Ted A. Wells

Theodore A. Wells was born in Corning, Iowa and was the first aeronautical engineering graduate at Princeton University. The Princeton school of Engineering was founded just a few years prior in 1921, with programs in Chemical, Geological, and Mechanical engineering. It started with fewer than 100 students. Mechanical engineering classes were held in the old School of Science with a makeshift laboratory in a boiler house. Wells specifically wanted a degree in aeronautical engineering and was able to convince the school to allow him to pursue that goal, although he had to tell the school which requirements he needed to satisfy.

Wells purchased a Travel Air D4000 in 1928 and used it for air racing, flying in the 1929 Portland Derby which was part of the National Air Races. This was a cross country race from Portland to Cleveland, which involved navigation skills, as well as maximizing aircraft speed. Wells won this race, receiving $10,000 in prize money.

Wells was hired by Travel Air, a division of Curtiss-Wright as a part-time demonstration pilot in 1928, during the summer of his junior year at Princeton. He then was hired by the company full-time as a design engineer after he graduated in 1929, filling the engineering void left by Clyde Cessna and Lloyd Stearman. Wells and Herb Rawdon designed the Travel Air models 12 & 16. In his spare time in 1930, Wells designed and built a racing biplane, the Model W4B, also known as the Wells Special. During one of the flight tests, he was flying at 200 mph (322 km/h) only 500 ft (152 m) above the ground, when both ailerons tore off the wings. Ted managed to bail out and deploy his parachute just in time, suffering only a broken ankle when he landed in mud.

In 1931, Wells began producing the next design for Travel Air. The Model 17 was a four place enclosed cockpit biplane with an unconventional placement of the top wing aft of the bottom wing. This was done to improve visibility associated with the standard configuration.

Then president of Travel Air, Walter Beech, was impressed with Wells' Model 17 "Staggerwing" drawings and presented them to the Curtiss-Wright management to persuade them to build it. Curtis-Wright directors declined to pursue the program due to financial reasons. Desiring to continue Wells' Model 17 design, Walter Beech, Olive Ann Beech, K.K. Shaul and Ted Wells resigned from Curtis-Wright's Aircraft division to start up a new company, Beech Aircraft to produce the Model 17.

Walter Beech, Olive Ann Beech, Ted Wells, K.K. Shaul and C.G. Yankey become the principle founders of Beech Aircraft in April 1932. Walter Beech was named President and Wells became Vice President of Engineering and Chief Designer. C.G. Yankey was a friend of the Beech's and a prime investor, so he was named Vice President. K.K. Shaul, General Manager at Travel Air and Comptroller before relocating to St. Louis, was named Treasurer. Olive Ann Beech was named Secretary.

In his position as engineering vice president, Well's engineering team designed the Model 18, Model 33, T-34 Mentor, Model 34 Twin-Quad, and Model 50 among others.