He was born in
Pulaski, Tennessee, on January 30, 1891. Beech started flying in 1905, at age 14, when he built a glider of his own design. Then, after flying for the
United States Army during World War I, he joined the
Swallow Airplane Company as a test pilot. He later became general manager of the company. In 1924, he,
Lloyd Stearman, and
Clyde Cessna formed
Travel Air Manufacturing Company. When the company merged with
Curtiss-Wright, Beech became vice-president. In 1932, he and his wife,
Olive Ann Beech, along with
Ted Wells, K.K. Shaul, and investor C.G. Yankey, co-founded the
Beech Aircraft Company in
Wichita, Kansas. Their early Beechcraft planes won the
Bendix Trophy. During World War II, Beech Aircraft produced more than 7,400 military aircraft. The
twin Beech AT-7/C-45 trained more than 90 percent of the
U.S. Army Air Forces navigator/bombardiers. The company went on to become one of the "big three" in American
general aviation aircraft manufacturing during the 20th century (along with
Cessna and
Piper). Beech died from a heart attack on November 29, 1950. He and his wife are buried at Old Mission Mausoleum in Wichita. In 1977, Beech was posthumously inducted into the
National Aviation Hall of Fame. at the
National Museum of the United States Air Force, and 1982, he was inducted into the
International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the
San Diego Air & Space Museum. In 2023, Beech was inducted, along with his wife into the Paul E Garber First Flight Shrine in Kill Devil Hills, NC. ==References==