Beech 19/23/24 Musketeer/Sierra/Sport/Sundowner

Beechcraft developed the Musketeer family as a lower cost, lower performance four seater below its Bonanza, which would compete with the Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokee. The prototype O-320 powered Musketeer flew in October 1961 and Beech added the type to its sales range in 1962. A series of continual product updating followed, resulting in the aircraft in its final Sierra form being very different to the original Musketeer. The first improved model was the A23 Musketeer II with a 125kW (165hp) Continental IO346 engine (later replaced with a Lycoming O360 in the B23). The A23 was further developed into a three aircraft family (dubbed the Three Musketeers by Beech marketing) - the A23A Musketeer Custom III with greater max takeoff weight, the reduced MTOW A2319 Musketeer Sport III trainer with a 110kW (150hp) Lycoming O320, and the 150kW (200hp) IO360 powered and increased MTOW Musketeer Super III. From 1970 these three introduced a more rounded fuselage and were renamed the Musketeer B19 Sport, C23 Custom and A24 Super respectively. A retractable undercarriage variant of the Super is the A24R Super R. The Musketeer name was dropped in 1971, with the Custom renamed the Sundowner, and Super R the Sierra, and the Musketeer Sport becoming simply the Sport. The Sierra underwent significant changes for the 1974 model with a new cowling, quieter engine and more efficient prop. Further aerodynamic clean ups were introduced in 1977. Series production ended in 1983. International Directory of Civil Aircraft

The backbone of this section is from the The International Directory of Civil Aircraft by Gerard Frawley and used with permission. To get your own copy of the book click here.