Bede Aircraft Corp

 
The original Bede Aviation Corporation was established 1960 in Kansas to develop an advanced STOL aircraft. An early type was the BD-1 that first flew 1963 and was later produced by others as Yankee Trainer and Traveler. Subsequent designs included BD-4 two/four-seat sporting monoplane of 1970s, and the BD-5 Micro single-seat pusher-engined monoplane and its turbojet-powered derivative as the BD-5J.

The BD-5 and BD-5J were heavily promoted, and the company accepted thousands of orders and deposits before the project ran out of money, causing customers to lose their deposits. As a result, the Federal Trade Commission banned Bede from accepting aircraft kit investments for a period of 10 years.

Following difficult period, company later reestablished as Bede Aircraft Corporation in Missouri, reviving BD-4 and BD-6 for sale in kits and plans forms. BD-12A of 1994 became tandem two-seat variant of BD-5, with larger four-seat BD-14A then put under development.