Early Monoplanes

Monoplanes have one wing on each side of the fuselage. The principal disadvantage of this arrangement in early, wooden-framed aircraft was that single wings were weak and required strong wires to brace them to king-post above and below the fuselage. However, single wings also had advantages: they experienced less drag than multiple wings, allowing greater speed; they also made arcraft more manoeuvrable because single wings were easier to wrap than double wings, and wraping the wings was how pilots controlled the roll of early aircraft. By 1912, the French pilot Louis Bleriot had used a monoplane to make the first flight across the English Channel, and the Briton Robert Blackburn and the Frenchman Armand Deperdussin had proved the greater speed of monoplanes. However, where a spate of crashes caused by broken wings discouraged monoplane production, except in Germany, where all-metal monoplanes were developed in 1917. The wings of all-metal monoplanes didn't need strengthning by struts or bracing wires, but despite this, such a planes were not widely adopted until the 1930s.

Pioneer of flight

Flight has fascinated mankind for centuries, and countless unsuccessful flying machine have been designed. The first successful flight was made by the French Montgolfier brothers in 1783, when they flew a balloon over Paris. The next major advance was the development of gliders, notably by Englishman Sir George Gayley, who in 1845 designed the first glider to make a sustained flight, and by the German Otto Lilienthal, who became known as the world's first pilot because he managed to achieve controlled flights. However, powered flight didn't become a practical possibility until the invention of light wheel, petrol-driven internal combustion engines at the end of the 19th century. Then, in 1903, the American brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first powered flight in their Wright Flyer biplane, which used a four-cylinder, petrol-driven engine. Aircraft design advanced rapidly, and in 1990 the Frenchman Louis Bleriot made his pioneering flight across the English Channel. The American Glenn Cruitss also achieved several "firsts" in his Model-D Pusher and its variants, most notably winning the worl's first copetition for airspeed at Reims in 1909.

BEECHCRAFT

On January 15, 1937, the Beechcraft Model 18 made its first demonstration flight at the factory in Wichita, Kansas, and it continued in production for thirty-two years. This low-wing, all-metal, twin-engine monoplane was originally intended as a six-to-eight-passenger executive or feeder airline transport. As the years passed, however, the Model 18 was adapted to many uses and, in all, thirty-two different versions were produced.

When production began on the Model 18 in 1937, there was virtually no market for this airplane in the United States. At the time, air transportation in the United States was a trunk line operation, and few feeder lines existed. Acceptance of the Model 18 by foreign and charter lines was immediate, however. The Model 18A, which also operated on interchangeable ski- or float-landing gear, was an ideal adaptation for snowbound areas and for lake and inter-island service. Prairie Airlines of Alberta, Canada, for example, ordered several of these airplanes for use in delivering air mail over a route that extended from Prince Albert to North Battleford, south to Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, finally joining up with the main route of Trans Canada Airlines at Regina. Also, businessmen were favourably impressed with the performance of the Model 18 as an executive transport, with orders coming from Alaska, Canada, and Puerto Rico.