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Bee Aviation Associates, Inc. (Beecraft) built three prototype aircraft designed by William F. "Bill" Chana at Montgomery Field in San Diego, California. None of the aircraft went into production.
The first aircraft built was the Wee Bee in 1948. The Wee Bee is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's lightest aircraft, weighing 210 pounds (95 kg) when empty. It had a two-cylinder engine and tricycle landing gear. The pilot flew in a prone position, lying atop the fuselage. The Honey Bee was the second plane, completed in 1952. It had a single seat in an enclosed cabin. The Queen Bee was the last and the largest of the three. It was completed in 1960 and seated four. The Queen Bee and the Honey Bee had V-tails. [1]
The Queen Bee and the Wee Bee were destroyed in a fire that destroyed the San Diego Aerospace Museum on February 22, 1978. The Honey Bee escaped the fire as it operated out of Montgomery Field at the time, owned by Walt Mooney. In 2004, the Experimental Aircraft Association donated the Honey Bee to the San Diego Air & Space Museum, which is currently (As of 2007 [update] ) awaiting restoration at their Gillespie Field annex. According to Aerofiles, two Honey Bees were built based on advertised plans. Because of its historic significance, a second Wee Bee was constructed and is now on display at the new San Diego Air & Space Museum.
The Curtiss JN "Jenny" is a series of biplanes built by the Glenn Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the US Army, the "Jenny" continued after World War I as a civilian aircraft, becoming the "backbone of American postwar [civil] aviation".
Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 was a scheduled flight on September 25, 1978, by Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), from Sacramento to San Diego (SAN), with a stopover at Los Angeles (LAX). The aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 727-214, collided mid-air with a private Cessna 172 over San Diego, California. It was Pacific Southwest Airlines' first fatal accident, and it remains the deadliest air disaster in California history. At the time, it was the deadliest air crash to occur in the United States, and remained so until the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 in May 1979.
The ERCO Ercoupe is an American low-wing monoplane aircraft that was first flown in 1937. It was originally manufactured by the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) shortly before World War II; several other manufacturers continued its production after the war. The final model, the Mooney M-10, first flew in 1968 and the last model year was 1970. It was designed to be the safest fixed-wing aircraft that aerospace engineering could provide at the time, and the type continues to enjoy a faithful following.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, six miles (9.7 km) northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world, with more than 360 aircraft and missiles on display. The museum is a central component of the National Aviation Heritage Area. The museum draws about a million visitors each year, making it one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in Ohio.
The Pitts Special is a series of light aerobatic biplanes designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts biplanes dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remain potent competition aircraft in the lower categories.
The Grumman F3F is a biplane fighter aircraft produced by the Grumman aircraft for the United States Navy during the mid-1930s. Designed as an improvement on the F2F, it entered service in 1936 as the last biplane to be delivered to any American military air arm. It was retired from front line squadrons at the end of 1941 before it could serve in World War II, and replaced by the Brewster F2A Buffalo. The F3F, which inherited the Leroy Grumman-designed retractable main landing gear configuration first used on the Grumman FF, served as the basis for a biplane design ultimately developed into the much more successful F4F Wildcat that succeeded the subpar Buffalo.
Tubal Claude Ryan was an American aviator born in Parsons, Kansas. Ryan was best known for founding several airlines and aviation factories.
The San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California. It is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, which is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. The museum was established by articles of incorporation on October 12, 1961, and opened to the public on February 15, 1963.
Gillespie Field is a county-owned public airport in El Cajon, California. It is located 11.5 miles northwest of downtown San Diego.
The Curtiss Model E is an early aircraft developed by Glenn Curtiss in the United States in 1911.
Robert Campbell Reeve was an American pilot, who was the founder of Reeve Aleutian Airways. He was the Republican nominee for the 1952 House election against incumbent Bob Bartlett.
The Ryan M-1 was a mail plane produced in the United States in the 1920s, the first original design built by Ryan. It was a conventional gear parasol-wing monoplane with two open cockpits in tandem and fixed, tailskid undercarriage.
The Ryan Brougham was a small single-engine airliner produced in the United States in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Its design was reminiscent of the M-1 mailplane first produced by Ryan in 1926, and like it, was a high-wing, strut-braced monoplane of conventional design.
The Mutual Blackbird was a late 1920s two-seat open cockpit sporting biplane.
The Beecraft Queen Bee was an American V-tailed four-seat cabin monoplane, designed and built by Bee Aviation Associates (Beecraft).
The Beecraft Wee Bee was an American ultralight monoplane designed and built by Beecraft. It was described as the world's smallest plane. Later the Starr Bumble Bee II would claim that title.
George Henry Prudden, Jr. was an American aircraft engineer. He was instrumental in designing the first all metal aircraft in America. He was president of the Early Birds of Aviation in 1961.
The Beecraft Honey Bee was an all-metal V-tailed homebuilt aircraft, that was designed by Walter E. Mooney and first flown on 12 July 1952.
The Williams-Cangie WC-1 Sundancer is an American homebuilt biplane racing aircraft that was designed by Art Williams and Carl Cangie and built by Ralph Thenhaus in 1974. Plans were at one time available from Williams' company, the Williams Aircraft Design Company of Northridge, California. Only one was built.
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