Private company

Beecraft

Aircraft manufacturer1

Bee Aviation Associates, Inc. (Beecraft) built three prototype aircraft designed by William F. "Bill" Chana at Montgomery Field in San Diego, California. None of the aircraft went into production.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Bee Aviation Honeybee unrestored
Photo: Robert DuHamel ( Rsduhamel ), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

Bee Aviation Associates, Inc. (Beecraft) built three prototype aircraft designed by William F. "Bill" Chana at Montgomery Field in San Diego, California. None of the aircraft went into production.2

The story

The first aircraft built was the Wee Bee in 1948. The Wee Bee is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's lightest aircraft, weighing 210 pounds (95 kg) when empty. It had a two-cylinder engine and tricycle landing gear. The pilot flew in a prone position, lying atop the fuselage. The Honey Bee was the second plane, completed in 1952. It had a single seat in an enclosed cabin. The Queen Bee was the last and the largest of the three. It was completed in 1960 and seated four. The Queen Bee and the Honey Bee had V-tails.

From Wikipedia’s article on Beecraft, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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