Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing

Model 17 Staggerwing
1944 Beechcraft D17S
Role	Utility aircraft
Manufacturer	Beech Aircraft Corporation
Designer	T. A. Wells
First flight	4 November 1932
Introduction	1933
Primary users	Private sector United States Army Air Forces
Produced	1933-1949
Number built	785
Unit cost	US$14,000-17,000 (1933) US$29,000 (1949)

The Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing is an American biplane with an atypical negative wing stagger (the lower wing is farther forward than the upper wing), that first flew in 1932.

Development

At the height of the Great Depression, aircraft executive Walter H. Beech and airplane designer T. A. "Ted" Wells joined forces to collaborate on a project to produce a large, powerful, and fast cabin biplane built specifically for the business executive. The Beechcraft Model 17, popularly known as the "Staggerwing", was first flown on November 4, 1932. During its heyday, it was used as an executive aircraft, much as the private jet is now, and its primary competition were the Waco Custom Cabin and Waco Standard Cabin series of biplanes.

The Model 17's unusual negative stagger wing configuration (the upper wing staggered behind the lower) and unique shape maximized pilot visibility while negligibly reducing interference between the wings.^[1] The fabric-covered fuselage was faired with wood formers and stringers over a welded, steel tube frame.^[1] Construction was complex and took many man-hours to complete. The Staggerwing's retractable conventional landing gear, uncommon at that time, combined with careful streamlining, light weight, and a powerful radial engine, helped it perform well.

In the mid-1930s, Beech undertook a major redesign of the aircraft, to create the Model D17 Staggerwing. The D17 featured a lengthened fuselage that improved the aircraft's handling characteristics by increasing control leverage, and the ailerons were relocated to the upper wings, eliminating interference with the flaps. Braking was improved with a foot-operated brake linked to the rudder pedals.

Operational history

Sales began slowly. The first Staggerwings' high price tag (between US$14,000 and $17,000, depending on engine size) scared off potential buyers in an already depressed civil aircraft market. Only 18 Model 17s were sold during 1933, the first year of production, but sales steadily increased. Each Staggerwing was custom-built by hand. The luxurious cabin, trimmed in leather and mohair, held up to five passengers. Eventually, the Staggerwing captured a substantial share of the passenger aircraft market. By the start of World War II, Beechcraft had sold more than 424 Model 17s.

Air racing

The Staggerwing's speed made it popular with 1930s air racers. An early version of the Model 17 won the 1933 Texaco Trophy Race. In 1935, a British diplomat, Capt. H.L. Farquhar, successfully flew around the world in a Model B17R, traveling 21,332 miles (34,331 kilometers) from New York to London, by way of Siberia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and back across Europe.

Louise Thaden and Blanche Noyes won the 1936 Bendix trophy in a Model C17R Staggerwing. Thaden also won the Harmon Trophy for her achievement. Jackie Cochran set a women's speed record of 203.9 mph (328 km/h), established an altitude record of over 30,000 feet (9,144 m), and finished third in the 1937 Bendix Trophy Race, all in a special Model D17W Staggerwing. The aircraft made an impressive showing in the 1938 Bendix race, as well.

In 1970, due to a dispute with the T-6 racing class, the Reno National Air Races invited five Staggerwings to perform a demonstration race. Two G models and two D17 models raced. The five pilots were Bryant Morris, Bert Jensen, Don Clark, Noel Gourselle, and Phil Livingston, the only pilot to have prior racing experience in the T-6 class. The race was flawless with ABC Wide World of Sports coverage, but protesting T-6 racers prevented the class from future competition with allegations of safety issues.

World War II

As World War II loomed, a number of Model B17Ls were pressed into service as bombers by the FARE, the air forces of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. China ordered a number of Staggerwings to use as ambulance planes in its fight against Imperial Japan. Finland had one C17L as a liaison aircraft between 1940-1945.^[2] On October 2, 1941, Beech shipped a special camouflaged D17S to Prince Bernhard of Lippe, who was in exile in London after the German invasion of the Netherlands. He used it for refugee work in and around London.

The Beech UC-43 Traveler was a slightly modified version of the Staggerwing. In late 1938, the United States Army Air Corps purchased three Model D17Ss to evaluate them for use as light liaison aircraft. These were designated YC-43. After a short flight test program, the YC-43s went to Europe to serve as liaison aircraft with the air attachés in London, Paris, and Rome.

Early in World War II, the need for a compact executive-type transport or courier aircraft became apparent, and in 1942, the United States Army Air Forces ordered the first of 270 Model 17s for service within the United States and overseas as the UC-43. These differed only in minor details from the commercial model. To meet urgent wartime needs, the government also purchased or leased (impressed) additional "Staggerwings" from private owners, including 118 more for the Army Air Force plus others for the United States Navy. In Navy service, the planes were designated as GB-1 and GB-2. The British Royal Air Force and Royal Navy acquired 106 "Traveller Mk. I" (the British name uses the UK double "l" spelling) through the Lend-Lease arrangement to fill its own critical need for light personnel transports.

The production UC-43 differed in minor details from the service test YC-43. Two distinguishing external features of the UC-43 are the circular automatic direction finder antennae mounted between the main landing gear and landing lights near the lower wingtips. They were all powered by the 450 horsepower (336 kilowatt) Pratt & Whitney R-985 engine.

Postwar

After the war's end, Beech immediately converted its manufacturing capabilities back to civil aircraft production, making one final version of the Staggerwing, the Model G17S. They built 16 aircraft, which they sold for US$29,000 apiece. Norway sold one D17S to Finland in 1949, which the Finnish Air Force used from 1950 to 1958.^[2]

The lightweight V-tail Beechcraft Bonanza, a powerful four-passenger luxury aircraft, soon replaced the venerable Staggerwing in the Beech product line, at about a third of the price. The Bonanza was a smaller aircraft with fewer horsepower, but carried four people at a similar speed to the Staggerwing. Beechcraft sold the 785th and final Staggerwing in 1948 and delivered it in 1949.

Critical praise

In March 2003, Plane & Pilot magazine named the Staggerwing one of its Top Ten All-Time Favorite aircraft.^[3]

In the April, 2007 issue of AOPA Pilot magazine, it was reported that the Staggerwing was voted by nearly 3000 AOPA members as the Most Beautiful Airplane. "Members said it's the perfect balance between 'muscular strength and delicate grace,' and rated it highly for its 'classic lines and symmetry.'"

The November 2012 issue of Aviation History magazine ranked the Staggerwing fifth in their top 12 list of the Worlds Most Beautiful Airplanes. Stating that "Some might think 'the Stag' ungainly, backward wings and all, yet it has become the prime example of vintage beauty." and "...the aftward upper wing led to the big, steeply raked windscreen that is also a key element of what some have called an art deco classic."^[4]

Variants and design stages

Production by Model

Model Designation	Number Produced
17R	2
A17F	1
A17FS	1
B17B	2
B17E	4
B17L	46
B17R	15
C17B	39
C17E	22
C17L	6
C17R	17
D17A	8
D17R	27
D17S	67 civilian 412 military
D17W	2
E17B	54
E17L	1
F17D	60
G17S	20
Total	785

17

Fixed gear prototype made first flight on November 4, 1932.

By 1934, Beechcraft had designed and built four models. They were the 17R (420 hp Wright engine); the A17F (690 hp Wright engine); the A17FS (710 hp Wright engine); and the B17L (225 hp Jacobs engine). All were fixed gear models with the exception of the B17L, which had a pneumatically retractable undercarriage. Of the three models, the B17L proved best suited to meet the market demands, and became the first production model.

B17

First production model, manufactured from March 1934 to March 1936.

C17

Manufactured from March 1936 to March 1937.

D17

Manufactured from March 1937 to 1945 (All were military models after 1941).

E17

Manufactured from March 1937 to 1941.

F17

Manufactured from April 1938 to 1941.

G17

Manufactured from 1946 to 1948.

Tachikawa-Beechcraft C17E Light Transport

20 built in licence production in Japan by Tachikawa, plus two assembled from imported parts for Dai Nihon Koku KK. Manshu, Chuka Koku and agencies such as provincial police headquarters.

Military designations

YC-43

Three Model D17S with a 450hp R-985-17 engine for evaluation by the United States Army Air Corps

UC-43 Traveler

Production version with a 450hp R-985-AN-1 engine, 75 ordered for the USAAC and 63 for the United States Navy as the GB-1, 132 were later transferred from the USN to the USAAC.

UC-43A

Model D17R with 440hp R-975-11 engine, 13 impressed into service.

UC-43B

Model D17S with 450hp R-985-17 engine, 13 impressed into service.

UC-43C

Model F17D with 300hp R-915-1 engine, 37 impressed into service.

UC-43D

Model E17B with 285hp R-830-1 engine, 31 impressed into service.

UC-43E

Model C17R with 440hp R-975-11 engine, five impressed into service.

UC-43F

Model D17A with 350hp R-975-3 engine, one impressed into service.

UC-43G

Model C17B with 285hp R-830-1 engine, 10 impressed into service.

UC-43H

Model B17R with 440hp R-975-11 engine, three impressed into service.

UC-43J

Model C17L with 225hp R-755-1 engine, three impressed into service.

UC-43K

Model D17W, one impressed into service. This aircraft was originally built in 1937 for famed aviator Jacqueline Cochran. Cochran flew the plane in the 1937 Bendix cross-country race and placed first in the Women's Division and 3rd overall. She also set a Women's National Speed Record of 203.895 miles per hour using the plane.

GB-1

United States Navy transport version of the D17, ten bought in 1939 and ten impressed into USN service.

GB-2

USN version as GB-1 but with a 450hp R-985-50 or R-985-AN-1 engine, 271 built, 132 later transferred to USAAF as UC-43s. Also additional aircraft from a cancelled British contract and impressed aircraft.

JB-1

One Model C17R as an executive transport for the United States Navy.

Traveller I

British designation for the former US Embassy in London's YC-43 and 107 UC-43 and GB-2 aircraft delivered mainly for the Royal Navy.

Engine selection

Beechcraft Model 17 Engine Selections

Suffix	Engine (radial configuration)	Cylinders	Power (hp)
A	Wright R-760-E2	7	350
B	Jacobs L-5 (R-830-1)	7	285
D	Jacobs L-6 (R-915A3)	7	330
E	Wright R-760-E1	7	285
F	Wright R-1820-F11	9	690
FS	Wright SR-1820-F3 (supercharged)	9	710
L	Jacobs L-4 (R-755D)	7	225
R	Wright R-975-E2 or E3	9	420-450
S	P&W R-985-AN-1 or AN-3	9	450
W	P&W R-985-SC-G (supercharged & geared)	9	600

Operators

Numbers operated from^[5]

 Australia

• Royal Australian Air Force (operated three from 1941 to 1947)

 Bolivia

• Bolivian Air Force (received one in 1941)

 Brazil

• NAB – Navegação Aérea Brasileira (airline)
• Brazilian Air Force (operated 54 from 1942 to 1960)
• Brazilian Navy (operated four from 1940 to 1941)

 China

• Chinese Nationalist Air Force (operated 21 from 1937 to 1945)

Republic of China-Nanjing

• Nanjing air force (operated one from 1941 to 1945)^[6]

 Cuba

• Cuban Army Aviation Corps (operated two in 1945 and 1958)

 Ethiopia

• Ethiopian Government (operated two from 1935 to 1936)

 Finland

• Finnish Air Force (operated one C17L from 1940 to 1945 and one D17S from 1950 to 1958)^[2]

 Honduras

• Honduran Air Force (operated two from 1936 to 1958)

 Netherlands

• Netherlands Naval Aviation Service (one from 1942 to 1945)

 New Zealand

• Royal New Zealand Air Force
  • No. 42 Squadron RNZAF

 Peru

• Peruvian Air Force five from 1946 to 1958

 Spain

• Spanish Republican Air Force (operated nine in 1936)

 United Kingdom

• Royal Air Force
• Royal Navy

 USA

• US Army Air Corps
• US Army Air Force
• United States Navy
• Civil Air Patrol

 Uruguay

• Uruguayan Air Force (operated one from 1944 to 1962)

Aircraft on display

Brazil

• 6691 – D17S on static display at the Museu Aeroespacial in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.^[7][8]

Canada

• 403 – D17S on display at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta.^[9]

United States

• 1 – 17R on display at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee. This airframe is the prototype Model 17.^[10]
• 21 – B17L on display at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee.^[10]
• 93 – C17L on static display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. It was built as a C17B and originally owned by Buzz Aldrin's father.^[11]
• 100 – C17B on display at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee.^[10]
• 231 – E17B on display at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee.^[10]
• 257 – F17D on display at the Mid-America Air Museum in Liberal, Kansas.^[12]
• 305 – D17A on static display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. This airframe was impressed into service during World War II as UC-43F 42-49071.^[13][14]
• 333 – F17D on display at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee.^[10]
• 395 – D17S on display at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee.^[10]
• 4835 – D17S on display at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee.^[10]
• 4890 – UC-43 on display at the Yanks Air Museum in Chino, California. It has the USAAF serial number 43-10842. It was the museum's first aircraft and bears the seal of the U.S. Ambassador to London.^[15][16]
• 6700 – GB-2 on static display at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola near Pensacola, Florida. It has the US Navy Bureau Number 23688.^[17][18]
• 6880 – UC-43 on display at the Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida.^[19][20]
• 6913 – GB-2 on static display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. It is painted as UC-43 39-139.^[21][22]
• B-3 – G17S on display at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee.^[10]
• B-7 – G17S on display at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee.^[10]

Surviving aircraft

Many Staggerwings remain registered with the FAA in flyable condition, or undergoing restoration. Several military versions are on display.

Canada

• 4874 – D17S airworthy with Mark Hyderman of Edmonton, Alberta. It was previously owned by Vintage Wings of Canada in Gatineau, Quebec.^{[23][24][25][26]}

United Kingdom

• 4803 – D17S airworthy at Old Buckenham Airport in Norwich, Norfolk.^[27][28]
• 6701 – D17S airworthy at The Fighter Collection in Duxford, Cambridgeshire. It was built in 1943 as a US Navy model GB-2. It was shipped to the UK and flown by Royal Navy's 782 Naval Air Squadron as Traveller Mk.I FT475. Postwar, it was returned to the US and flown by the US Air Force before passing into private hands. It came back to the UK in 1990 and has since flown with several owners under the UK registration G-BRVE.^[29][30]

United States

• 102/110 – C17B airworthy with Christine M. St. Onge of Wexford, Pennsylvania.^[31][32] It is operated out of Grove City Airport in Grove City, Pennsylvania. The aircraft is painted in the colors and scheme used by Blanche Noyes and Louise Thaden for the 1936 Bendix Air Race.
• 198 – UC-43D airworthy at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas.^[33][34]
• 3098 – D17S airworthy at the Legacy Flight Museum in Rexburg, Idaho.^[35][36]
• 6704 – UC-43 airworthy at the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo, New York.^[37][38][39]
• 6914 – D17S airworthy at the Historic Flight Foundation in Mukilteo, Washington.^[40][41]
• TBD – TBD airworthy at the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, California.

Specifications (Beech Model D17S)

Data from Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II^[42]

General characteristics

• Crew: one
• Capacity: three passengers
• Payload: 125 lb (56.7 kg) of baggage
• Length: 26 ft 10 in (8.18 m)
• Wingspan: 32 ft (9.75 m)
• Height: 8 ft (2.44 m)
• Wing area: 296.5 ft² (27.55 m²)
• Empty weight: 2,540 lb (1,150 kg)
• Loaded weight: 4,250 lb (1,930 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-1 "Wasp Junior" radial engine, 450 hp (340 kW) at 2,300 rpm

Performance

• Maximum speed: 212 mph (184 knots, 341 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 202 mph (176 knots, 325 km/h)
• Range: 582 nm (670 mi, 1,078 km)
• Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,600 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,500 ft/min (7.6 m/s)
• Wing loading: 14.3 lb/ft² (70.0 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 9.44 lb/hp (5.68 kg/kW)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Howard DGA-15
• Spartan Executive

Related lists

• List of aircraft of World War II
• List of military transport aircraft
• List of aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Guillemette, Roger. "Beech Model 17 Staggerwing". U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Archived from the original on 14 December 2005. Retrieved 2006-01-06. 
• "Cargo Aircraft Virtual Gallery; World War II era Development- Part I". National Museum of the United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 28 November 2005. Retrieved 2006-01-06. 
• Phillips, Edward H. (1996). The Staggerwing Story. Flying Books International. ISBN 0-911139-27-3. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beechcraft Staggerwing.

• Beechcraft Heritage Museum