The F33, top photo, is essentially the same airframe as the V35, lower photo. Beech used a variety of engines in the 33, from the O-470 to the IO-520.

The general aviation industry is nothing if not a poster child for boom-bust economics. Nearly every major manufacturer has had salad days followed by retrenchments and, often, complete shutdowns. (A few have been through dark periods several times over.)

But not Beechcraft. Through the inevitable ups and downs of the GA industry, Beechcraft has kept its durable line of singles in continuous production in some way since the first Bonanza appeared in the late 1940s. That’s quite an achievement.

One of Beechcraft/Raytheon’s steady sellers has been the 33 series, which began life as a down market version of the venerable V-tail but eventually morphed into a strong product of its own, actually…