iscover
sometimes mistaken visually for the Twin Bonanza, the 895 Travel Air provides an interesting and very cost effective alternative to the early generation Barons.
From The Cockpit – Beechcraft Travel Air
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The Beechcraft Travel Air
The fifties saw Beech Aircraft continue the development and refinement of personal and business aircraft from the world beater upmarket product, the Bonanza, which first flew in 1947.
Apart from a plethora of production improvements on the Model 35 Bonanza, Beech introduced the Model 33 Debonair, Model J50 Twin Bonanza, Model 65 Queen Air, Model 95 Travel Air and Model 55 Baron in this decade. Like the Bonanza, the ubiquitous Baron became the high performance piston twin. However if it wasn’t for the Travel Air the Baron wouldn’t have been, because its carcass is essentially one and the same.
The Model 95 was a twin piston engine four/five seater design that had its first flight on the 1st August 1956 under the unlikely model name of Badger. The primary design objective was speed – Beech aimed for a design cruise speed of 200mph. Whilst it met this objective, if there was ever an aeroplane that needed a name change, the Model 95 was it. The push for a name change was also boosted by NATO designating the latest Soviet strategic bomber, the Tupolev Tu-16, as Badger. Not surprisingly, by the time it entered production it was thereafter known as the Travel Air. Type Approval was obtained on the 18th June 1957.
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