Bay Super V

Beginning in the late 1950s the United States aircraft company Bay Aviation (formerly Oakland Airmotive) produced nine twin-engine conversions of the Beechcraft Bonanza called the Super "V" Bonanza. After production was shifted to Canada in 1962, five more aircraft were built for a total production run of fourteen. The basis of the conversion was the early Model 35 Bonanza with the original small V-tail surfaces. The Super-V competed with Beechcraft's own Travel Air twin-engine Bonanza derivative.

History

Development

The Super-V is an extensive conversion of the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza. Serial number records indicate the aircraft chosen for conversion range in production dates from 1947 to 1950.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The original conversion was developed by David Peterson as the "Skyline Super-V" in 1955–56, assisted by W.D. Johnson, and the rights to the conversion were acquired by Oakland Airmotive on July 2, 1958. Oakland Airmotive became Bay Aviation Services on July 8, 1960.<ref name=BayVSouthland>Template:Cite court</ref> The wing spar was strengthened considerably in the process.<ref name=SVFlying>Template:Cite journal</ref> The airframe is so different from the original Bonanza that, rather than supplementing the original type certificate, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a completely new certificate for the Super-V.<ref name=4A29>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Oakland Airmotive "Super-V" - Rear View (11616675086).jpg

Rear view of the Super V used in a 1960 global circumnavigation by Chuck Banfe.

Oakland Airmotive intended to produce converted planes starting in 1960, but never progressed beyond manufacturing and installing Super-V conversion kits on customer-supplied Bonanzas.<ref name=BayVSouthland /> Ed Gough was the President.<ref name=SVFlying /> FAA type certification was granted in June 1960.<ref name=BayVSouthland /><ref name=4A29 /> Production drawings, bills of material, and other documentation was prepared and there were several conversions in the pipeline. Flying magazine published a story on the Super V in October 1960<ref name=SVFlying /> and the marketing efforts were reaching a peak, with a Super-V (Registration N617B) completing a successful circumnavigation of the globe.<ref name="8andahalf">Template:Cite journal</ref>

File:Oakland Airmotive "Super-V" Twin Bonanza N617B (11541157485).jpg

This Super-V was flown by Chuck Banfe around the world in 1960.

The cost of a standard conversion was priced in 1960 at Template:US$, not including the cost of the donor aircraft.<ref name=SVFlying />

The Super-V was initially certificated with the carburetor-equipped Lycoming O-360-A1A engines.<ref name=4A29 /> Although the engines were intended to be fuel-injected, as on David Peterson's developmental prototype, the engines on the prototype did not meet FAA approval.<ref name="BayVSouthland" /> As a preliminary first step towards true fuel injection, the O-360-A1C engine was adopted in August 1960, which eliminated the possibility of carburetor icing.<ref name="BayVSouthland" /> The type certificate was later revised to include the A1C engine variant, and flight testing with O-360-A1C engines was not completed until early 1961 at SFO.<ref name=4A29 /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The Insul-8 Corporation of San Carlos, California, organized a new aviation division that provided all parts (except engines) for the conversion to the Super-V Aircraft Corporation of San Francisco International Airport. Super-V conversion centers operated under franchise from the Super-V Aircraft Corporation. Tirey L. Ford, Jr., was president of both the Insul-8 Corporation and the Super-V Aircraft Corporation.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Early accidents

The sales manager, Kenneth Bellamy, was killed in a crash fifteen miles southeast of Brighton, Colorado, while demonstrating the Super V to a potential buyer, Don Vest, founder of Vest Aircraft Company on September 14, 1960. A crop-duster pilot, John Curry, was also killed in the crash. It was believed that Vest was at the controls of the Super-V at the time of the crash.<ref>Template:Cite court</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Super-V belonging to Southland Corporation, a distributor for Bay Aviation Services, crashed on August 12, 1961, near Ardmore, Oklahoma, with at least one survivor.<ref name=BayVSouthland />

Shifting production

It is likelyTemplate:According to whom the relatively high cost of the Super-V conversion and competition from the Beechcraft Travel Air, a factory-built twin-engine aircraft of comparable role and size, resulted in low demand for the Super-V. This, coupled with workmanship issues and early crashes,<ref name=BayVSouthland /> led to the rapid dissolution of Bay Aviation. Bay Aviation became Lawrence Properties in 1962.<ref name=BayVSouthland />

Production was transferred to Fleet Aircraft in 1962 with some detail improvements to fulfill existing orders.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> A separate type certificate was issued for planes manufactured by Fleet in Canada, this time with O-360-A1D engines.<ref name=A5IN>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The production rights were sold again to Mitchell Aircraft in 1963.<ref name=TwinNavion>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The current type certificate holder is KWAD Company.<ref name=4A29 /><ref name=A5IN />

Specific aircraft

File:N3124V.jpg

Pine Air Super V N3124V (SV109) at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee

The complete Super-V serial number consists of the converted Super-V serial number (in the format SV###) accompanied by the Beech donor plane serial number (D####).<ref name=4A29 /> Super-V serial numbers were assigned sequentially starting from SV101. Serial numbers as high as SV117 are known to exist; SV101 was later rebuilt into SV116, and SV110 and SV111 were skipped, hence known production is fourteen aircraft.<ref name="TwinNavion" /> Of the fourteen, nine were built by Bay Aviation (of which five have been destroyed, two still hold current registration, and two have unknown disposition) and five were built by Fleet Aircraft (of which two have been destroyed, one still holds current registration, and two have unknown disposition).

citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=ab-ix-d1k /><ref name=ab-ix-d2k>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Super-V S/N	Beech S/N	Built	Converted	Destroyed	Final Registration	Other Reg	Notes
SV101	D-1640	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	N617B		This plane model successfully circumnavigated the globe in 1960.<ref name="8andahalf" /> Subsequently, rebuilt into SV116.<ref name=TwinNavion />
SV102	D-1982	Template:Dts		Template:Dts	N8409A		Destroyed during a September 14, 1960 demonstration crash near Brighton, Colorado.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
SV103	D-1249	Template:Dts		Template:Dts	N4442V	NC4442V	Registered to Southland Aviation (a Bay Aviation distributor). It subsequently crashed on August 12, 1961, near Ardmore, Oklahoma.<ref name=BayVSouthland /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Both SV102 and SV103 were known to be lost by the time production shifted to Fleet/Canada in 1962.<ref name="TwinNavion" />
SV104	D-1731	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	N104SV	N104S	Substantially damaged in a nonfatal April 28, 1968 accident in California during a wheels-up landing due to mechanical failure of the nose gear.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Its FAA registration was cancelled in 2013.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
SV105	D-1479	Template:Dts			N549B	NC462B, N57W	Damaged in a nonfatal April 11, 1964 accident in Maryland during a wheels-up landing due to pilot error.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1965, registry number N549B was issued to airframe serial number D-1479. Prior to the destruction of the aircraft it was operated by James William Bullock, Astro Inc. (Aeronautical Sales, Training, and Research Organization). There is some confusion about this airframe since there is photographic evidence that N549B is a Bay Super V,<ref name=ab-ix-d1k>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> but the FAA registry states N549B is an unmodified single-engine Bonanza.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
SV106	D-1356	Template:Dts	Template:Dts		N4530V	NC4530V	Under private ownership.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> It sustained substantial damage during a hard landing on May 22, 1973.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> As the airworthiness certificate is dated to March 1961, N4530V is likely to be one of the later certificated types.
SV107	D-1538	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	N514B	NC514B	Destroyed in a fatal April 11, 1973 crash in Texas; after one engine failed, the pilot lost control while trying to avoid power lines.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> This aircraft was part of a three-way lawsuit between the plane's owner, Bay Aviation, and Bay's local distributor in 1962.<ref name=BayVSouthland />
SV108	D-2250	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	N430MD	N8723A	Destroyed in a fatal November 16, 1971 crash in New Hampshire, when both engines failed upon fuel starvation. The crash was attributed to pilot error (not multi-engine rated, fuel mismanagement).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> The last registered owner was Don Yenko of Yenko Chevrolet fame.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
SV109	D-549	Template:Dts	Template:Dts		N3124V	NC3124V	Owned by the Beechcraft Heritage Museum.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Harold Bost purchased N3124V from the Oregon Aviation Museum, in Cottage Grove, Oregon, and donated it to Bonanza Baron Museum in October, 2004. The FAA Registry lists it as manufactured by Pine Air, with an airworthiness certificate dated to 1970, well after the closure of Bay Aviation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> In photographs its airframe appears identical, except for larger tail control surfaces, to that of SV113 (N551B). The larger tail of SV109 may be because the aircraft was damaged in a hard landing on August 27, 1964<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> and rebuilt by George Felt of Felt's Flying Services with parts from a 1958 J-35 Bonanza.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
SV110	N/A						Number not used.<ref name="TwinNavion" />
SV111	N/A						Number not used.<ref name="TwinNavion" />
SV112	D-1243	Template:Dts		Template:Dts	N2115K	NC4438V, N4438V, N177M, N249C, N68JS	Destroyed in a fatal February 19, 1976 crash in Mississippi precipitated by a stall during evasive maneuvers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="TwinNavion" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
SV113	D-1569	Template:Dts	Template:Dts		N551B	NC551B	It was profiled in EAA Sport Aviation<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and may be the last Super-V to be converted in California, as this serial number is specifically excluded from the Fleet type certificate.<ref name=A5IN /> N551B is currently owned by the Warbirds of the World Flying Museum in New Mexico.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
SV114	D-1388	Template:Dts	Template:Dts		N4559V	NC4559V	Presumed not airworthy in 1976,<ref name=ab-ix-d1k /> deregistered in 2013. Airframe sold in 2018 for restoration.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
SV115	D-422	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	N772MD	NC3018V, N1T, N9935R, N147V	Sustained substantial damage in a nonfatal February 26, 1964 crash in Maryland, caused by deflation of the nosewheel strut.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was subsequently damaged in a nonfatal March 29, 1975 collision with fenceposts<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> and later that year destroyed in a fatal May 30, 1975 crash in Omak, Washington.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Both incidents were attributed to fuel starvation leading to engine flameout.
SV116	D-1640	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	N174SV	N617B	Rebuilt from SV101;<ref name="TwinNavion" /> it was destroyed in a fatal July 5, 1966 crash in Pennsylvania, precipitated by a stall.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
SV117	D-1474	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts?	N457B	NC457B	Deregistered in 1981 and presumed scrapped.<ref name="TwinNavion" /><ref name=ab-ix-d2k /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>