Where is beechcraft made

Beech's work for NASA drew it closer to a major aerospace contractor, the newly merged McDonnell-Douglas company, which built the Apollo command module. It also led Beech into a series of Defense Department projects to build missiles, target drones, and other implements. Unable to fund development of a jet and with almost no time to get one in the air, Frank Hedrick sealed a deal with Britain's Hawker-Siddeley Group that would allow Beech to manufacture and market that company's HS, originally designed by DeHavilland.

Hedrick won an agreement to sell the proven model under license for five years as the BH In , after five years of poor sales and despite Beech's excellent marketing network, Beech and Hawker-Siddeley agreed not to renew their arrangement. While Lear, Cessna, and Dassault prevailed in the private jet business, the BH enabled Beech to enter and exit the market with no development or wind-up costs. Those that remained in the market had yet to earn a decent return on their jet products. Beech suffered the first of numerous product liability setbacks in when an FAA study identified problems with control locks on the Model Problems identified were quickly rectified, but the process inspired a battery of personal injury lawyers to launch wrongful death suits against all small aircraft manufacturers, including Beech.

The litigation costs affected Beech less than a downturn in the market. In , unable to secure credit for additional development and production, Hedrick sought out a merger of Beech with Grumman Corp. Grumman hoped to use Beech to lessen its overall dependence on the government for its business. Grumman, however, had serious financial difficulties of its own, stemming from problems with its F Tomcat.

When demand for its aircraft began to recover, Beech called off merger talks. Within a year Beech was back in trouble.

At that time an OPEC oil embargo plunged the United States into a serious energy crisis that resulted in, among other things, the cancellation of aircraft purchasing. The company sputtered along for three more years before Hedrick again actively sought a merger for Beech. He approached General Dynamics Corp. General Dynamics saw the benefits of diversification into civilian businesses, but as talks progressed, that company's share price began to slip while Beech's rose.

For the second time, Hedrick abandoned a merger. After allowing its agreement with Hawker-Siddeley to lapse, Beech invested heavily in its 8- to seat King Air turboprop. In light of the energy crisis, this was a strategic move. Turboprop planes were slower than jets, but were much more economical to operate. When demand for turboprops began to wane, however, Beech once again found itself unable to finance the development of new products, and was locked out of an increasingly tight credit market.

Hedrick began looking once again for a corporate suitor with a deep commitment to aviation. In Hedrick settled on the Raytheon Company, a Massachusetts-based manufacturer of avionics and missile systems, and one of the earliest developers of radar systems. As a primary Pentagon contractor, Raytheon had access to billions of dollars in cash flow. Hedrick joined the board of Raytheon in January of , and was succeeded as president of Beech Aircraft by Edward C.

Olive Ann Beech continued to serve as the company's chairman. A year after Raytheon took over Beech, the general aviation market crashed, due mainly to a recession and the emergence of a strong market for used aircraft. Nevertheless, Raytheon allowed Beech to sink tremendous amounts of development money into a highly experimental aircraft called the Starship.

The plane, constructed mainly out of special plastic composites, featured two rear-mounted pusher propellers and other design features that made the Starship appear to be oriented backwards.

And, while it flew in a wind tunnel, there was no guarantee the craft would actually work. In Hedrick, Burns, and Mrs. Beech retired. Linden Blue served as president for a year and was succeeded by James A. Please log in with your RocketRoute account. Primary Contact Number:. Company Name:. Operator Name:. Aircraft Type:. Aircraft registration:. Crew Nationality:. Together they created Travel Air Manufacturing Company, and produced high wing monoplanes for private and business use.

Beech became president of the company and married Olive Ann Mellor. In , at the height of the Great Depression, Beech chose to leave Travel Air and start his own company. Beech knew all aspects of aviation. The company's first objective was to build a five-seat biplane having the interior luxury of a fine sedan, top speed of mph, landing speed no higher than 60 mph, non-stop range of 1, miles, easy control, and sound aerodynamic characteristics.

The competition considered these specifications unattainable. On November 14, , Model 17R made its initial test flight and the impossible standards set by Beech had been met. Model 17R evolved into production model B17L. There were nine people on the flight, and all were killed, including both of the pilots. The reported cause of the crash was pilot error, deficiencies in FAA oversight, and operational issues within the company. Another crash occurred on July 31, , in Minnesota.

Both pilots and all six passengers were killed and the aircraft was completely destroyed. There were multiple facilities around the world. This company focused its efforts on the manufacturing of general aviation, military aircraft, and commercial airplanes.

They offered a wide range of planes, including ones that were very light, single-engined options as well as business jets, military trainers, and even twin-engined turboprop transports.