Just after World War II, Beech Aircraft briefly considered entering the auto industry with a radically engineered vehicle called the Beechcraft Plainsman.
When World War II ended for the United States on September 2, 1945, there was celebration at the Beech Aircraft Co. of Wichita, Kansas—and uncertainty. With military production sure to be winding down the company began searching for alternative markets, and auto manufacturing seemed like a natural. Development began almost right away on a prototype car that became known as the Beechcraft Plainsman.
The unusual exterior styling was the work of Swiss-American designer Walter O. Wyss, formerly of Ford and General Motors. A freakishly tall roofline and cutaway door tops eased entry and exit for the six passengers, while a giant two-piece windshield maximized forward vision. Clearly, the Plainsman was designed with function before fashion in mind. Meanwhile, under the skin the Beech prototype’s drivetrain was equally out of the ordinary, using technology from two prototype trucks the company developed for the U.S. military during the war. Today we would call it a series hybrid.
A four-cylinder opposed Franklin aircraft engine was mounted just behind the rear axle, but there was no transmission or differential. Instead, the 100-hp engine drove a DC generator that supplied current to four electric traction motors, one for each wheel. The generator also supported dynamic braking, but there was no regeneration as there was no battery pack to store the energy. Performance claims were ambitious, shall we say: 160 mph top speed; 25-30 mpg fuel economy.
The cabin was aircraft-like in its minimalism, with a basic set of instruments and controls. (According to Beech, the loop antenna on the roof was for a radiotelephone.) The Plainsman was engineered throughout for light weight, with an aluminum skin and barrel-style bulkheads much like Beech’s airborne products—note the thin door cross-section. Stated curb weight was a mere 2,200 lbs, impressive for a full-sized, six-passenger sedan.
Of course, all these stated figures are hypotherical, as the lone Plainsman prototype was a mockup. Reportedly, work never proceeded beyond the two military vehicles and the studio model shown here. Beech hoped to market the Plainsman at around $5,000, on the high end of the Cadillac range. But when the vehicle was costed out, the company discovered it would need to sell for twice that and the product stalled out. Fortunately for Beech and its workers, the Cold War was soon heating up and the military orders starting rolling back in. Beechcraft remained in the aircraft business, where it continues today as a division of Textron Aviation.
Fortunate for car buyers too.
Beechcraft was very rich from construction of tens of thousands of military twin-engine Model 18. It used it’s money postwar to explore innovative products like the Plainsman and the V-tailed single-engine Bonanza, a stretched model of which is still being built today.
Perhaps even more out-there than the Plainsman was the four-engine Model 34 airliner, which was built and flown. This airplane, which seated around 25, was designed for service to second tier cities, a commuter plane before that term was coined.
The 34 had a high wing, V-tail, and two horizontally opposed six-cylinder engines buried in each wing facing a central transmission that turned a propeller shaft that exited out the leading edge.
The wing and propellers we’re so high vis a vis the fuselage belly that a wheels up landing resulted in almost no damage.
The federal government, contrary to earlier claims, sold (for pennies on the dollar) tens of thousands of war surplus DC-3s and destroyed any market for a new small airliner for almost a decade.
Beechcraft later made components for the Apollo space program and, in the late ’70s, experimented with a hydrogen powered car with an enormous cryo tank in the trunk (using that left over space technology). Had a chance to drive one of the testbeds at its Salina, Kansas research facility. Drove just like any other car, save for the potential tailgater-ignited hydrogen bomb in the back.
I attended the 1970 Packard Club national meet held in Wichita, Kansas, and it included a visit to the Beech Aircraft facility. I remember seein a small display about the Plainsman automobile, and if my memory is still good, the car has 4-wheel independent suspension. Springing was accomplished using aircraft type shocks fitted with compressed air that could be pressure-regulated by the driver to change ride dynamics. I suspect the gas/electric drivetrain and the suspension system turned out to be far more expensive to build, hence the very high final estimated production cost.
It’s easy to see the Plainsman was designed by an aircraft company on seeing the photo of the open door. As someone who has flown single engine private aircraft, I know it’s very important to be aware of other vehicles overhead, hence the need for those curving upper side windows and high windshield on an airplane. But on a ground-based vehicle, not so much, except for the ability to see overhead traffic lights. Even that problem was solved by buying a Fulton Traffic Light Viewer to mount on the dashtop, available from J C Whitney for 79 cents.
Compared to the windshield A posts, the B posts are incredibly wide, but then again, this is a creation of aircraft designers who consider foward visibility far more important that rearward visibility!
In looking at the interior photo, I see only a single pedal, likely for braking, and I don’t think the “go” pedal is hidden by the seat squab. I wonder how acceleration is accomplished.
I note the large hot air exhaust openings in the rear bumper, very similar to almost identical versions on my Czech-built Tatra T-603, which also had a rear mounted air-cooled motor, albeit a V8.
From Tucker to Kaiser-Frazer, all of the newcomer postwar car companies relied on the initial post-war need for vehicles, but once that need calmed down, they ended up in the dustbin of history. Beech could have been just another company to go “belly-up” had it gone into serious automobile production.
However one thing helped keep them focused on aircraft: In 1947 the US government, realizing there were multiple military & political problems erupting all over the world, ended up giving Beech over $22 million in aircraft contracts, and Beech wisely focused on what they did best; Airplanes.
On a side note: One of my favorite Packard Motor Car Co ads is a circa 1949 magazine ad showing a well-dressed lady standing next to her [top of the line] Packard Custom Eight sedan. The lady’s name was Olive-Ann Beech, co-founder of the company, and who, due to her husband Walter’s ill health, was running the company by then.
Not surprising that Olive Ann owned a Packard. Under her rein Beech was a very conservative company. In the 1970s, Learjet was struggling financially and was offered for sale to Beechcraft. Olive Ann turned the deal down because she thought Bill Lear was too flamboyant. Bill was a Cadillac guy.