Theodore Arthur Wells (March 12, 1907 – September 25, 1991) was an American aircraft engineer, co-founder of the Beech Aircraft Corporation, and the lead designer of the Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing. Wells was also an avid Snipe sailboat racer, winning three national championships and two world championships. Birth and education 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. First airplane While a sophomore, Wells and a classmate had the opportunity to buy an old World War I Jenny for US$600. Neither he nor his classmate had pilot's licenses, so they came up with a scheme to buy the plane and rent it out for rides and flying lessons. This enabled them to pay for the plane and fund their own flying lessons. Both of their parents had previously refused to pay for flying lessons. They had learned that Princeton had a policy that students whose parents had difficulty raising tuition could postpone payment until the end of the semester. Wells and his friend informed the school that their parents were struggling financially and used the tuition money their parents gave them up front to buy the aircraft. They offered their plane for lessons and rides, charging $25/hr, paying an instructor $10 and keeping $15 to pay off the airplane and their tuition. Customers were drawn from a "sucker list" of upperclassmen that they also used for bumming car rides to the airfield. During spring break, Wells found himself alone at the Hadley airfield more than 20 miles away from the college with no money and no ride back to school. He waited until dusk, but no potential ride showed up. He was determined not to walk the distance back to campus. With only four hours and 20 minutes of flying instruction he decided it was time to solo without an endorsement from his instructor. He started the