140:, originally designed for 14 (three abreast seating with six additional seats mounted on the side) and eventually converted to take 20 passengers. The side "couch seats" were also able to be folded away so that cargo could be carried internally in the cabin. Individual storage space was provided for each passenger seat on the fuselage side above the seat. In order to accommodate a larger cargo load, a cargo hatch was located near the pilot's compartment.
29:
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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
123:
and a large number of designs left the drawing board only to ultimately fail. The Model 34 was one of these failures, partly because of its unusual design, and partly because of the thousands of ex-military transport aircraft that were available at the time for a fraction of the price of a new
175:
Another, but more conventional, design aspect was that the belly was made strong enough to sustain minimal damage in the event of a "wheels-up" landing, with built-in integral landing keels or "skids." The wing measured 70 ft (21 m) from tip to tip and the fuselage was 53 ft
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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
200:
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.
176:(16 m) long. With the top of the V-tail almost 18 ft (5.5 m) above the ground and a design maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 20,000 lbs, the Model 34 is to date the largest and heaviest Beechcraft civil design, with only the smaller
188:
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!"
143:
The unusual aspects of the design were the butterfly or V-tail and engine layout that led to its popular nickname, "Twin Quad." The four engines were buried in the wings, with each pair of engines connected to a single propeller via
168:. The tail was unusual because unlike the vertical and two horizontal surfaces found on most aircraft, the Twin-Quad's was a two-surface V-tail similar to the tail fitted to Beechcraft's other new product at the time, the
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160:(GSO denoting "Geared Supercharged and Opposed", with each engine featuring a built-in reduction gear box in addition to the common propeller gear box). The engines were rated at 400
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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
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Despite its promise, since the "Twin Quad" had attracted no orders, Beech terminated the project, closing down the production line in
January 1949.
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Beechcraft - Pursuit of
Perfection, A History of Beechcraft Airplanes
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is smaller in all dimensions and also has a significantly lower MTOW.
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and the pilot and two flight observers were injured in the crash.
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article on the coupled engine installation on the Model 34
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Abandoned civil aircraft projects of the United States
540:(Part Work 1982–1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1985.
437:"List of Beechcraft Models with basic specifications."
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469:"Wings Over Kansas List of Aviation Anniversaries."
320:
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
115:. At this time many aircraft manufacturers in the
283:flat-eight piston engine , 375 hp (280 kW) each
1459:Hawker 750 / 800 / 800XP / 850XP / 900XP series
504:
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409:. Bonnier Corporation. March 1945. p. 24
304:1,450 mi (2,335 km, 1,260 nmi)
8:
572:. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1991,
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543:Neal, Ronald D. "Pioneer Without a Cause."
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89:1 (two prototypes in production scrapped)
298:230 mph (370 km/h, 200 kn)
557:. Eagan, Minnesota: Flying Books, 1992.
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132:The design was a four-engine high-wing
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16:Prototype American Passenger Aircraft
7:
537:Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft
519:Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft
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261:70 ft 0 in (21.34 m)
255:53 ft 0 in (16.15 m)
267:17 ft 0 in (5.18 m)
180:military aircraft outweighing it.
14:
27:
97:Beechcraft Model 34 "Twin-Quad"
442:. Retrieved: November 9, 2007.
273:19,500 lb (8,845 kg)
1:
1510:Four-engined tractor aircraft
1500:1940s United States airliners
592:"Beech Twin-Quad Power Plant"
310:23,000 ft (7,010 m)
218:and Beechcraft's own smaller
1525:Four-engined piston aircraft
1520:Aircraft first flown in 1947
547:, Vol. 6, no. 4, April 1970.
478:Retrieved: November 9, 2007.
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570:Airlife's General Aviation
156:eight-cylinder air-cooled
229:Specifications (Model 34)
79:prototype only, scrapped
26:
21:
240:General characteristics
203:Civil Aeronautics Board
338:List of civil aircraft
214:, the similarly sized
138:tricycle undercarriage
128:Design and development
119:anticipated a boom in
107:in the period between
103:designed and built by
427:Neal 1970, pp. 16–17.
378:Neal 1970, pp. 14–15.
22:Model 34 "Twin-Quad"
487:Simpson 1991, p. 42.
154:horizontally opposed
1490:Beechcraft aircraft
1147:Musketeer (2 - CAF)
551:Phillips, Edward H.
457:Beechcraft Starship
220:Beechcraft Model 18
184:Operational history
152:. The engines were
1515:High-wing aircraft
474:2007-10-16 at the
326:de Havilland Heron
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637:Hawker Beechcraft
508:Neal 1970, p. 64.
496:Neal 1970, p. 17.
440:www.aerofiles.com
394:Neal 1970. p. 15.
158:Lycoming GSO-580s
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332:Related lists
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271:Gross weight:
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249:20 passengers
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216:C-60 Lodestar
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178:XA-38 Grizzly
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148:and a common
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1454:Hawker 400XP
1263:designations
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1232:Twin Bonanza
1127:King Air (2)
1122:King Air (1)
1047:Airliner (3)
1042:Airliner (2)
1037:Airliner (1)
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545:Air Classics
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109:World War II
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85:Number built
1469:Hawker 4000
1464:Hawker 1000
1192:Staggerwing
289:Performance
277:Powerplant:
1484:Categories
1449:Hawker 200
1227:Twin Beech
1217:Travel Air
1112:Jet Mentor
633:Beechcraft
344:References
162:horsepower
124:aircraft.
113:Korean War
105:Beechcraft
54:Beechcraft
1237:Twin-Quad
1202:Sundowner
1167:Queen Air
1162:Premier I
1152:Navigator
1132:Lightning
1092:Expeditor
413:15 August
259:Wingspan:
247:Capacity:
234:Data from
164:at 3,300
134:monoplane
1261:Military
1222:Traveler
1212:Texan II
1197:Starship
1177:Seminole
1072:Debonair
1057:Beechjet
639:aircraft
472:Archived
315:See also
150:gear box
146:clutches
111:and the
101:airliner
68:Retired
41:airliner
1431:MQM-107
1426:MQM-61A
1252:Wichita
1247:Voyager
1187:Skipper
1157:Pegasus
1107:Jayhawk
1097:Grizzly
1082:Duchess
1067:Cochise
1062:Bonanza
647:Numbers
594:a 1949
265:Height:
253:Length:
76:Status
1440:Hawker
1421:AQM-37
1409:Drones
1400:CT-156
1395:CT-145
1390:CT-134
1385:CT-128
1182:Sierra
1137:Mentor
1117:Kansan
1077:Denali
834:A100-1
596:Flight
576:
561:
302:Range:
39:Civil
1416:QU-22
1340:XT-36
1320:RC-12
1285:AT-11
1280:AT-10
1270:XA-38
1102:Huron
1052:Baron
1030:Names
645:Model
349:Notes
136:with
71:1949
36:Role
1360:U-21
1350:T-44
1345:T-42
1335:T-34
1315:L-23
1305:C-12
1295:C-45
1290:C-43
1275:AT-7
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