Then, after flying for the United States Army during World War I, he joined the Swallow Airplane Company as a test pilot.

In 1924, he, Lloyd Stearman, and Clyde Cessna formed Travel Air Manufacturing Company.

The company went on to become one of the "big three" in American general aviation aircraft manufacturing during the 20th century (along with Cessna and Piper).

In 1977, Beech was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

[7] In 2023, Beech was inducted, along with his wife into the Paul E Garber First Flight Shrine in Kill Devil Hills, NC.