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By: - 8th November 2012 at 18:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I saw that in Aviation Week.
Good news, it seems that they're getting back to their core products.
I'm looking forward to new single turboprop (a PC-12 competitor...something they should have done yeas ago..considering the PC-12 is bascally a single-engine King Air 200) and re-engined Bonanza & Baron.
But I'll miss the DH 125-heritage jets and their newer Premium now called the Hawker 200.
Coincidentally, I now reading a biography of Walter and Olive Ann Beech...so the fact that there is going to be a "new" Beechcraft came as a welcome surprise.
But I'm very sorry for the workers who will lose their jobs...after the election I'm wondering aboutthe direction of the country, specifically whether the President's attacks on bizjets will continue and whether corporations will continue to be villified by some.
By: - 8th November 2012 at 20:45 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
By my own count, this would be the third time that Beechcraft has left the jet market. The company distributed the Morane-Saulnier Paris for a while in the fifties and then dropped it. Beechcraft later distributed the HS-125 for a time in the early seventies and then dropped it as well.
Some years later, a Beechcraft executive was quoted as saying something like "Why build a me-too jet?" A few years after that, the company bought the Diamond Jet program from Mitsubishi and went into jets big time.
Meanwhile, this item reports that there are some termites in the Beech:
By: - 8th November 2012 at 21:28 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Really surprised to hear they are going to leave the entire jet market. Their Hawker 4000 is barely 10 years old?
By: - 9th November 2012 at 06:53 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Beechcraft later distributed the HS-125 for a time in the early seventies and then dropped it as well.
Trivia point: It was branded...for a short time at least...the BH-125...for Beechcraft Hawker.
As you note it was in the early 70s, perhaps when the the 600 was introduced.
However, it was introduced into North America in 1964.
Meanwhile, this item reports that there are some termites in the Beech:
Should we really be surprised?
The suits making those decisions are investment bankers, not "Beechcrafters" (as the firm used to call its workers). They don't give a darm about the firm's hertiage and reputation. Next year, they'll be running a sock company ...
They're trying to sell the jet line, so perhaps some will live on. But overall, there are a lot of firms out there chasing the bizjet market. I'll applaude someone who knows when to get out of a crowded market. More firms have gone bust trying to be a "big league player" than remaining in its established niche.
I hope the firm survives to build more King Airs, Barons (though at $1 million each, I can't imagine who would buy a new one) and Bonanzas.
By: - 11th November 2012 at 04:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Trivia point: It was branded...for a short time at least...the BH-125...for Beechcraft Hawker.
You're right! Here are some of them:
http://www.airport-data.com/manuf/Beechcraft-hawker_Corp..html
However, it was introduced into North America in 1964.
Where it was sold for a while as the DH-125, the de Havilland name and initials being better known. The earlier Dove had sold pretty well here in the fifties.
By: - 13th November 2012 at 18:33 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Raytheon said the name "Hawker" was better known and I understand in the bizjet word, 125 variants/successors are indeed called Hawkers.
I would have thought that De Havilland was better known...since the Hunter and Hurricane aren't that well known here by the general public.
A few feet away from me in my den is a small gift tin given away by British Aerospace at some event here in the States (probably a NBAA convention or trade show).
The sides show the various series and provide the ranges of them: 1280 sm for the Series 1 powered by Vipers to 4055 sm for the 1000 powered by P & W turbofans.
Being produced in 1992, the tin ends with the 800/1000 series marketed by British Aerospace. By that time 825 jets had been sold.
I can't think of an airplane that has been sold under more names by more people.
Posts: 459
By: Flying-A - 8th November 2012 at 17:33
Goodbye, jets:
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2012/121018hawker-beechcraft-china-deal-collapses.html
So farewell, Little Rock:
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/88547/hawker-beechcraft-to-close-little-rock-facility-reduce-arkansas-workforce?page=all