The months of May and June have been very exciting months for all of us at Bede Aircraft. We have been able to accomplish a great deal within the company and its related projects. A number of the programs that we have been working on for quite a few years were completed or are in the final stages of their activity. Our customers will know more of this in the next few months by seeing the direct results of our efforts.
We find things happen so frequently it is difficult to keep all of our customers and friends informed of our activities. We find most of our customers are very interested in what we are doing, particularly for the aircraft they have invested in. We do find, however, that many of our customers would also like to know something about our other projects.
After experimenting with various methods of keeping our customers and friends informed we now believe that a publication such as Bede News is the most effective way of relating this information. We, therefore, are attempting to bring you the most news in this one publication covering all our aircraft.
This is the need from time to time for additional information on a particular program. This information will be additionally inserted within the mailing of the Bede News.
We will make our best effort to keep you, the customer, completely informed by way of this Bede News and specific subject inserts in the future.
Bede Aircraft is very pleased to announce the appointment of a number of new people who have recently joined the company. We would like to introduce to you some of the people you will be contacting.
Mr. David Paugh, who joined Bede Aircraft in April, was elevated to the position of General Manager the first of June. Mr. Paugh's responsibility now includes all departmental operations. Mr. Paugh's experience in administration and finance is excellent and in his short time at Bede Aircraft he has been able to demonstrate his ability to effectively organize each department to allow better service to our customers. Mr. Paugh's excellent administrative experience combined with Jim Bede's engineering background has proved to be a very effective business team.
Not pictured, Al Patterson joined Bede Aircraft in June as Director of Marketing. Mr. Patterson has spent the last ten years at Boeing Company. Prior to his work with Boeing, Mr. Patterson was with Hughes Aircraft Company, Collins Radio Company and in the Middle East for RCA.
Also joining our sales force here at Bede Aircraft are Floyd Atkins and Kent Fincham. Mr. Atkins obtained his private pilot license while still in high school and has continually pursued this career over the past twenty-five years. Mr. Atkins is an active member of the EAA, having built his own homebuilt aircraft, and has worked in the aircraft field, including test pilot, sales and service for two major light aircraft manufacturers.
Mr. Fincham has worked in the aviation field in sales, contracts, administration and delivery for major aircraft companies. Mr. Fincham, like Mr. Atkins, was also a Marine Corps pilot.
I know you join all of us here in welcoming these fine additions to Bede Aircraft. I am sure they will prove a definite asset to our goals of better serving our customers.
Bede Aircraft has completed a new finance program for the company which gives the company the ability to accelerate several of its program and has efficiently completed some of the original programs underway.
The exact terms and conditions cannot be announced at this time, however, all of the company's goals in trying to develop very efficient, high quality, low cost aircraft is completely unaltered. Bede Aircraft believes that in spite of some extremely rapidly increasing costs it may yet be able to offer some outstanding bargains for the aviation enthusiasts.
Bede Aircraft will hold an open house on September 4th and 5th. We are planning to make this a very interesting and enjoyable occasion. The next issue of Bede News will give more information about what you can expect at the Open House. For those of you who think you might like to attend, set your schedules now for visiting us at Bede Aircraft on the 4th and 5th of September.
Recently we at Bede Aircraft have received a variety of rumots that are totally inaccurate. This is really nothing new. Since the BD-5 program began we have heard some pretty wild stories. Generally these stories get started someplace and gradually get passed on with further confusion added. We think a lot of times the source begins with a certain bit of factual information taken out of context or the facts represent a very small portion of the true picture. From this the information gets thoroughly distorted.
Most of the time we can never locate the source of these erroneous reports. But recently we have seen information published in a little-known publication called "Aviation Consumer". The one issue we happened to see was no more than four pages long, yet a large portion of its copy was devoted to Bede Aircraft. It took a few isolated facts and went into great detail on these particular items thoroughly and completely ignoring any information relating to these facts that would give its readers and accurate presentation of the real facts.
We can't help but to believe that this was purposefully done to make the discussion about Bede Aircraft far more juicy. This publication boasts about the fact that it has no advertisers and for that reason it does not have to lie for companies that advertise with them. Hiding behind this mask of purity comes that the fact that they, too, are a business intending on making a profit. Their profit comes only from those who subscribe to the publication. In an attempt to get more subscribers they have to present information that the reader cannot get from a low cost magazine on the newsstand. They need juicy gossip to try to attract additional readers. They can easily do what so many Hollywood gossip magazines have been doing for years.
The tragedy of it all is instead of helping the consumer, they are hurting them by taking such a small part of the total facts and presenting them in a manner that furthers their cause. It is from this kind of junk, that rumors begin. One of their editors told Bede Aircraft in a telephone conversation when we asked them why such an inaccurate picture was presented, their comment was they were going to end the article with several nice remarks, but their attorneys made them take it out because it would seem like they were endorsing our product. So I guess their theme is if you can't write something dirty, don't write anything at all.
Unbelievable! For those of you who have experienced flying your own BD-4 the word unbelievable probably brings a smile. My first affair with a BD-4 started recently when I finally got a chance to fly the company 180 hp BD-4. I haven't experienced that kind of exhiliaration since my first solo in 1945 ala' PT-17. I am sure you BD-4 owners know exactly what I am talking about. If you are planning to build one, get with it! You won't regret the investment.
In the near future I plan to pursue a support program for the BD-4 builders. Among my first priorities will be sales promotion and establishing better communications with our customers. With your help and support we can tell everybody about this exciting hobby of airplane building. - Floyd Atkins
Above <not pictured here> you see the offspring of parents Carol and Don Phillips. Their new arrival weighed in at 1456 lbs, is 21 feet 5 inches long, arrived November 14, 1975 and only too five years of doting effort. As you can see from the picture and the birth announcement that accompanied this picture, our BD-4 builders are proud of their work. Congratulations!
This year we will be having a meeting for all our BD-4 builders at the EAA Convention at Oshkosh. All those interested in hearing about and participating in the exchange of ideas about this fine aircraft are invited to attend. This meeting would also be recommended for anyone interested in purchasing or building a BD-4. Please check at the Bede Aircraft Booth early in the week for more details on time and place.
<pic: First flight of Mr. & Mrs. Maurice Levensen, Middlesex, New Jersey on October 5, 1974>
We recently received thirty-six more pages of the BD-5 plans from the printer. Some of you have received these pages. Just a few days ago we received an additional 12 pages making a total of 48 pages. This will give you a great deal more construction information. We will begin mailing these plans to customers according to priority number. As you can well imagine, there is a great deal of work in organizing and packaging that many pages. It does take some time to get them all out. For BD-5 homebuilders who will be going to Oshkosh we would be more than happy to take along a set for these new plans for you to pick up at Oshkosh. If you would like to have us do this for you, send us a card advising us of your plans to pick up this material at Oshkosh.
The first set of machined drive systems will arrive at Bede Aircraft by mid-July. These units will be inspected and shipped immediately to those who have drive systems on order. The drive systems, as with all optional equipment, are shipped on a schedule according to when you ordered that option. We are not certain of the number of drive systems contained in the first shipment, because the supplier was having some difficulty with some of the materials. We do know that a continuous supply of raw materials will be coming to his factory and we will begin receiving a steady supply of machined drive systems with this shipment. We will be doing everything we can to speed this process along as best as possible.
I think it is obvious to all of our BD-5 builders that our number one choice of engine is the Xenoah. After going through so much testing and difficulty with all of the various engines we explored, we were naturally very skeptical of any new engine. When we began testing