The First Maiden Flight of the First Prototype of the B4

The company Firma Rheintalwerke G. Basten, from which the “B” in the original designation is derived, manufactured the first two prototypes.

In 1972 Pilatus bought the manufacturing license for the B-4 and renamed it the B4-PC11. In the spring of the same year the first production example (numbered HB-1100) made its first flight. About 300 were produced beginning in 1972 until the Japanese company Nippi bought the rights to the design.