A2A Simulations BONANZA ACCU-SIM V35B, Manual

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A2A SIMULATIONS ::: ACCU-SIM V35B BONANZA www.a2asimulations.com
FLYING INTO THE FUTURE
FOR SIMULATION USE ONLY
A TWINKLE IN WALTER BEECH’S EYE
By 1945, along with virtually every U. S. manufacturer Beech
Aircraft Company which was founded in Wichita, Kansas in
1932 by Walter Beech, his wife Olive Ann Beech and a few
others began to plan for the coming post- war era. However,
by the late 1930s Beech had designed and produced only
two aeroplane types in any quantity, the 1933 Model 17
“Staggerwing” and the 1937 Model 18, commonly called
“Twin Beech.”
The 1933 Model 17 is called “Staggerwing” because the
upper wing is placed rearward of the lower wing. Model 17’s
airframe is fabric- covered wood and steel, typical of aircraft
of the early- to- mid 1930s, It initially had a fixed and later a
retractable undercarriage.
Along with most of the aircraft manufacturers in the
United States in the early 1930s a number of circumstances,
particularly the deadly crash of TWA Flight 599 in which the
beloved Notre Dame University football coach Knute Rockne
was killed,
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informed Beech that all- metal aircraft were the
wave of the future. Not content to merely build a simple
all- metal single- engine light aeroplane Beech jumped into
these new waters with both feet by producing Model 18, a
far heavier and more complex aeroplane than it had ever
built.
Beech’s second aeroplane, Model 18, is an all- metal
twin- engine light transport which, since its introduction in
January 1937 has been a popular and highly successful civil-
ian and military aeroplane. The first Model 18s were pow-
ered by two 330- hp (250- kW) Jacobs L- 6 or by two 350- hp
(260- kW) Wright R- 760E radial engines turning cockpit-
adjustable- pitch Hamilton Standard propellers. Model
18’s engines were soon upped to 450- hp (336- kW) Pratt &
Whitney R- 985 radial engines turning the new Hamilton
Standard three- blade constant- speed propellers. However,
the construction and manufacturing methods required for
building Model 18 were entirely new to Beech. In fact, Beech
Model 18 was a quantum leap from Model 17 in every way.
A beautifully restored Belgian-
registered Beech Model 17S
“Staggerwing.” This unique and
striking design is a massive and
complicated fabric- covered wood
and steel structure powered by a
450 hp Pratt & Whitney R- 985- AN- 1
“Wasp Junior” radial engine. With a
top airspeed of 212 mph (184 knots,
341 km/h,) it was a fast biplane in
the 1930s, but became less and less
competitive as an executive transport
with the emergence of the new and
more efficient all- metal aviation
technology of the 1940s.
■ Beech Model 18, here as
Royal Canadian Air Force
(RCAF) transport. This
aeroplane’s resemblance
to the larger Lockheed
“Electra” is likely not
entirely a coincidence.
■ Beech AT- 11 “Kansan”
bomber trainer over
Texas in 1943. One of
49 military variants of
Model 18, AT- 11 was the
U. S. Army Air Force’s
(USAAF) primary bombing
trainer during the war in
which more than 40,000
bombardiers were trained.
Modifications included
a transparent bomber’s
nose, an internal bomb
bay and bomb racks and
a dorsal gun turret for
gunnery training. Photo
from “Western Trips”
■ The second and last
prototype Beechcraft
XA- 38 “Grizzly” shown
here was produced with
an operational 75 mm
cannon. It beggars one’s
imagination to think
that the same company
which was still producing
the fabric- covered
“Staggerwing” biplane
also designed and built
this formidable- looking
and performing modern
warplane. Photo from “Old
Machine Press”
■ 1947 Piper J- 3 “Cub.”
The great progenitor
of all general aviation
light aircraft, what Piper
offered in 1947 was
indistinguishable from the
pre- war “Cub.”