How did the pilot fly the Beecraft Wee Bee?

Short answer

Lying face-down: the Wee Bee was an all-metal monoplane in which the pilot flew in a prone position on a beam-shaped fuselage. He rested his chin on a thick pad with the instruments at eye level, and the rudder pedals were set in slots on top of the fuselage.

Published: November 5, 2026 · Updated: November 5, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

How did the pilot fly the Beecraft Wee Bee?

Model, Static, Granville Brothers Gee Bee Z Super Sportster

A prone-position pilot

The Wee Bee was an all-metal monoplane in which the pilot flew lying face-down on a beam-shaped fuselage. The pilot's chin rested on a thick pad, and the instruments sat at eye level. The elevator control was located beneath the pilot, though in a position roughly equivalent to that of a conventional aircraft. The rudder pedals were set in slots on the top of the fuselage.

From a balsa concept to an aluminum aircraft

Ken Coward's original concept was a balsa-wood aircraft with an empty weight of 70 pounds. Coward teamed up with other Convair experts: Karl Montijo, James Wilder, Tom Bossart, A. B. Mandeville, and Bill Chana. The group worked first as Ken S. Coward & Associates, then briefly as Beecraft Aviation Associates, and finally as Bee Aviation Associates. They soon decided that balsa was probably not the best material for the project, especially since there were tons of surplus aluminum sheet left over from the war.

Light weight and low power

The Wee Bee's gross weight was about 480 pounds. The chosen engine, a Kiekhaefer O-45-1 recycled from a radio-controlled target drone, did not produce enough power.