company in Wichita, Kansas.[4] Their early Beechcraft planes won the Bendix Trophy. During World War II, Beech Aircraft produced more than 7,400 military aircraft. The twin Beech AT-7/C-45 trained more than 90 percent of the U.S. Army Air Forces navigator/bombardiers. The company went on to become one of the "big three" in American general aviation aircraft manufacturing during the 20th century (along with Cessna and Piper).
Beech died from a heart attack on November 29, 1950.[5] He and his wife are buried at Old Mission Mausoleum in Wichita.
In 1977, Beech was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.[6] at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, and 1982, he was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.[7]
In 2023, Beech was inducted, along with his wife into the Paul E Garber First Flight Shrine in Kill Devil Hills, NC.[8]
External links
References
- https://www.flyingmag.com/pilot-reports-pistons-family-affair/^
- Ron Dick. Aviation Century: The Early Years Boston Mills, 2003^
- Walter Herschel Beech Hill Air Force Base, retrieved 2011-11-14^
- The Staggerwing Story: A History of the Beechcraft Model 17 Flying Books International, 1996^
- Walter Beech, 59, Leader In Aviation New York Times, December 1, 1950, retrieved 2011-11-14^
- Enshrinee Walter Beech nationalaviation.org, National Aviation Hall of Fame, retrieved 25 January 2023^
- These We Honor: the International Aerospace Hall of Fame Donning Co. Publishers, 2006^
- Paul E. Garber Shrine - First Flight Society - Aviation organization on the Outer Banks in Kill Devil Hills, NC First Flight Society, retrieved 2024-01-15^