Beecraft Wee Bee

Beecraft Wee Bee
Role Experimental sports Ultralight aircraft
National origin United States
Manufacturer Beecraft Associates
First flight 1948
Number built 1


The Beecraft Wee Bee was an American ultralight monoplane designed and built by Beecraft Associates.[1] It was described as the world's smallest plane.[1]

Development

The Wee Bee was designed by William "Bill" Chana, Kenneth Coward, and Karl Montijo. They described it as big enough to carry a man and small enough to be carried by a man.[1]

It was an all-metal cantilever mid-wing monoplane powered by a Kiekhaefer O-45-35 flat-twin piston engine.[1] It had a conventional tail and fixed tri-cycle landing gear.[1] The unusual feature was that the aircraft lacked any internal room for a pilot who had to fly it lying prone on top of the fuselage.[1][2]

Only a prototype registration NX90840 was built and the type did not enter production. The prototype was destroyed when the San Diego Air and Space Museum burned down in 1978.[2] After the fire, a replica was built and is now on display at the new San Diego Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park.

Specifications

Data from [1]

General characteristics

Performance


References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Orbis 1985, p. 555
  2. 1 2 "American airplanes:Ba - Bll". www.aerofiles.com. 11 March 2009. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
Bibliography
  • The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing. 

External links

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