At the end of the 1920's, when the United States was ailing from the
Great Depression, the numerous air shows were a rare pastime for
many people who were disillusioned with their future and wanted
distraction from the gray life around them. Pilots and stuntmen who
every weekend entertained an ordinary audience, also dreamed of
another existence, one with much less risk of losing their
livelihood at any moment, and often even their life. Many former
barnstormers soon went on to find work in newly formed airlines and
numerous mail and cargo delivery services, but some of them, such as
Clyde Cessna and Walter Beech, devoted their lives to aircraft
building.
In 1924 they founded a small company, Travel Air Manufacturing,
which soon was absorbed by the aviation giant Curtiss Wright. Some
years later Walter Beech together with his wife Olive founded their
own aircraft manufacturing company, the Beech Aircraft Corporation.
One of the first successful projects of the newly formed company was
the Model 17, which acquired the name Staggerwing because of its
unconventional biplane wing arrangement - that is, with the upper
wing located to the rear of the lower one.
The new aircraft was designed by the company as a luxury high-speed
cabin plane for short-distance flights, but America was just coming
out of the Great Depression, so orders for this novel type from
Walter Beech were scarce in the early years. In the mid 1930's the
designer made a number of changes to its construction - the fuselage
was lengthened, the ailerons were moved to the upper wing, and the
track of the undercarriage extended. The modified version was
designated the D17 and quickly won the favor of pilots. Before the
Second World War the company was able to sell 424 planes of this
type and not only in the U.S. The D17 gained great fame after taking
part in the prestigious Bendix Trophy race, and in 1937 pilot Jackie
Cochran set a women's speed record of 203 miles per hour.
The Staggerwing experienced war before the U.S. joined WWII: it had
time to fight in the sky of Spain, and in the confrontation between
China and Japan. After the turning point of Pearl Harbor the U.S.
military authorities began to be more interested in types which
pre-war might have been considered as of little use for military
purposes. The Beech D17 was ideal for the role of liaison aircraft -
it was small, compact, and with good speed and an excellent cabin it
ideally met the requirements of a staff transport and aircraft of
rapid communication between military facilities. With only minor
improvements in order to comply with military specifications, it
soon arrived in the Army Air Forces as the UC-43 and in Naval
aviation as the GB-1 and GB-2. The government ordered 270 such
aircraft from Walter Beech's company, and at least another 118 were
purchased by the government from private owners for military needs.
They always had work at all major air bases and in the vast spaces
of the U.S., from Texas in the west to the District of Columbia in
the east. The Naval planes were often used far from the sea, and
were immediately noticeable at airfields among their army colleagues
because of their incongruous blue camouflage.
Before the U.S. entered WWII several Staggerwings were sent to the
UK, however not for the Air Forces of His Majesty, but in accordance
with an order from Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who at that
time was in exile in London. The purchasing committee of the R.A.F.,
which already worked in close cooperation with the U.S. Lend-Lease
program, obviously could not but pay attention to this unique
airplane, and soon the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy received
the Staggerwing, on which the British by tradition bestowed their
own name Traveller Mk.I, unusually for an American eye spelled with
a double "L". By agreement, 107 machines of this type should have
been delivered to the British, but at least 12 of them never reached
the shores of Foggy Albion, when their U.S. carrier was attacked by
a German submarine and sank. Another 95 machines were extensively
used by military staff in every territory, from the Orkney Islands
in the north to the sandy airfields of the Middle East. After the
war they had to be transferred back to the U.S. under the terms of
the Lend-Lease agreement, but some Travellers nevertheless found new
private owners in the U.K. Post-war the company of Walter Beech
returned to the production of an improved civil model, the G17S;
however, only 16 aircraft would be built. All of them immediately
found owners despite the price doubling compared with that before
the inflation of the war period. The last Staggerwing left the
factory in early 1949, becoming the 785th series machine after 17
years of production.
Remarkable accolades have been won by this aircraft: in 2003,
according to a poll in Plane & Pilot Magazine, it was judged to be
in the top ten Top Ten All-Time Favorite aircraft of the Twentieth
Century. Four years later, according to a poll of three thousand
members of the American Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the
Staggerwing was voted the Most Beautiful Airplane of all time.
This
is, I believe, the third boxing of Roden's rather nice quarter scale
Staggerwing. Previously, it had been released with military markings
options. This is the first boxing that provides the civil markings for which
many have been waiting. Not surprisingly, there is no difference in the
plastic offered with this kit and the others. But just to recap:
Instructions are quite well done with lots of well drawn detail to help in
construction. Paint references are Model Master. There are
three options. All of them are of pretty current aircraft. First is a black
one from 2001 in private hands in the US. Next is a US registered plane in
private hands in the UK from 2010. This is the box art plane and is quite
fetching. Much of the blue trim will need to be painted, though the pin
striping on this and the other options is provided as decals. Finally, an
Australian Staggerwing, also from 2010 in another coloruful scheme. The
decals are very nicely printed, but may cause some issues in application so
be sure you use very warm to hot water and put them on a glossy surface.
That seems to work the best.
