Walter Beech

File:Walter Hershel Beech.jpg

Walter Herschel Beech (January 30, 1891 – November 29, 1950) was an American pioneer aviator and founder of Beech Aircraft Company.

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.

In 1932, he and his wife, Olive Ann Beech, co-founded Beech Aircraft Company. Their early Beechcraft planes won the Bendix Trophy. During World War II, he 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 and 50 percent of its multi-engine pilots.

Beech died from a heart attack on November 29, 1950. He and his wife are buried at Old Mission Mausoleum in Wichita, Kansas.

External links

• Biography at Hill Air Force Base website
• Archive - Walter H. and Olive Ann Beech Collection at Wichita State University