__NOTOC__ The Beecraft Wee Bee was an American

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

designed and built by Beecraft. It was described as the world's smallest plane. Later the

Starr Bumble Bee II The ''Starr Bumble Bee II'' is an experimental aircraft designed and built specifically to acquire the title of "The World’s Smallest Airplane". Design and development The Bumble Bee II was designed and built by Robert H. Starr in Phoenix, Ari ...

would claim that title.

Development

The Wee Bee was designed by William "Bill" Chana, Kenneth Coward, Karl Montijo and Jim Wilder, who designed the engine. They described it as ''big enough to carry a man and small enough to be carried by a man''. It was an all-metal cantilever mid-wing monoplane powered by a Kiekhaefer O-45-35 flat-twin

piston engine A reciprocating engine, more often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more Reciprocating motion, reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a Circular motion, rotating motion. This article ...

. It had a conventional

tail The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolution, evolved to los ...

and fixed

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...

. The unusual feature was that the aircraft lacked any internal room for a pilot who had to fly it lying prone atop the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

. Only a

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

registration ''NX90840'' was built, and the type did not enter production. The prototype was destroyed when the original San Diego Air and Space Museum burned down in 1978. After the fire, a replica was built and is now on display at the new

San Diego Air & Space Museum The San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California. It is located in Balboa Park (San Diego), Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building (San Diego), Ford Building, which is li ...

in Balboa Park.

Specifications

Beecraft Wee Bee alongside Convair XC-99

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

External links

'' "Homemade Air Sled Weighs Less Than Pilot" '', February 1949, Popular Science
rare photos of the WeeBee—i.e. pages 137 to 139
"The Wee Bee: Saga of the World's Smallest Piloted Airplane", June 29, 2017
{{Beecraft aircraft 1940s United States civil utility aircraft Prone pilot aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1948 Wee Bee Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft