Beech has created some wonderful airplanes in its long and storied history, but none have screamed "personal transporation" so loud, nor been so recognizable by so many people as the model 17 Staggerwing and the model 35 V-Tail Bonanza.

The Staggerwing is notable not only for it's amazing beauty, but for the history it made. It was one of the only enclosed-cabin biplanes of its time, and it was one of the very, very few biplanes ever to have the lower wing set slightly ahead of the upper.

Believe it or not, at one time the fastest aircraft in the world were civil aircraft, and the Beech Staggerwing was one of them. In 1936, Louise Thaden and Blanche Noyes won the Bendix Trophy race in a G-17, beating Benny Howard's Mister Mulligan, Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra, and a Douglas DC-2, among other notables. This gave it the claim of being the fastest cross-country airplane in the world at that time.

If the Staggerwing has always been considered a classic, then the V-Tail Bonanza was always considered a very modern airplane, from the time the first one rolled off the assembly line in 1948. By the sixties, the V-Bone was immediately recognizable as the epitome of personal luxury and speed in a four-place retractable. It could be said that the V35 created the four-place all-metal retractable market. It is only in the last few years anyone has really looked on it as a classic, though most airplanes have been well cared for throughout their lives.

In all likelihood, you have a preference for one or the other of these airplanes, but don't be surprised if you end up with a little time-sharing going on when it comes to selecting wallpaper. Maybe you could come up with a rotation....

Eight photos in a zipped archive, each 1024 by 768 pixels, 256 color. Sharp enough to please the eye, but easy on system resources.

Simply download the zip archive, unzip it in your Windows folder, and you can select any of the eight photos to be your active desktop wallpaper.



Eight BMP files in one zip archive, 19504K. Sample BMPs are at approximately 1/3 the resolution of the BMPs in the zip archive.