Aero Commander 500 family The Aero Commander 500 family is a series of light - twin piston - engined and turboprop aircraft originally built by the Aero Design and Engineering Company in the late 1940s , renamed the Aero Commander company in 1950 , and a division of Rockwell International from 1965 . The initial production version was the Aero Commander 520 . Piston - engined versions manufactured after 1967 are known as the Shrike Commander . Design and development . The idea for the Commander light business twin was conceived by Ted Smith , a project engineer at the Douglas Aircraft Company . Working part - time after hours through 1944 , a group of A - 20 engineers formed the Aero Design and Engineering Company to design and build the proposed aircraft with a layout similar to their A - 20 bomber . Originally the new company was going to build three pre - production aircraft but as the first aircraft was being built they decided to build just one prototype . The final configuration was completed in July 1946 and was designated the Model L3805 . Registered " NX1946 " the prototype first flew on 23 April 1948 . The L3805 accommodated up to five people and was powered by two Lycoming O - 435 - A piston engines . , it was an all - metal high - wing monoplane with retractable undercarriage using components from a Vultee BT - 13 Valiant . The market segment planned for this aircraft to be sold to small feeder airliner firms and was originally designed to carry seven passengers , but instead found use in the private business aircraft and military market . Walter Beech test flew the aircraft in 1949 and expressed interest in buying the project , but passed on to develop the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza , Fairchild Aircraft also evaluated the prototype at its Hagerstown , Maryland headquarters . The prototype flew successfully and the company leased at no cost a new 26 , 000 square foot factory at Bethany near Oklahoma City to build a production version certified on 30 June 1950 . Nearly 10 , 000 hours of redesign work went into the model including more powerful Lycoming GO - 435 - C2 engines with a combined horsepower of 520 . The production model was named the Commander 520 . The first Commander 520 was rolled out of the new factory in August 1951 . Serial number one was used as an demonstrator then sold in October 1952 to the Asahi Shimbun Press Company of Tokyo . Operational history . In military service , it was initially designated the L - 26 though in 1962 this was changed to U - 4 for the United States Air Force and U - 9 for the United States Army . Under ownership of Rockwell in the 1960s , WWII pilot Bob Hoover demonstrated the Shrike Commander 500S for decades in a variety a " managed energy " routines including single - engine and engine - out aerobatics . His Shrike Commander is displayed in the colors of his last sponsor Evergreen International Aviation at the Steven F . Udvar - Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum . Bob Odegaard continued the tradition in 2012 flying a 1975 Shrike 500S in a Bob Hoover tribute routine . One U - 4B became a presidential transport aircraft for Dwight Eisenhower between 1956 and 1960 . This was the smallest " Air Force One , " and the first to wear the now - familiar blue - and - white livery . As of 2004 , Shrike Commanders remained in service with the United States Coast Guard and United States Customs Service . A single 560F was operated by the Belgian Air Force as the personal transport of the late king Boudewijn from 1961 to 1973 . The non - pressurized , long - fuselage 680FL was operated as a small package freighter by Combs Freightair in the 1970s and 80s , and by Suburban Air Freight in the 1980s and 90 ' s . The aircraft was popular with pilots because it was extremely " pilot friendly " and with its 380 hp supercharged engines did well in icing . A number are still operated on contracts for cargo and fire control applications , as their piston engines offer good fuel specifics as low altitudes , and longer loiter times . Safety concerns . Single engine safety . In 1950 , when the developers were working to satisfy Civil Aeronautics Authority ( CAA ) regulations for certification of the 500 , they chose a novel method of demonstrating its single - engine safety and performance : they removed one of the two - bladed propellers , secured it in the aft cabin , and flew from Bethany to Washington D . C . on one engine . There they met with CAA personnel , then replaced the propeller and returned to Oklahoma in the conventional manner . The flight received nationwide coverage in the press . Wing spar fatigue . Beginning in June 1991 , senior engineers met with FAA officials to discuss concerns over the Aero Commander ' s main wing spar , which was believed to be susceptible to stress fatigue and subsequent cracking , and was believed to have resulted in a number of fatal crashes . From approximately 1961 – 1993 , 24 aircraft crashed when spar failures caused the loss of the wing in flight . 35 more spars were found cracked during inspections . Notable accidents . World War II hero and actor Audie Murphy died in an Aero Commander 680 while flying in a thunderstorm over Roanoke , Virginia on 28 May 1971 . Five others and the pilot were also killed . On 19 June 1964 , Senator Ted Kennedy was a passenger in an Aero Commander 680 airplane flying in bad weather from Washington to Massachusetts . It crashed into an apple orchard in the western Massachusetts town of Southampton on the final approach to the Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield . The pilot and Edward Moss , one of Kennedy ' s aides , were killed . Kennedy suffered a severe back injury , a punctured lung , broken ribs and internal bleeding .