Beech Lightning (Turboprop Baron)

When Beechcraft was looking to add a new upscale model, someone in Wichita came up with a bolt of inspiration to build a single-engine turboprop in the early 1980s. They decided it might make sense to convert a pressurized B-58 Baron to turboprop power. When you think about it, the market was ripe for the idea, and it would be almost a decade before the Pilatus PC-12 and the TBM (then) 700 debuted the idea. Beech got there first, though it abandoned the idea because the Lightning didn't fit the brand's lineage. Specifically, Beech engineers opted for a Garrett engine instead of a Pratt & Whitney PT-6, which was used on the company's King Airs, and there was little love for Garrett engines despite their light weight.