Seldom Seen Twins

If you asked 100 pilots at a flying club barbeque (ah, those were the days!) to name a GA twin, 99 of them would answer with Baron, a Piper with a Native American name (Aztec, Seminole, Twin Comanche), a Cessna starting with 3 or 4, or perhaps Partenavia. It becomes difficult to think of twins other than the staples, particularly if you had to stick to relatively modern types (that would exclude the Dragon Rapide, the Lockheed 10, Beech 18, and lots of other beautiful old aircraft).

There are, however, a nice selection of unusual twins that are rarely seen in our skies. And in a few sad cases, are no longer seen.

Beagle B.206

A lesser known British aircraft manufacturer of the 1960s was Beagle Aircraft Limited. The strange name “Beagle” was actually a twisted acronym for British Executive And General Aircraft Limited. The 1960s were a tumultuous time for the British aviation industry, as the government were forcing the large numbers of aircraft manufacturers to amalgamate. When Beagle was founded (as a subsidiary of the Pressed Steel Company), it took over Auster and Miles. Auster Aircraft Limited was rightly famous for its one product line: the Auster! FG Miles Limited had been responsible for a large stable of light aircraft designs including the Hawk, Falcon, and Magister, and some larger single-engined military aircraft including the Master and Martinet. But it was their own new design, the B.206, that the