Olive Ann Beech

Olive Ann Beech
Olive Ann Beech circa 1940
Born	Olive Ann Mellor (1903-09-25)September 25, 1903 Waverly, Kansas, U.S.
Died	July 6, 1993(1993-07-06) (aged 89) Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
Nationality	American
Known for	First Lady of Aviation, Co-founder of Beechcraft
Spouse(s)	Walter Herschel Beech
Awards	Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy (1980) National Aviation Hall of Fame (1981)

Olive Ann Beech (September 25, 1903 – July 6, 1993) was an American businesswoman who was the cofounder, president and chairwoman of the Beech Aircraft Company. She earned more awards, honorary appointments and special citations than any other woman in aviation history, and was often referred to as the “First Lady of Aviation”.

Beech was born as Olive Ann Mellor on September 25, 1903 in Waverly, Kansas to Franklin Benjamin Mellor and Susannah Miller Mellor. Her father was a building contractor. At a young age the family moved to Paola, Kansas where she attended school. At the age of seven she had her own bank account and was given the task of writing checks to pay the family bills at the age of eleven. In 1917 the Mellor family moved to Wichita, Kansas where she skipped high school and began attending the American Secretarial and Business College. At 18, she left Wichita to take a job at an electrical contracting firm in nearby Augusta, Kansas.

In 1924, at the age of 21 she took a job as an office secretary and bookkeeper for the newly formed Travel Air Manufacturing Company in Wichita. After learning the business she handled correspondence, kept the records, and conducted transactions. She was soon promoted to office manager and secretary to Walter Beech, one of the founders of Travel Air. Travel Air merged with the Curtiss-Wright Corporation in August 1929. Walter Beech assumed the presidency of Curtiss-Wright and moved to New York City. On February 24, 1930, Olive Ann Mellor and Walter Beech were married at Wichita and she moved to New York.

In 1932, Walter Beech quit Curtiss-Wright and started Beech Aircraft Company in Wichita with him as president and Olive Ann as secretary-treasurer. Olive Ann Beech worked with the financial side of the business and played an important role in major company decisions. The first airplane the company designed and built was a biplane with negatively staggered wings which became known as the Model 17 Staggerwing. Olive Ann suggested that to help increase sales of the aircraft that the company should sponsor a woman pilot flying the Staggerwing in the 1936 transcontinental Bendix Trophy Race. Beech sponsored pilot Louise Thaden, along with Blanche Noyes as co-pilot, won the race against some of the nation's best male pilots.