Walter Herschel Beech
Born	(1891-01-30)January 30, 1891 Pulaski, Tennessee, US
Died	November 29, 1950(1950-11-29) (aged 59)
Occupations	Test pilot, entrepreneur, United States Army Air Forces aviator
Known for	Co-founder of the Beech Aircraft Corporation
Spouse	Olive Ann Beech
Children	2[1]

Walter Herschel Beech (January 30, 1891 – November 29, 1950) was an American aviator and early aviation entrepreneur who co-founded the Beech Aircraft Company (now called Beechcraft) in 1932 with his wife, Olive Ann Beech, and a team of three others.^[2]

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.^[3]

In 1932, he and his wife, Olive Ann Beech, along with Ted Wells, K.K. Shaul, and investor C.G. Yankey, co-founded the Beech Aircraft Company in Wichita, Kansas.^[4] Their early Beechcraft planes won the Bendix Trophy. During World War II, Beech Aircraft 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. The company went on to become one of the "big three" in American general aviation aircraft manufacturing during the 20th century (along with Cessna and Piper).

Beech died from a heart attack on November 29, 1950.^[5] He and his wife are buried at Old Mission Mausoleum in Wichita.

In 1977, Beech was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.^[6] at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, and 1982, he was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.^[7]

In 2023, Beech was inducted, along with his wife into the Paul E Garber First Flight Shrine in Kill Devil Hills, NC.^[8]

References

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: https://web.archive.org/web/20060228063018/http://www.hill.af.mil/museum/history/walterbeech.htm

External links

• Biography at Hill Air Force Base website Archived 2011-11-04 at the Wayback Machine
• Archive - Walter H. and Olive Ann Beech Collection at Wichita State University

• Walter Beech at Find a Grave