Choosing An Old Light Twin

Piper’s twin-engine airplanes ran the gamut from very light to super muscular. In the early 1950s, seeing the sales opportunity in businessman pilots wanting to step up from their Tri-Pacers, Piper was inspired by the potential in a little twin design it had picked up from its acquisition of Stinson Aircraft. Reworked with more horsepower, […]

Coming late to the twin party in 1978, the GA-7 Cougar was developed just before Grumman sold its general aviation interests to what became Gulfstream Aerospace, which actually built the Cougar. However, the GA-7 is usually referred to as a “Grumman” in keeping with the single-engine airplanes produced by the company’s previous proprietors. Built for […]

Cessna Aircraft, meanwhile, was no stranger to light twins, having built thousands of wood-and-steel T-50 utility twins mostly for the war effort, from 1939 to 1944. Visionary Cessna president Dwane Wallace no doubt knew Bill Piper’s company was developing a light twin for the business pilot, so he leapt to the fore with the radical-for-its-time […]

Notwithstanding its name, the 1950s Beech Twin Bonanza had nothing in common with a Bonanza other than the planform of its outer wing panels. Original seating was Buick-like, three across in front and back, boarded by climbing retractable stairs onto the wing and stepping down through a side door. From the cockpit, it’s easy to […]

After visionary aircraft designer Ted Smith originated the Aero Commander, he went on to create the Aerostar twin line. He envisioned Aerostar models from a single to a jet, all based on his mid-wing speedster. First appearing in 1969 as the Aerostar 600 and turbocharged 601, the airplanes went through multiple ownerships over 15 years […]

Ted Smith’s impressive Aero Commander, built in Bethany, Oklahoma, by Aero Design & Engineering and subsequently by Rockwell International, was a true executive-twin design, with a cockpit set up like an airliner’s—control columns sprouting from the floor, an aft entrance door, engines and props following behind the front office. Easy to board and a dream […]