Olive Ann Beech

Olive Ann Beech (born September 25, 1903 in Waverly , Kansas , † July 6, 1993 in Wichita , Kansas) was an American entrepreneur.

Olive Ann Beech

Childhood and youth

Born Olive Ann Mellor, daughter of a real estate agent, she grew up in the town of Paola.

It is said that her mother recognized the talent of little Olive Ann in dealing with money at an early age. She is said to have had her own bank account at the age of 7, and at the age of 11 she is said to have had power of attorney for her parents' banking transactions.

When the family moved to Wichita in 1917, Olive Ann attended the American Secretarial and Business College there. She left Wichita at the age of 18 to work as a secretary for a Kansas company.

Entry into aviation

Olive Ann Mellor first came into contact with the aviation industry in 1924 when she was hired as a secretary for Walter Beech , the Travel Air Company.

She was the only woman besides the 12 male employees, and she did not have a pilot's license, while all other employees in the company had a flight license. However, she was eager to learn and able to learn, and had the company's chief designer explain all the important components of an aircraft to her using a drawing. She is said to have used this drawing for many years to train newly hired secretaries.

Olive Ann quickly worked her way up in the company, becoming office manager and later chief secretary of Walter Beech.

In 1930 she married her boss.

The young entrepreneur

With the merger of Beechs business with the company Curtiss-Wright as a result of the global economic crisis and the associated relocation of spouses to New York Olive Ann Beech was unemployed, but already in 1932 she returned with her husband back to Wichita, and the two founded there the Beech Aircraft Company .

While Walter devoted himself intensively to the design and construction of new aircraft models, especially building a fast and comfortable business aircraft, Olive Ann was responsible for the business side of the company.

Over the next few years, the company, which has since been renamed Beech Aircraft Corporation , developed into one of the most successful companies in the aircraft industry.

When Walter Beech became seriously ill in 1940 and had to spend almost a year in the hospital, Olive Ann took sole responsibility for the operation.

After her husband, with whom she had two daughters, died in November 1950 as a result of a heart attack, she continued to run the company in his sense and no less successfully.

The "First Lady of Aviation"

Under her leadership, the company, later known as Beechcraft, expanded to over 10,000 employees over the next 30 years.

When Beechcraft merged with Raytheon in February 1980 , Olive Ann Beech was elected one of Raytheon's board members. In 1982 she left the company's management.

She has received numerous awards for her importance in the US aviation industry and is also known in the US as the "First Lady of Aviation".

Olive Ann Beech did not get a pilot's license until the end of her life.

Web links

• Olive A. Beech, 89, Retired Head of Beech Aircraft (The New York Times)