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In the summer of 1983 this magnificent specimen of the Beechcraft Staggerwing 17R flew into Watson Lake Yukon and we were on hand at the fuel stop that afternoon. As you can see in the spinner my two boys and I stood in awe at this impressive beauty from long ago. The owner was from Edmonton, a commercial pilot with Air Canada on his way to Alaska with his wife and two daughters. This five passenger machine as two seats up front and a three seat bench, cruises at 200 mile per hour for a one thousand mile range. This incredible aircraft sold for $18,000 new and when production ended in 1948 a total of 781 had been produced. Earlier we had see a similar designed Waco and one day a Howard came through Watson Lake, both of which were distance rivals to this aircraft. I can not tell you what differences there were between this one in these pictures but you will notice that the cowl is different from the original version shown on the next page.