Bede Aircraft Company BD-4
The BD-4 is one of the first true “kit plane” homebuilt aircraft. This means that the buyer did not just receive a set of plans, but an entire kit with all the parts needed to build the plane. The first kits were sold in 1968 and the aircraft remains popular today even though the kits are no longer available. The BD-4 enjoys one of the best safety records of all homebuilt aircraft, and this combined with the ease of construction and a long list of optional equipment explains the aircraft’s continued popularity fifty years after its introduction.