Without a doubt, the strangest story associated with the genesis of a bona fide business aircraft is that of the Merlin, a Franken- airplane of a design that evolved over the years from a cobbled-together heavy-breathing modification of a cabin-class piston twin, to one of the fastest turboprops on the block, to a successful commuter airliner that was the epitome of the long thin tube. The creation of Ed Swearingen, the Merlin began life back in the 1960s as a modification of an existing airplane, the Beech Queen Air. Well, sort of. The idea behind Swearingen's program wasn't to use more powerful engines or improve the seats and radios; his modification, and the word hardly seems strong enough, was to build a pressurized fuselage and tail to go with the Beech Queen Air's wing and the Beech Twin Bonanzas landing gear. Would the FAA ever allow such an airplane to be built today? Hardly. But that was how the Merlin was born. And with such an origin, perhaps the most remarkable' thing is that the airplane and its offspring went on to have a 33-year production run. Perhaps that's a testament to Swearingen's vision.
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