__NOTOC__ The Beets Special was a single-seat recreational aircraft built in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the mid-1970s with the intention of marketing it for homebuilding. It was a parasol-wing

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 ...

of conventional configuration with fixed

tailwheel undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...

. The single

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 ''N711GB'') was constructed by Glen Beets who was working as a

welder A welder is a person or equipment that fuses materials together. The term welder refers to the operator, the machine is referred to as the welding power supply. The materials to be joined can be metals (such as steel, aluminum, brass, stainles ...

for Lou Stolp at the time. He based his general design on the

Stolp Starduster The Stolp-Adams SA-100 Starduster is an American single-seat sport biplane designed to be built from plans supplied by Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co. Though the first flight was in 1957, Stardusters continue to be built and flown. Design and ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, which was being offered to the homebuilt aircraft market at the time. Plans for the Beets Special were marketed by Stolp's company at one time.

Specifications

References

* * {{cite book , last= Taylor , first= Michael J. H. , title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation , year=1989 , publisher=Studio Editions , location=London , pages=132
aerofiles.com
1970s United States sport aircraft Homebuilt aircraft High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft

Special Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer * Special police forces ...

Aircraft first flown in 1973