Beechcraft D-17 Staggerwing

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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. In 1932, Walter H. Beech, formerly head of the aircraft manufacturer Travel Air, left Curtiss-Wright, which had purchased Travel Air in 1929, to set up a new company, Beech Aircraft Corporation, based in Wichita, Kansas. Beech took the airplane designer Ted A. Wells from Curtiss-Wright, and the first project of the new company was the Model 17, a fast biplane with an enclosed cabin designed to meet the needs of business executives. It was based on a design drafted by Wells while at Curtiss-Wright, but rejected by Curtiss-Wright. 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 was the Waco Custom Cabin and Waco Standard Cabin series of biplanes.

The Beechcraft C-17L Staggerwing was the first aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas. It was a gamble for Beech and the chief designer of the aircraft. Produced during the Great Depression, the high priced aircraft was designed as a high-speed business airplane. The plane was successful with 781 Beech 17s produced in eight different series. The aircraft was advanced for its time, and the staggered wing arrangement contributed to the design’s classic beauty and also improved the pilot’s visibility from the aircraft.

In the mid-1930s, Beech undertook a major redesign of the aircraft, to create the Model D-17 Staggerwing. The D-17 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.

The Beech Model 17 “Stagger Wings” held their Western convention fly-in on April 20, 1974, at the Seven Bar Airport in Albuquerque New Mexico. The following D17 aircraft attended the convention: N28A, N80024, N40E, N67543, N265E, N9370H, N1174V, N5074N, N1196V, N79091, N1195V, N20753, N6923, and N241K.

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