Beech 18

Beech's most successful airliner, more than 9000 Beech 18s were built over an uninterrupted three decade long production run, and while many of those were built against wartime military contracts, vast numbers went on to see civil service. The prototype Beech 18 first flew on January 15 1937. The design followed conventional design wisdom at the time, including twin radial engines, metal construction and taildragger undercarriage, while less common were the twin tail fins. Early production aircraft were either powered by two 225kW (300hp) Jacobs L6s or 260kW (350hp) Wright R760Es. The Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior became the definitive engine from the prewar C18S onwards. The demands of World War 2 significantly boosted the already successful Beech 18's fortunes, with 5000 built as C45s for the US Army Air Force for use as transports and multi engine pilot trainers. Postwar, large numbers of C45s entered civil service, while Beech resumed production of the C18S. Progressive development resulted in the D18S of 1946, the Continental powered D18C of 1947, the E18S of 1954, the G18S from 1959 and the H18 with optional tricycle undercarriage from 1962. Beech production ceased in 1969. The Beech 18 has also been the subject of numerous conversions. Volpar has offered tricycle undercarriage conversions, conversions with TPE331 turboprops and stretched and TPE331 powered conversions (described in the specifications above). Hamilton meanwhile converted Beech 18s as Westwinds with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprops and also offered stretches.

The backbone of this section is from the The International Directory of Civil Aircraft by Gerard Frawley and used with permission. To get your own copy of the book click here.