Walter Beech
Walter Herschel Beech (January 30, 1891 – November 29, 1950) was an American pioneer aviator and founder of Beech Aircraft Company.[1]
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.[2]
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.[3] He and his wife are buried at Old Mission Mausoleum in Wichita, Kansas.
