Showing a general similarity to the earlier Bonanza/Debonairfamily, the prototype Beech Model 23 Musketeer was fiown for the first time on 23 October 1961. Developed as a low-cost all-metal light business aircraft, it was of cantilever low-wing monoplane configuration, its fuselage providing enclosed cabin accommodation for a pilot and three passengers, and with non-retractable tricycle landing gear. Powerplant of the first production version; of which deliveries began in autumn 1962, was a 119kW Avco Lycoming O-320-D2B flat-four engine.

Early popularity of the type resulted in a range of three Musketeers being marketed from late 1965. Identified as the Musketeer Custom, the two-seat (optional four-seat) Musketeer Sport and the Musketeer Super, they differed mainly by having 134kW, 112kW and 149kW Avco Lycoming engines respectively. Optional aerobatic kits were also available for the Musketeer Custom and Musketeer Sport when flown as two-seaters. A fourth version was introduced in late 1969: known as the Musketeer Super R, it was basically the same as the Musketeer Super but incorporated retractable tricycle landing gear.

A further change in marketing policy in 1971 was to mark the disappearance of the name Musketeer, and simultaneously production of the Musketeer Super was discontinued. The three remaining aircraft became known instead as the Sundowner C23 (formerly Custom), Sport B19 (Sport) and Sierra A24R (Super R). The designations were changed again in 1974 to indicate engine horsepower, the three types becoming respectively Sundowner 180, Sport 150 and Sierra 200. Well over 4,400 Musketeers of all types had been built when production was suspended in 1984.

In addition to ordinary civil sales, Musketeers have been delivered for civil or military training use to Algeria, the Canadian Armed Forces, Indonesia and Mexico.