By: Norm Goyer
The Army purchased many Twin Bonanzas and renamed them the Seminole
I would like to thank Wikipedia and Beechcraft publications for the facts and figures of the many Beechcraft military aircraft. NG
It started in the late 1930s with the D-18 Twin Beech, before World War II, and has continued to date, August 2010. Beechcraft light twins have helped our military protect our freedom.
One of the more successful family of light twins started with the well known Beechcraft D-18 Twin Beech, thousands were built and used in all branches of the military, in many different roles. Beech’s second family of outstanding light military twins commenced with the Twin Bonanza B-50. The “T’Bone” was built to act as a second choice to the larger more powerful Beech D-18. The Twin Bonanza light duty twin eventually morphed into the Queen Air and then the King Air line of both reciprocating and turbine powered aircraft, still being built as the King Air Model 90. The original T’Bone was a rugged airplane; it had the appearance of being larger than the D-18, of course it was not. I had the use of one for about a year and I loved the big old bird, and I mean big old bird. It was a far cry from the Piper Aztec and Seneca I had been flying, this airplane was a twin, spelled with all capital letters. This was a pilot’s aircraft from the three-passenger wide, front cockpit seating to the twin-geared Lycoming engines, to the huge two bladed paddle blade props needed to handle the torque of the geared engines. If the step didn’t deploy, you even needed a step ladder to enter the cockpit. The large diameter props needed a long landing gear for clearence. The military put the T’Bone based Seminol to work immediately in many transportation roles.
The Seminole was used with great success during the Korean conflict.
The Twin Bonanza first flew on November 15, 1949. Work was started on it in April of 1949. The Model 50′s type certificate was awarded in 1952, and production began the same year. The United States Army used the Twin Bonanza, L-23 Seminole, utility transport, making it the largest fixed-wing aircraft in the Army’s inventory at that time. Ralph Harmon, the airplane’s designer, stated that during an initial demonstration flight for the Army, Claude Palmer, a Beechcraft Demonstration Test Pilot, crashed while trying to land over a 50-foot tree line. The aircraft was loaded with soldiers and sandbags. Everyone on board walked away from the crash. The Army was so impressed with the structural strength of the Twin Bonanza, that they eventually purchased 216 of the 994 examples produced. It was also the first twin-engine aircraft, in its class, to be offered to the business market. The Korean War was raging in the early 1950s and the US Army needed more Seminoles so it took almost the entire production for 1952 and 1953.
The Queen Air, which was a Twin Bonanza with a much larger fuselage, was a very popular business aircraft.
In the late 1950s, Beechcraft, using the Model 50 as a starting point, developed the Model 80 Queen Air. The Queen Air is a twin-engined light aircraft produced in several different versions from 1960 to 1978. It was based on the Twin Bonanza, with which it shared key components, such as wings, engines, and tail surfaces, but featuring a much larger fuselage. In the turn the Queen Air served as the basis for the highly successful King Air series of turboprop aircraft. The Model 80 Queen Air was used as a business aircraft, in an utility role, or as a small commuter airliner. Production ran for 17 years.
The Beechcraft King Air became a very popular military fast personnel transport. This one is in Navy markings.
The real star of the Twin Bonanza’s offspring is the Beechcraft Model 90 King Air. which was conceived as the Model 120 in 1961. In May 1963, Beechcraft began test flights of the proof-of-concept Model 87, a modified Queen Air with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-6 engines. In July, Beech announced they were working on a new type. A month later Beech Marketing began accepting orders for the “King Air”, with deliveries to commence in Autumn 1964. In 1964 after ten months of test flying the Model 87 was delivered to the United States Army as the NU-8F. In January, the first definitive prototype Model 65-90, was also fitted with PT6A-6 engines and flew for the first time. The first production aircraft was delivered in October, and by the end of the month, 152 aircraft had been ordered.
President Lyndon Johnson used a King Air as his personal Air Force One for local transportation while in Texas.
The U.S. military has used King Air 90s in various roles, primarily VIP and liaison transport, with designations including the VC-6A, the T-44 Pegasus, and the U-21 Ute. The U-21 Ute used by the US Army was the most common version. Most U-21s were unpressurized Model 87 derivatives, but there were also five U-21Fs based on the A100 King Air; and three U-21Js, which Beechcraft designated Model A100-1, but were actually the first three production Model 200 Super King Airs The majority of the U-21 series were retired in the second half of the 1990s. Since then some have been modified as ag-spray aircraft.
During the administration of President Lyndon Johnson, the United States Air Force acquired a Model B90 King Air “off-the-shelf”. The Air Force labeled it VC-6A, the aircraft, serial number 66-7943, was used to transport President Johnson between Bergstrom Air Force Base (near Austin, Texas) and the Johnson family ranch near Johnson City, Texas. When Johnson was aboard, the aircraft used the call sign Air Force One. This aircraft is now on display, with other presidential aircraft, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio.
Beechcraft is still carrying on the tradition of a prime military aircraft supplier with their new T-6 A, Texan II. For many decades the Beechcraft T-34, both recip and turbine versions taught our pilots the art of military flying..