Founded in 1932 by the late Walter Beech and Mrs. Olive
A. Beech, to design and manufacture lightplanes. Delivered
the 10,000th example of its Beechcraft Bonanza
Model 35 in February 1977, and the Bonanza celebrated
its 50th anniversary in 1995, with production
Model 18
continuing.
Company also supplied military aircraft, and became involved in the construction of aircraft and missile components and missile targets for the U.S. Army. Designed, developed, and manufactured the cryogenic gas storage system for NASA's Apollo and Skylab projects. Other work included provision of power reactant storage assembly for NASA's Space Shuttle orbiter. Acquired by Raytheon in 1980, but continued to be operated as an independent company until 1994.
