Bee Queen Bee

Bee Queen Bee

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Founded after WW II as Beecraft Associates, Inc. at Montgomery Field, by two Convair employees, William F. Chana and Kenneth S. Coward, the company was renamed Bee Aviation Associates, Inc. in the fifties. Beecraft/Bee designed, developed and constructed prototypes of light aircraft, offering the designs for license manufacture. A total of three designs were produced, none went into production.

The third design, the four-seat Queen Bee, was principally of metal construction, with glass-fibre used for the wing-tip tanks, engine cowling, V-tail tips, sliding canopy, tail cone, and instrument panel. Powered by an 180 hp Lycoming O-320-AIA four-cylinder horizontal-opposed air-cooled engine, it was flown for the first time in 1960. The aircraft was preserved at the San Diego Aerospace Museum, but was destroyed by fire on February 22, 1978.


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Founded after WW II as Beecraft Associates, Inc. at Montgomery Field, by two Convair employees, William F. Chana and Kenneth S. Coward, the company was renamed Bee Aviation Associates, Inc. in the fifties. Beecraft/Bee designed, developed and constructed prototypes of light aircraft, offering the designs for license manufacture. A total of three designs were produced, none went into production. The third design, the four-seat Queen Bee, was principally of metal construction, with glass-fibre used for the wing-tip tanks, engine cowling, V-tail tips, sliding canopy, tail cone, and instrument panel. Powered by an 180 hp Lycoming O-320-AIA four-cylinder horizontal-opposed air-cooled engine, it was flown for the first time in 1960. The aircraft was preserved at the San Diego Aerospace Museum, but was destroyed by fire on February 22, 1978.