In the April 2007 issue of AOPA Pilot magazine, it was reported that the Staggerwing was voted by nearly 3000 AOPA members as the Most Beautiful Airplane. "Members said it's the perfect balance between 'muscular strength and delicate grace,' and rated it highly for its 'classic lines and symmetry.'" The November 2012 issue of Aviation History magazine ranked the Staggerwing fifth in their top 12 list of the Worlds Most Beautiful Airplanes. Stating that "Some might think 'the Stag' ungainly, backward wings and all, yet it has become the prime example of vintage beauty" and "...the aftward upper wing led to the big, steeply raked windscreen that is also a key element of what some have called an art deco classic." Variants and design stages 17 Fixed gear prototype made first flight on November 4, 1932. By 1934, Beechcraft had designed and built four models. They were the 17R (420 hp Wright engine); the A17F (690 hp Wright engine); the A17FS (710 hp Wright engine); and the B17L (225 hp Jacobs engine). All were fixed gear models with the exception of the B17L, which had a pneumatically retractable undercarriage. Of the three models, the B17L proved best suited to meet the market demands, and became the first production model. B17 First production model, manufactured from March 1934 to March 1936. B17B Jacobs L-5 engine. One built 1934. B17E Wright R-760-E1 engine. Four built from 1935. B17L Jacobs L-4 engine. 48 built. SB17L B17L fitted with floats. One built. B17R Wright R-975-E2/E3 engine. 16 built from 1935. C17 Manufactured from March 1936 to March 1937. C17B Jacobs L-5 engine. 40 built. SC17B Floatplane version of C17B - One built. C17E Wright R-760-E1. C17L Jacobs L-4 engine. Six built. C17R Wright R-975-E2/E3 engine. 16 built. SC17R Floatplane C17R. One built. D17 Manufactured from March 1937 to 1945 (All were military models after 1941). D17A Wright R-760-E2. 10 built. D17R Wright R-975-E3 engine. 27 built. D17S Pratt & Whitney R-985-SB Wasp Junior. 23 built. SD17S Floatplane version of D17S. D17W geared and supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-985-SC-G Wasp Junior. Two built. E17 Manufactured from March 1937 to 1941. E17B Powered by Jacobs L-MB engine. 50 built. SE17B Amphibian version of E17B. Four built. F17 Manufactured from April 1938 to 1941. G17 Manufactured from 1946 to 1948. Tachikawa-Beechcraft C17E Light Transport 20 built in licence production in Japan by Tachikawa, plus two assembled from