Bede Aircraft
Jim Bede sold the dream of a backyard jet fighter: thousands of deposits poured in for the tiny BD-5, the company went bankrupt before most kits were finished, and the BD-5J flew for James Bond.
Bede Aircraft: the company and the aircraft that made its name
A kit plane that became the Yankee
Aeronautical engineer Jim Bede founded Bede Aircraft in Cleveland in 1961 to sell the BD-1 as a kit. It was developed into the American Aviation AA-1 Yankee, a factory-built two-seater. The four-seat BD-4 of 1968 was more conventional, but Bede was already sketching something wilder, inspired by a sleek German glider, the Schleicher ASW 15.
The miniature fighter
That was the BD-5 Micro: a single-seater with the pilot reclined under a fighter canopy and a small engine behind him driving a pusher propeller. The first deposit was taken in February 1971; by the end of that year there were more than 4,300 orders, before the prototype had properly flown. It hopped on 12 September 1971 on a snowmobile engine. Bede hired a young Burt Rutan to run flight testing in 1972, but reliable engines never arrived.
Bankruptcy, Bond and Budweiser
More than 5,000 kits or plans were sold and some 12,000 orders were taken for a factory-built version, yet the company went bankrupt in the mid-1970s and only a few hundred kits were completed. The BD-5J jet version, at 358.8 lb, held the record as the world’s smallest jet, flew in the Bond film Octopussy and starred in Budweiser’s Bud Light Jet adverts.
Bede Aircraft in numbers
Het bedrijf
- Kortom
- Founded 1961
- Founded in Cleveland by engineer Jim Bede
- Kit-plane specialist
- Bankrupt in the mid-1970s
Productie
- Het meest bekend om
- BD-5 Micro
- BD-1, which became the AA-1 Yankee
- BD-4 four-seat kitplane
- BD-5 and BD-5J micro aircraft
- BD-10 kit jet, five built
Vandaag
- Nu
- Opgeheven
- Many completed BD-5s still fly
De cijfers
- BD-5 kits or plans sold
- more than 5,000
- Orders for factory-built BD-5D
- about 12,000 (none delivered)
- BD-5 orders by end of 1971
- over 4,300
Every notable Bede Aircraft aircraft
| Vliegtuig | Rol | Eerste vlucht | Gebouwd | Status | Opmerking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bede BD-1 | Tweezits licht vliegtuig | 1963 | Gepensioneerd | Developed into the American Aviation AA-1 Yankee | |
| Bede BD-2 | Long-range motor glider | 1967 | 1 | Gepensioneerd | |
| Bede BD-4 | Four-seat kitplane | 1968 | Gepensioneerd | ||
| Bede BD-5 Micro | Single-seat kitplane | 12 September 1971 | a few hundred completed | Gepensioneerd | Over 5,000 kits or plans sold |
| Bede BD-5J | Single-seat micro jet | Gepensioneerd | World’s smallest jet record; flown in Octopussy | ||
| Bede BD-10 | Kit jet | 1992 | 5 | Gepensioneerd | Three crashed; never went supersonic |
Where Bede Aircraft built, who led it, what it achieved
Mensen
- Jim Bede · founder, designer
- Burt Rutan · head of flight test from 1972
- Paul Griffin · chief designer — Worked on the first BD-5 sketches in 1967
Records en primeurs
- BD-5J: world’s smallest jet aircraft (Guinness), 358.8 lb
Bede Aircraft, year by year
Bede Aircraft founded in Cleveland
BD-1 first flight
BD-4 first flight
First BD-5 deposit taken
BD-5 prototype N500BD first flight
Burt Rutan hired to run flight testing
BD-5J appears in Octopussy
BD-10 kit jet first flight
Everything people ask about Bede Aircraft
What is the Bede BD-5?
Was the BD-5J in a James Bond film?
Why did Bede Aircraft fail?
What became of the Bede BD-1?
Around Bede Aircraft
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Geverifieerd op 3 oktober 2026.