Bede Aviation
Bede was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from West Technical School in Cleveland in 1952 and attended Fenn College and the University of Wichita receiving his Aeronautical Engineer Bachelor of Science Degree in 1957. He started work as a performance engineer with North American Aviation that year, where he worked on the FJ-4 and A3J projects for the US Navy.
He stayed at North American only briefly, returning home to Cleveland in 1961 to form Bede Aviation with his father James, in order to produce a kitbuilt aircraft of his design, the Bede BD-1. At the time, as it is today, the general aviation market was priced beyond the means of the average consumer. Bede believed the way to solve this problem was to have prospective pilots build their own aircraft, as labor costs were a major part of the overall price of a delivered aircraft.
The BD-1 was a simple and fairly conventional low-wing two-seat design that used some of the latest techniques in aircraft construction that larger companies such as Cessna generally ignored. The fuselage was built primarily of aluminum honeycomb bonded together instead of riveted. This not only made the plane light, but also very strong; it was to be fully aerobatic and stressed to 9g. Performance would likewise be excellent, estimated at 135 knots (250 km/h) with a 108 hp Lycoming O-235 engine, compared to a Cessna 152 which reached about 110 knots (165 km/h) with a similar engine.
In order to make the plane more practical for the average owner, the wings could be folded and the aircraft towed behind a car, allowing it to be stored at home in a garage and towed to the airport. The kit, including a rebuilt 65 hp engine, would list for US$2,500. Versions with the more powerful O-235 were also offered, listed at $4,200.
Development dragged on and a lot of money was expended without delivering a final design. A few local Cleveland businessmen took control of the company in 1968 and renamed it American Aviation in order to produce the design in complete factory-built form as the American AA-1. A number of changes were later introduced into the design to make it more stable, notably a larger horizontal tail, and then a more forgiving airfoil on the main wing. The AA-1 and follow-on designs became fairly popular, notably the four-seat AA-5 Traveller. The company was later purchased by Grumman, becoming Grumman American.
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