Beechcraft Baron 55 (1961-1982)

Which airplane the specifications above describe. This page covers the whole Baron 55 line, but its frontmatter describes exactly one airplane: the Model 95-B55 / 95-B55A, Section VI of FAA TCDS 3A16 Revision 95, serial TC-955 and up. That is the longest-produced and by a wide margin the most numerous 55, and every limit above was read off the certificate on 2026-09-06. Every other variant -- the 95-55, the 95-A55, the military 95-B55B, and the 285 hp 95-C55, D55 and E55 -- is a row in the Variants table below with its own certificate figures. If you are looking at one of those, read that row.

The 1961-1982 Beechcraft Baron 55 is the twin-engine version of the Bonanza 33 airframe -- fuselage derived from the conventional-tail Debonair/33 with two Continental IO-470 or IO-520 engines on a strengthened wing. The Baron 55 series was Beechcraft's high-performance light twin entry, competing against the Cessna 310 and Piper Aztec for the 1960s-1970s business-travel market.

The 55 stayed in production for twenty-two years, well past the arrival of the larger 58 in 1970, because the smaller airplane remained the more affordable way into a Beech twin.

All of these are on one type certificate, FAA 3A16, and all are piston twins with six certified seats and retractable gear -- so nothing in the splitting rule's Step 1 fires. The gross-weight spread from the 95-55's 4,880 lb to the E55's 5,300 lb is 8.6%, under the 15% threshold, and both engine families price at $48,000 per engine, so Step 2 does not fire either. One page, with the per-variant numbers here.

Serial counts in that table are the certificate's own eligible ranges. Where a range is open-ended -- "TC-502 and on", "TE-768 and on" -- no count is given, because none can be derived from the document and an estimate dressed as a count is worse than a gap.

Sections III and VII publish their limits in calibrated airspeed only, with no indicated column, so those rows are marked "CAS". They cannot be converted and they are not the same basis as the B55 and E55 figures beside them.

Serial breaks inside the 95-B55 itself

The certificate splits the B55 by serial in four places, and NOTE 3 bundles three of them into one configuration:

Those four move together -- NOTE 3 grants them as a set -- so the page stores them as a set. Earlier airframes reach 5,100 lb only with Beech Kit Dwg. 55-4014 embodied, which is worth checking in the logs of any pre-TC-955 airplane you are buying to carry six people.

Why the later block was stored. The certificate's serial allocation is open-ended ("TC-502 and on"), so an exact fleet count is not derivable from it. What the document does prove is the lower bound: 454 serials sit below the break (TC-371 plus TC-502 through TC-954), while the run demonstrably reaches at least TC-2285 -- Section VI's engine limits and NOTE 7 both name that serial -- giving at least 1,326 above it. So at least 74% of eligible B55 serials are NOTE 3 airplanes, and the true share is higher because production continued past TC-2285.

Two further breaks do not change what is stored: 15-degree flap extension at 153 KIAS is approved from TC-2003 and up, and gear-extended speed rises from 143 kt CAS to 153 KIAS at TC-1157 and up. There is no schema field for Vle, so it lives in the saved passage.

Finally, NOTE 5 lets a B55, C55, D55 or E55 be re-designated 95-B55A, 95-C55A, D55A or E55A at a reduced 4,990 lb gross weight per Beech Dwg. 96-590028 -- a downgrade taken for licensing reasons abroad, not an improvement. An "A" suffix on a 55 is a lower gross weight, not a later model.

None of the performance figures on this page is sourced. A type certificate states limits and configuration and contains no cruise, climb, range or runway data at all, and no Baron 95-B55 POH is in hand. The numbers below are the legacy figures this page has carried since the April 2026 generation pass, retained rather than invented, and they are the next thing to fix.

Representative B55 (IO-470-L, 260 hp per side), all legacy:

• Cruise: 190 KTAS at 7,500 ft, quoted as 75% power
• Climb: 1,670 fpm at gross
• Fuel burn: 24 gph cruise, both engines
• Range: 870 nm

Single-engine climb and single-engine ceiling are deliberately blank. They are the two numbers a twin buyer actually plans around, 3A16 states neither, and this page previously asserted a 7,200 ft single-engine ceiling with nothing behind it. A figure that decides whether you clear terrain on one engine is not a place for a plausible guess -- get it from the AFM for the specific airframe, at the weight and temperature you will really be flying.

The 285 hp C55/D55/E55 are roughly 5 knots faster and burn about 26 gph, at some cost in useful load. Those are legacy figures too.

Prices are legacy market observations, not sourced quotes, and they are perishable.

Twin Baron prices have flattened since 2022 -- twin-engine piston operating costs (insurance, fuel, two cylinder sets to overhaul) make twins less appealing as single-engine alternatives like the Cessna T210, Piper Saratoga and Cirrus SR22 close the cabin and range gap.

Universal twin pre-buy concerns apply. Baron 55-specific:

1. Engine matching and hour disparity: Both engines should ideally be at a similar TBO position. Significant disparity (say one at 800 hours and one at 200 since overhaul) suggests operational issues or unbalanced maintenance, and it means two overhaul events instead of one.
2. Continental IO-470/IO-520 cylinder condition: Borescope all 12 cylinders. At $48,000 per engine, an overhaul is the largest single event in this airplane's ownership and there are two of them.
3. Cabin door and structure: The 55 series has a single left-side cabin door (no cargo door like the 58). Verify door operation, latching and hinge condition.
4. AD 2002-26-04 (forward bulkhead): Applies to Baron 55s; verify compliance.
5. Spar carry-through corrosion: The twin wing spar carry-through is a stressed structure, and coastal aircraft are especially vulnerable to hidden corrosion.
6. Asymmetric thrust handling: Verify recent training and proficiency. Vmc handling in a 55 is demanding, and the page cannot tell you the single-engine ceiling -- which makes real recurrent training worth more here, not less.
7. Which serial you are buying. TC-955 is the break that decides gross weight, flap speed and nose baggage. Below it, look for Beech Kit Dwg. 55-4014 in the logs if the airplane is advertised at 5,100 lb.