I realise that a nose wheel retractable gear Debonair is counterintuitive, but they do appear good value if your mission excludes rocks and river banks.

In favour: good propeller clearance, 1200 lbs useful load, mogas, and using short take off technique quite respectable short take off. Goes without saying also 150 KTAS and good build quality.

Against relatively puny standard fuel of 44 USG (although Osborne tip tanks boost this to 84 USG). Also the complexity of an RG. Baron tyres might assist on the MLG.

At 1800 lbs empty very similar to an early 180/182 and they seem to cost much less. Flown light the slow speed handling might not be as good as the Cessna, but not far off.

I owned a Debonair for 6 years and operated off my 2000ft. grass strip. IO-470K. For a long trip I would take off light with half fuel and stop at the nearest airport to top off, then continue on. Great soft field airplane, very tough landing gear and respectable short field performance. Nothing feels as solid and well built as a Beechcraft. I sold it when I fell in love with taildraggers but still miss it and would probably buy another someday. Maybe I was lucky but my annual inspections were reasonable and other than the magnesium elevators eventually getting corrosion nothing major bit me.

@ZOOMX5 thank you for the feedback. I hadn’t realised they also had magnesium flying controls, is it also the case for the ailerons? I know this is a headache for the V-tail, but is it a complicated problem for the Debonair with no OEM parts available? Might explain why they seem good value.

The ailerons and rudder were aluminum, only the elevators were magnesium. I had filiform corrosion. I had them treated and repainted which you can do a few times before they get too thin and need to be replaced. You can buy reskinned aluminum elevators for around $3k per side. I took this off the price of the plane when I sold it. It is an easy job to remove the elevators and there are plenty of parts available, I just didn't need to do it by the time I sold the plane.

I ha e flown early model bonanzas off of grass and dirt for over 25 years. In my opinion they are nearly unbeatable for the useful load, speed, low speed handling, and stability. We also operated a K35 with an IO-520 that would takeoff in 700’ with 2 people and full fuel off grass and cruise at 175kts. I have had full fuel and 4 pax out of a sloping 2300’ grass strip in 105 degree temps in the same airplane. Tough to argue with the performance of those airframes

I have the 550 in my S35. I also have a 58 182A. Bonanza outperforms the 182 in all aspects except the 182 gets off the ground in about 10-15% less runway with the same load. Same load means my Bo is about 180 pounds heavier than my 182. The Bo is so much nicer to fly. I am at 2000 pounds empty so 1400 useful vs 825 useful on the 182. Landing at Schafer.

Great pireps, some folk put Baron tyres on the MLG is that helpful on gravel or turf?

I love Beechcraft products, a Deb or early Bonanza could replace my 180 some day.....

AKA-

Your 180 is irreplaceable in my opinion. Keep it and add to your fleet

L18C-95 wrote:Great pireps, some folk put Baron tyres on the MLG is that helpful on gravel or turf?

No such thing as Baron tires, the wheel wells are all the same size. Some of the early Debs used 6.00x6 tires. The standard Bonanza tire is 7.00x6. An optional tire/wheel is the 6.50x8. These are slightly larger but also heavier.

185Midwest wrote:AKA-

Your 180 is irreplaceable in my opinion. Keep it and add to your fleet

Right on man.

akaviator wrote:I love Beechcraft products, a Deb or early Bonanza could replace my 180 some day.....

Can the Beech fit long guns and archery gear?

DJ Balla wrote:Can the Beech fit long guns and archery gear?

I carried 8 foot 2x6's in mine this past summer to take up to Meadow Creek.




And a couple hundred pounds of fire pits for Schafer.

Well that settles that!!! Impressive.

Bonanza Man wrote:

DJ Balla wrote:Can the Beech fit long guns and archery gear?

I carried 8 foot 2x6's in mine this past summer to take up to Meadow Creek.

05-29-01.jpg

And a couple hundred pounds of fire pits for Schafer.

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My beechcraft's prop is higher off the ground then my 182 was, wouldn't take it in some places I had the 182, but gravel bars, roads and lakes/rivers in the winter were just fine. I take my 170 places where I wouldn't have taken the 182, there's always a better tool for the job out there.

Beech on the lake

Bonanza, Baron and Deb’s are awesome airplanes! Back in the 60’s my dad ran his all over Alaska landing on many gravel bars. The airplane is a lot more capable than most give it credit for. I would love to have one.

Kurt