Story ID: 
Flashback: Jetless Beech jetless no more
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: We look back at some memorable events and coverage from AIN's half-century-old archives.
Word Count: 272
With AIN Media Group's Aviation International News and its predecessor Aviation Convention News celebrating the company's 50th year of continuous publication this year, AIN’s editorial staff is going back through the archives each month to bring readers some interesting events that were covered over the past half-century.

REWIND: (January 1986)Beech Aircraft’s royal line will soon be wearing diamonds. On March 31, the Mitsubishi Diamond II officially becomes the BeechJet.

It had been no secret that Beech was looking for a business jet to call its own. Jim Walsh, Beech’s president, had put the industry on notice that the company was seeking to acquire either the marketing or production rights to a business jet that could serve as a step-up airplane for the operator of Beech’s King Air turboprops. According to Beech officials, 128 operators of its turboprops made the leap to jet equipment last year. Now Beech hopes many of those will be enticed to stay in the family by the sparkle of its adopted Diamonds.

FAST-FORWARD: The BeechJet in its various guises went on to have a production run of nearly three decades, totaling more than 900 aircraft. In 2007, under the then-ownership of Raytheon Aircraft, it was renamed the Hawker 400XP as part of that company's strategy to divide its aircraft into two camps, with typically owner-flown airplanes falling under the Beechcraft nameplate and those serving in the corporate ranks named Hawkers. The light jet saw a second life in the 2010s when some airframes were rebuilt or refurbished under programs such as Nextant’s 400XTi and Textron’s factory-upgraded Hawker 400XPR.