29-548: The Beechcraft Model 50 Twin Bonanza is a small twin-engined aircraft designed by Beechcraft as an executive transport for the business market. It was developed to fill a gap in Beechcraft's product line between the single-engined Model 35 Bonanza and the larger Model 18 . The Twin Bonanza is dissimilar to the Bonanza, being much larger and heavier and using more powerful engines, while in its earliest form having only half
58-662: A division of Raytheon and then Hawker Beechcraft before a bankruptcy sale turned its assets over to Textron (parent company of Beech's historical cross-town Wichita rival, Cessna Aircraft Company ). It remains a brand of Textron Aviation. Beech Aircraft Company was founded in Wichita, Kansas , in 1932 by Walter Beech as president, his wife Olive Ann Beech as secretary, Ted A. Wells as vice president of engineering, K. K. Shaul as treasurer, and investor C. G. Yankey as vice president. The company began operations in an idle Cessna factory. With designer Ted Wells, they developed
87-498: A low-pressure area inside the engine nacelles, drawing in additional cooling air. The combination of the augmenter tubes and low propeller RPM and high engine RPM from the geared engines gives the Twin Bonanza a characteristic sound. "Junior JATO " rocket motors mounted to the tops of the engine nacelles were briefly offered as a factory option for the Twin Bonanza. Unlike most JATO systems intended to shorten takeoff distance,
116-443: A wooden two-bladed propeller. The standard cabin seats six people on bench seats, three in the front and three in the rear, and several other seating configurations were offered, including club seating and a three-person sideways-facing couch. Early models had a single right-hand door above the wing, accessed by trailing edge steps, while later aircraft added a rear airstair door with retracting steps. The 260 hp (190 kW) GO-435
145-436: Is an American brand of civil aviation and military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas . Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation , an American manufacturer of general aviation , commercial , and military aircraft , ranging from light single-engined aircraft to twin-engined turboprop transports, business jets , and military trainers . Beech later became
174-580: The King Air and Super King Air line of twin-engined turboprops, in production since 1964, the Baron , a twin-engined variant of the Bonanza, and the Beechcraft Model 18, originally a business transport and commuter airliner from the late 1930s through the 1960s, which remains in active service as a cargo transport. In 1950, Olive Ann Beech was installed as president and CEO of the company, after
203-546: The Lycoming GO-435 . However, the engine nacelles were not redesigned to fit the smaller Lycoming, creating unusually generous internal clearances that facilitate engine maintenance. The Model 50's type certificate was awarded in 1951, and production began the same year. The Twin Bonanza is one of only a few light twin-engined civil aircraft certificated in the utility category , and was the first production light aircraft to feature shoulder belts . Despite its name,
232-627: The "Travel Air" name, while Curtiss-Wright built the CW-12, 14, 15, and 16 as well as previous successful Travel Air models (mostly the model 4). In 1942 Beech won its first Army-Navy "E" Award production award and became one of the elite five percent of war contracting firms in the country to win five straight awards for production efficiency, mostly for the production of the Beechcraft Model 18 which remains in widespread use worldwide. Beechcraft ranked 69th among United States corporations in
261-507: The T-6 and AT-6 military trainer/attack aircraft, as well as the piston-powered single-engined Bonanza and twin-engined Baron aircraft. The jet line was discontinued, but the new company continues to support the aircraft already produced with parts, plus engineering and airworthiness documentation. By October 2013, the company, now financially turned around, was up for sale. On December 26, 2013, Textron agreed to purchase Beechcraft, including
290-484: The Twin Bonanza is a substantially larger and heavier aircraft that is mostly dissimilar to the single-engined Bonanza ; the only major shared parts are the front fuselage sides and windows, and on early models, the main cabin door. The Twin Bonanza fuselage is 12 in (30 cm) wider than that of the Bonanza. The United States Army adopted the Twin Bonanza as the L-23 Seminole utility transport, making it
319-407: The Twin Bonanza motors were nominally intended to keep the aircraft aloft during in-flight emergencies or forced landings . However, it is unclear whether this feature was ever installed on a production aircraft or used in any instance other than test flights. The Twin Bonanza had trouble competing with the similarly capable but substantially lighter Cessna 310 and Piper PA-23 , so Beechcraft used
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#1732782892367348-599: The Twin Bonanza, eventually purchasing 216 of the 994 examples produced. It was also the first twin-engined aircraft in its class to be offered to the business market, but the Korean War was raging in the early 1950s and the US Army took almost the entire production for 1952 and 1953. The Beechcraft Model 65 Queen Air and Model 90 King Air are both direct descendants of the Model 50 Twin Bonanza. All three aircraft share
377-592: The basic single-engined Bonanza fuselage and many other Bonanza parts to create the Twin Bonanza's effective replacements: the Travel Air and the closely related Baron . The Twin Bonanza has been plagued by a reputation for slow cruise speed, poor fuel economy and high engine overhaul costs relative to other six to eight-seat light piston twins; this has historically kept resale values low, but many owners praise its reliability, good outwards visibility, stable flying qualities and generous interior space, particularly when
406-538: The discontinued Hawker jet line, for $ 1.4 billion. The sale was concluded in the first half of 2014, with government approval. Textron CEO Scott Donnelly indicated that Beechcraft and Cessna would be combined to form a new light aircraft manufacturing concern, Textron Aviation , that would result in US$ 65M–$ 85M in annual savings over keeping the companies separate. Textron has kept both the Beechcraft and Cessna names as separate brands. As of July 2019, Textron Aviation
435-411: The engine nacelles, leaving the tires exposed to assist in the event of a belly landing and allowing the pilot some directional control using differential braking . The aircraft is equipped with a tailskid to mitigate damage from a badly executed or belly landing. The exposed main wheels and tailskid potentially allow a Twin Bonanza equipped with two-bladed props to be belly-landed with minimal damage if
464-700: The field of general aviation manufacturing, along with Cessna and Piper Aircraft . In 1973, Beechcraft found Beechcraft Heritage Museum to host its historical aircraft. In 1994, Raytheon merged Beechcraft with the Hawker product line it had acquired in 1993 from British Aerospace , forming Raytheon Aircraft Company . In 2002, the Beechcraft brand was revived to again designate the Wichita-produced aircraft. In 2006, Raytheon sold Raytheon Aircraft to Goldman Sachs creating Hawker Beechcraft . Since its inception Beechcraft has resided in Wichita, Kansas , also
493-634: The first aircraft under the Beechcraft name, the classic Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing , which first flew in November 1932. Over 750 Staggerwings were built, with 352 manufactured for the United States Army Air Forces and 67 for the United States Navy during World War II . Beechcraft was not Beech's first company, as he had previously formed Travel Air in 1924 and the design numbers used at Beechcraft followed
522-547: The home of chief competitor Cessna, the birthplace of Learjet and of Stearman , whose trainers were used in large numbers during WW II. The entry into bankruptcy of Hawker Beechcraft on May 3, 2012, ended with its emergence on February 16, 2013, as a new entity, Beechcraft Corporation, with the Hawker Beechcraft name being retired. The new and much smaller company produce the King Air line of aircraft as well as
551-472: The largest fixed-wing aircraft in its inventory at that time. According to Ralph Harmon, the airplane's designer, during an initial demonstration flight for the Army, Beechcraft test pilot Claude Palmer crashed while trying to land over a 50-foot (15 m) tree line with the aircraft full of soldiers and sandbags. Everyone on board walked away from the crash. The Army was impressed with the structural strength of
580-472: The passenger capacity of the Model 18. The Twin Bonanza was first flown on November 15, 1949 after rapid development, begun only in April of that year. The aircraft was first designed to use Franklin engines with superchargers , but engine company owner Preston Tucker diverted all of its aviation resources to support his ill-fated Tucker 48 automobile project, and the aircraft was hastily modified to accept
609-479: The props are stopped horizontally. In many Twin Bonanzas, the copilot 's seat and rudder pedals are not on the right as is customary, but instead are positioned in the center of the front seat; the pilots pivot the single "throwover" control yoke to the center for the copilot to fly. Instead of conventional cowl flaps for low-speed engine cooling, the engines are equipped with exhaust augmenter tubes that create
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#1732782892367638-512: The same basic wing design, as well as landing gear, flaps, instrument panels, fuel cells, and more. The Queen Air added a larger cabin to the design, while the later King Air added turbine power and pressurization . Twin Bonanza production ended in 1963 while the King Air was under development. The Twin Bonanza is an all-metal low-wing monoplane with a cantilever wing and retractable tricycle landing gear , initially powered by two wing-mounted geared Lycoming GO-435 piston engines, each with
667-463: The sequence started at Travel Air, and were then continued at Curtiss-Wright, after Travel Air had been absorbed into the much larger company in 1929. Beech had become president of Curtiss-Wright's airplane division and VP of sales, but was dissatisfied with being so far removed from aircraft production. He quit to form Beechcraft, using the original Travel Air facilities and employing many of the same people. Model numbers prior to 11/11000 were built under
696-406: The sudden death of her husband from a heart attack on November 29 of that year. She continued as CEO until Beech was purchased by Raytheon Company on February 8, 1980. Ted Wells had been replaced as chief engineer by Herbert Rawdon, who remained at the post until his retirement in the early 1960s. Throughout much of the mid-to-late 20th century, Beechcraft was considered one of the "Big Three" in
725-563: The three-wide seats are not fully occupied. The Twin Bonanza is popularly known as the "Twin Bo" or the "T-Bone". In January 2012, the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority issued an airworthiness directive grounding all Bonanzas, Twin Bonanzas, and Debonairs equipped with a single pole-style yoke, having forward elevator control cables more than 15 years old, until they could be inspected. The AD
754-486: The value of World War II military production contracts. After the war, the Staggerwing was replaced by the revolutionary Beechcraft Bonanza with a distinctive V-tail . Perhaps the best known Beech aircraft, the single-engined Bonanza has been manufactured in various models since 1947. The Bonanza has had the longest production run of any airplane, past or present, in the world. Other important Beech aircraft are
783-504: Was issued based on two aircraft found to have frayed cables, one of which suffered a cable failure just prior to takeoff, and resulting concerns about the age of the cables in fleet aircraft of this age. At the time of the grounding, some Bonanzas had reached 64 years in service. Aircraft with frayed cables were grounded until the cables were replaced, and those that passed inspection were required to have their cables replaced within 60 days regardless. The AD affected only Australian aircraft and
812-800: Was not adopted by the airworthiness authority responsible for the type certificate , the US Federal Aviation Administration . The FAA instead opted to issue a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) requesting that the elevator control cables be inspected during the annual inspection. The Beechcraft Twin Bonanza has been involved in the following notable accidents and incidents: Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1956–57 General characteristics Performance Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era [REDACTED] Media related to Beechcraft Twin Bonanza at Wikimedia Commons Beechcraft Beechcraft
841-410: Was replaced by the 275 hp (205 kW) Lycoming GO-480 in 1954; this engine was subsequently upgraded with fuel injection and then superchargers, increasing power to 295 hp (220 kW) in 1956 and 340 hp (250 kW) in 1957. In addition to its seating configuration, the Twin Bonanza has several other unusual design features. The main landing gear wheels retract only partially into
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