The original name for the twin-engine Beech Travel Air was Badger. Beechcraft developed the aircraft in the 1950s as a light twin-engine design positioned between the single-engine Bonanza and the larger Twin Bonanza.
The prototype incorporated features from several Beechcraft aircraft, including the Bonanza’s basic fuselage, the T-34 Mentor’s vertical stabilizer, and structural elements from the Twin Bonanza. It was intended to compete with aircraft such as the Cessna 310 and Piper Apache.
Beechcraft initially marketed the design as the Badger. In 1956, however, the United States Air Force informed the company that Badger had already been assigned as the reporting name for the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 bomber. Beechcraft therefore adopted the name Travel Air, borrowed from the earlier Travel Air Manufacturing Company.
The production aircraft became the Model 95 Travel Air, built from 1958 to 1968. Its development eventually led to the successful Beechcraft Baron family.