BD-4 – Aircraft of the Month

The Bede BD-4 was designed by Jim Bede in the late 60’s with a first flight in 1968.

I actually got to attend a few of his aircraft design workshops at Oshkosh in the early 2000’s

The design features all metal construction with some innovative construction methods such as a un-braced tubular spar and a truss fuselage sheet-ed in aluminum.

The main Engine choice is a O-360, despite it’s humble looks the cruse speed is in the 170 knot range that is 50 – 60 knots faster than a PA-28 or C-172 that use the same base engine.

Kits are still available through the Jim Bede web site: https://www.jimbede.com/bd-4c.html

The EAA page for the BD-4 has a bunch more info including the sport aviation magazine article year / months for anyone who is interested: https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/kits-and-plans/00—c/bd-4