The Beechcraft Bonanza is one of general aviation's great success stories. Its fine performance encouraged a number of people to select the Bonanza for record-breaking flights. The Bonanza (Model 35) made its first test flight just after the war's end on December 22, 1945, with pilot Vern Carstens at the controls. This flight test phase would be marred by a 1946 accident when the V-tail broke away from the Bonanza's fuselage during a high-speed dive, killing the test pilot but sparing the flight engineer. Walter Beech ordered continued aggressive testing of the Bonanza, eventually accumulating more than 1,500 hours of flight time without further incident.