title: Beecraft Queen Bee
text: # Beecraft Queen Bee
  
  The Beecraft Queen Bee was an American V-tailed four-seat cabin monoplane, designed and built by Bee Aviation Associates (Beecraft).
  
  ## Development
  
  The Queen Bee was an all-metal cantilever low-wing monoplane powered by a Lycoming O-320-A1A flat-four piston engine. It had a V-tail and an electrically retractable tricycle landing gear. The canopy shared a similar shape as the Ryan Navion. The wings were outfitted with fiberglass tip tanks. A 180 hp Lycoming O-360-A-1-A was planned as an optional engine.
  
  Only a prototype was built and the aircraft did not enter production. The Queen Bee prototype was destroyed when the original San Diego Aerospace Museum burned down in 1978.
  
  ## Specifications
  
  Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1961–62
  
  General characteristics
  
  * Crew: 1
  * Capacity: 3 passengers
  * Length: 21 ft 10 in (6.65 m)
  * Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.75 m)
  * Height: 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m)
  * Wing area: 130 sq ft (12 $m^2)$
  * Empty weight: 1,190 lb (540 kg)
  * Max takeoff weight: 2,150 lb (975 kg)
  * Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming O-320-A1A flat-four piston engine, 180 hp (130 kW)
  * Propellers: 2-bladed Hartzell Model HC-82XG-1B
  
  Performance
  
  * Cruise speed: 155 mph (249 km/h, 135 kn)
  * Stall speed: 55 mph (89 km/h, 48 kn)
  * Never exceed speed: 193 mph (311 km/h, 168 kn)
  * Range: 650 mi (1,050 km, 560 nmi)
  * Service ceiling: 15,000 ft (4,600 m)
  * Rate of climb: 900 ft/min (4.6 m/s)
  