Beechcraft Model 34 - Operational History

Operational History

The Model 34 took to the air for the first time on October 1, 1947, with Beech Chief Pilot Vern L. Carstens at the controls. The first flight was uneventful and the initial report from the test pilot was, "We have another outstanding Beechcraft!"

The prototype Model 34 had accumulated more than 200 hours of test flying when the reinforced belly was validated in a wheels-up landing. On January 17, 1949, in a severe forced landing a few miles northwest of the Beech plant shortly after taking off, the sole Beech 34 was damaged beyond repair. An inadvertent cutting off of an emergency master switch when battling an electrical fire had resulted in the shut down of all the powerplants, leading to the crash. The co-pilot was killed and the pilot and two flight observers were injured in the crash.

After the accident, Beech re-evaluated plans to go into series production with the Model 34. At the time, two new prototypes were being manufactured, one for static test and the other to continue the flight test program. One of the main considerations was that the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board was delaying the licensing of the anticipated "feeder airlines" for which the design was intended. The Beech 34 ultimately could not compete in major and regional airline operations with the thousands of less complex and cheaper war surplus transports, such as the larger Douglas DC-3/C-47 Skytrain, the similarly sized C-60 Lodestar and Beechcraft's own smaller Beechcraft Model 18.

Despite its promise, since the "Twin Quad" had attracted no orders, Beech terminated the project, closing down the production line in January 1949.