Ted Smith and a team of fellow engineers at Douglas de-riveted and stripped down an A-20 airframe. Ted scaled down the plans and they started the rebuilding his business aircraft. This prototype flew from Santa Monica airport in 1947 and by 1948 was rolling off the production line in Bethany, Oklahoma.
The first Aero Commander had two 190 hp Lycoming O 435s driving wooden blade Aeromatics. This was the airplane that made headlines when it took off at gross from Bethany, Oklahoma in 1951 and flew non-stop to Washington, D.C. with the left prop in the baggage compartment.
From 1974 to 2006 the airframe sat on a pole at the state fairgrounds. It subsequently went to a technical school, where Tom Ray and Kenny Payton, engineers who worked at the Rockwell/Gulfstream factory, knew the history of the airplane and used their sheet metal classes to help restore it.
Between those efforts, and now with the support of Dave Amis and others, the Blue Goose has a strong future. Amis worked with the city of Bethany, which owned the airplane, to transfer the historic artifact to the Oklahoma History Center. He has gathered local businesses and Twin Commander supporters, and is soon planning to mate the wings, weld the landing gear, paint it, and eventually have it installed on a pedestal in a park immediately south of the Wiley Post airport in Oklahoma City.
All Aero 