Aero Commander 500 family#Commander 690

File:Rockwell YU-9A Aero Commander ‘0-26218’ (26998882710).jpgs]]

The idea for the Commander light business twin was conceived by Ted Smith, a project engineer at the Douglas Aircraft Company.{{Cite journal |last=Collman |first=B.J. |date=May–June 1973 |title=The Aero Commander Twins |journal=Air-Britain Digest |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=79–86}} Working part-time after hours throughout 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.{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Nicholis M |date=Spring 1990 |title=The Aero Commander 520 |journal=AAHS Journal}} 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.{{Cite magazine |date=August 1948 |title=What's New in Aviation: Feederliner Makes Debut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QCgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA90 |magazine=Popular Science |volume=153 |issue=2 |page=90}} Walter Beech test flew the aircraft in 1949 and expressed interest in buying the project, but passed on it, to instead 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 {{convert|26000|sqft}} 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 rating of {{convert|520|hp}}. The production model was named the Commander 520. The first Commander 520 was rolled out of the new factory in August 1951. Serial number 1 was used as a demonstrator, then sold in October 1952 to the Asahi Shimbun Press Company of Tokyo.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

File:Scott Broo N45RF NOAA.jpg]]

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, World War II pilot R. A. "Bob" Hoover demonstrated the Shrike Commander 500S for decades in a variety of "managed energy" routines, including single-engine and engine-out aerobatics.{{Cite magazine |date=July 1972 |title=Shrike Commander |magazine=Flying |pages=72–73, 76}}{{Cite magazine |last=Collins |first=Richard L. |date=January 1999 |title=Grand Renaissance: The rebirth of the tough bird |magazine=Flying |volume=126 |issue=1 |pages=80–83}} 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 National Air and Space Museum. Bob Odegaard continued the tradition in 2012, flying a 1975 Shrike 500S in a Bob Hoover tribute routine.{{Cite journal |date=June 2011 |title=missing |journal=Sport Aviation |page=30}}

One U-4B became a presidential transport aircraft for Dwight D. Eisenhower between 1956 and 1960.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} This was the smallest "Air Force One", and the first to wear the now-familiar blue-and-white livery.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} This aircraft is now owned by the Commemorative Air Force.{{Cite web |title= President Eisenhower's Twin-Engine Air Force One|url=https://www.ikesbird.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027010342/https://www.ikesbird.org/ |archive-date=27 October 2020 |website=Ike's Bird}}

As of 2004 Shrike Commanders remained in service with the United States Customs Service, United States Coast Guard, and United States Forest Service.

A single 560F was operated by the Belgian Air Force as the personal transport of the late king Baudouin of Belgium from 1961 to 1973.{{Cite web |title=Aerocommander 560f |url=http://www.baha.be/Webpages/Navigator/Photos/MilltaryPics/post_ww2/aerocommander_560f.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217014625/http://www.baha.be/Webpages/Navigator/Photos/MilltaryPics/post_ww2/aerocommander_560f.htm |archive-date=17 February 2010}}

According to the July 1, 1968, Frontier Airlines system timetable, series 500 aircraft were being operated on scheduled passenger flights by Combs Aviation on behalf of Frontier via a contract agreement with service to several smaller communities in Montana and Wyoming at this time.{{Cite web |title=fl6807-1 JPG file |url=https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/fl/fl6807/fl6807-1.jpg}}{{Cite web |title=fl6807-4 JPG file |url=https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/fl/fl6807/fl6807-4.jpg}}

The unpressurized, long-fuselage 680FL was operated as a small package freighter by Combs Freightair in the 1970s and 1980s, and by Suburban Air Freight in the 1980s and 1990s. The aircraft was popular with pilots, because it was extremely "pilot friendly" and with its {{cvt|380|hp}} supercharged engines did well in icing meteorological conditions. A number are still operated on contracts for cargo and fire control applications, as their piston engines offer good fuel specifics at low altitudes and longer loiter times. Suburban retired their last 680FLs in the first half of 2024.

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.{{Citation |last=Swift |first=S. J. |title=The Aero Commander chronicle |date=1 May 1995 |url=http://www.casa.gov.au/wcmswr/_assets/main/airworth/papers/aerocommander.pdf |publisher=Civil Aviation Safety Authority |access-date=1 August 2007}} From approximately 1961 to 1993, 24 aircraft crashed when spar failures caused the loss of the wing in flight. 35 more spars were found cracked during inspections.

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.{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Richard |title=The Aero Commander Line – A short history |url=http://home.iwichita.com/rh1/hold/av/avhist/acm/acm_hist.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713071028/http://home.iwichita.com/rh1/hold/av/avhist/acm/acm_hist.htm |archive-date=13 July 2011 |access-date=13 August 2011}}{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Thomas Motley |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/7958067 |title=Multiengine Airplane Rating: A Guide to the FAA Oral and Flight Tests |date=1981 |publisher=Pan American Navigation Service |isbn=0-87219-003-X |oclc=7958067}}

In 1979, the National Transportation Safety Board reviewed light-twin engine-failure accidents, involving the 24 most popular model-groups of light twins between 1972 and 1976. They found that the piston-engined twin-Commanders had averaged slightly over 3.4 engine-failure accidents per hundred-thousand hours, the second worst number of all aircraft under review.{{Cite web |year=1979 |title=Special Study: "Light Twin-Engine Aircraft Accidents Following Engine Failures, 1972–1976 NTSB-AAS-79-2 |url=http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aviation-special-studies/AAS79-02.pdf |access-date=16 May 2017 |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |location=Washington, D.C.}}{{Cite book |title=Aviation Consumer's Used Aircraft Guide |publisher=Belvoir Publications |year=2001 |editor-last=Ibold |editor-first=Ken |edition=9 |volume=2 |location=Greenwich, Connecticut}} The most engine failures were suffered by the small-engine versions of the Piper Apache, at 6.9 failures per hundred thousand hours; the third-worst, the Beechcraft Travel Air, averaged 2.9 failures; the average for all models was only 1.6.

Countering the statistical evidence, Rockwell demonstration pilot Bob Hoover's famous airshow stunt routine, with the Shrike Commander, included a full aerobatic routine performed first with both engines, then with one engine out (and the critical engine, at that), then both engines out, and gliding. Then in his final airshow performance, in a supreme demonstration of conservation of momentum, he did all that, then landed the Shrike Commander dead stick (engines off), coasted the airplane down the runway then from the runway down the taxiway and silently let the craft roll slowly to a full stop right in front of the crowd.{{Cite web |last=Cochrane |first=Dorothy |date=20 February 2014 |title=Robert A_ "Bob" Hoover, The Greatest Stick and Rudder Man, is Honored in Hollywood |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/robert-%E2%80%9Cbob%E2%80%9D-hoover-greatest-stick-and-rudder-man-honored-hollywood |access-date=16 May 2017 |website=Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum |location=Washington, D.C.}}{{Cite web |date=25 October 2016 |title=Bob Hoover flies west |url=https://generalaviationnews.com/2016/10/25/bob-hoover-flies-west/ |access-date=29 August 2020 |website=GeneralAviationNews.com}}{{Cite web |title=Bob Hoover's Last Air Show | date=15 June 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnl3JZwnUZA |via=YouTube}}

The turboprop twin-Commanders—with much more powerful engines (and most with longer bodies, allowing greater rudder leverage, critical for single-engine control{{Cite book |url=https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/pic-archive/flight-training-ratings-and-proficiency/checkout-in-a-multiengine-airplane |title=Flight Training Handbook Advisory Circular 61-21A |publisher=Federal Aviation Administration |chapter=Checkout in a Multiengine Airplane}}) – came out on the opposite end of the rankings, with one of the lowest rates of engine-failure accidents of all "light" twins examined, at only 0.4 per hundred-thousand hours.

File:N2775B Aero Commander 560A (8970562183).jpg|Certified from 1954, the seven-seat 560 is powered by two {{cvt|270|-|295|HP}} Lycoming GO-480s.

File:Aero Commander 680E, Private JP6986096.jpg|From 1955, the 680 has Supercharged {{cvt|340|-|380|HP}} Lycoming GSO-480s.

File:N534SA 1968 Rockwell International 500-S C-N 1816-22 - Spur Aviation Services Lc (5931360073).jpg|From 1958, the lighter 500 is powered by two {{cvt|250|-|290|hp}} Lycoming O-540s or Continental IO-470s.

File:Aero Commander 680FL Grand Commander, Air Tempelhof JP7541608.jpg|From 1963, the stretched 680-FL offered up to eleven seats.

File:Bridger Aerospace N681TC Aero Commander 681.jpg|It gained two {{cvt|575|hp}} AiResearch TPE-331 turboprops from the 680-T in 1965.

File:A Iranian police Aero Commander 690.jpg|From 1971, the heavier 690 has a larger wing and more powerful {{cvt|717.5|-|748|hp|0}} TPE-331s.

File:NOAA Aircraft N45RF KDLH (cropped).jpg|From 1979, the final 695 Jetprop 980/1000 is powered by {{cvt|733|-|820|hp}} TPE-331s.

File:An Aero Commander 690A of IRIAA.jpg 690A]]

File:T-137 Aero Commander 500 Fuerza Aerea Argentina (8164167486).jpg 500U]]

{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|

;{{USA}}

• Texas Highway Patrol{{Cite web |title=TxDPS – Aircraft History |url=http://www.dps.texas.gov/aviationoperationsupport/history.htm |access-date=27 August 2018 |website=dps.texas.gov |archive-date=28 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828035559/http://www.dps.texas.gov/aviationoperationsupport/history.htm |url-status=dead }}

;{{IDN}}

• Indonesian National Police{{Cite web |last=Seymour |first=Paul |date=28 December 2018 |title=AERO COMMANDER 560A, P-2001 / 310-73, INDONESIAN POLICE / POLISI |url=https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1635326 |access-date=1 April 2021 |website=abpic.co.uk}}

}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|

;{{ALG}}

• Algerian Air Force – 1 x 680E survey aircraft in 1986{{Harvnb|Flight International 29 November 1986|p=32}}

;{{ANG}}

• Angolan Air Force – 1 x 690A VIP aircraft in 1986{{Harvnb|Flight International 29 November 1986|p=33}}

;{{ARG}}

• Argentine Air Force – 1 x 500B, 27 x 500U and 1 x 680{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=12}}
• Argentine Army Aviation – 680V, 690A{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=13}}

;{{BAH}}

• Royal Bahamas Defence Force – 500S (no longer operated){{Cite web |date=9 April 2016 |title=Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) – Air Wing |url=http://www.lamilitary.org/royal-bahamas-defence-force-rbdf-air-wing/ |website=LA MILITARY}}

;{{BEN}}

• Benin Air Force – 1 x 500B{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=26}}

;{{BOL}}

• Bolivian Air Force – 1 x 690 in 1986{{Harvnb|Flight International 29 November 1986|p=37}}

;{{BFA}}

• Burkina Faso Air Force – 1 x 500B in 1986{{Harvnb|Flight International 29 November 1986|p=39}}

;{{COL}}

• Colombian Aerospace Force{{Cite web |year=2022 |title=World Air Forces 2022 |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/reports/world-air-forces-directory-2022/146695.article |url-access=registration |access-date=17 July 2022 |website=FlightGlobal}}
• National Army of Colombia{{Cite web |title=División de Aviación Asalto Aéreo incorpora nuevo avión Turbo Commander 690D |url=http://www.webinfomil.com/2014/03/turbo-commander-ejercito-colombia.html |access-date=19 December 2016 |website=webinfomil.com|date=10 March 2014 }}

;{{CRI}}

• Public Force of Costa Rica{{harvnb|Hagedorn|1993|p=128}}

;{{CUB}}

• Cuban Air Force – 1 × 560 acquired in late 1956.{{harvnb|Hagedorn|1993|p=18}}

;{{DOM}}

• Air Force of the Dominican Republic{{Harvnb|Flight International 29 November 1986|p=49}}

;{{GRE}}

• Hellenic Army – 2 x 680FL{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=94}}

;{{GUA}}

• Guatemalan Air Force{{harvnb|Hagedorn|1993|p=55}}

;{{HON}}

• Honduran Air Force{{Cite web |date=4 December 2020 |title=World Air Forces 2021 |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/download?ac=75345 |access-date=10 August 2021 |website=FlightGlobal}}

;{{IDN}}

• Indonesian Army Aviation Command – 2 x 680FL{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=106}}

;{{IRN}}

• Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force – 3 x 681B{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=107}}
• Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation – 3 x 690, 2 x 690A{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=109}}
• Islamic Republic of Iran Navy Aviation – 2 x 500S, 2 x 690, 6 x 690A{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=110}}

;{{CIV}}

• Ivory Coast Air Force – 1 x 500B{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=126}}

;{{KEN}}

• Kenya Air Force – 1 x 680FP (no longer operated){{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=141}}

;{{flagicon|Laos|1952}} Kingdom of Laos

• Royal Lao Air Force – 1 x 560 (no longer operated){{Cite web |title=Royal Lao Air Force Aircraft Types |url=http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/aa-eastasia/laos/laos-af2-all-time.htm |access-date=19 December 2016 |website=aeroflight.co.uk}}

;{{ROK}}

• Republic of Korea Air Force – 3 x 520, 2 x 560F{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=143}}

;{{MEX}}

• Mexican Air Force – 20 x 500S{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=156}}

;{{NIC}}

• Fuerza Aérea de la Guardia Nacional{{harvnb|Hagedorn|1993|p=42}}

;{{NIG}}

• Niger Air Force – 1 x 500B{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=167}}

;{{PAK}}

• Pakistan Air Force – 1 x 680E (with radar nose), 1 x 680F{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=172}}
• Pakistan Army Aviation – 1 x 690B{{harvnb|Andrade|1982|p=173}}

;{{PAN}}

• Panamanian Air Force{{harvnb|Hagedorn|1993|p=120}}

;{{PHI}}

• Philippine Air Force - 2 Units for ELINT.{{cite web |url= https://www.flightglobal.com/download?ac=106507 |title= World Air Forces 2025 |publisher= Flightglobal Insight |year= 2024 |access-date= 10 December 2024}}

;{{THA}}

• Royal Thai Air Force – Aero Commander 690A, locally designated B.PhTh.4 ({{langx|th|บ.ผท.๔}}).{{Harvnb|Flight International 29 November 1986|p=92}}{{Cite web |title=Thai Military Aircraft Designations |url=https://designation-systems.net/non-us/thailand.html |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=designation-systems.net}}

;{{USA}}

• United States Air Force as the L-26 and U-4{{harvnb|Andrade|1979|p=134}}
• United States Army as the L-26 and U-9

;{{VEN}}

• Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela

}}

;{{SAM}}

• Talofa Airways{{Cite journal |year=2016 |title=When in Samoa, fly with Talofa and its Twin Commanders |url=http://flightlevelsonline.com/2016/spring-2016/samoa-fly-talofa-twin-commanders/ |journal=Flight Levels Online |volume=21 |issue=3}}

• On 19 June 1964 Senator Ted Kennedy was a passenger in an Aero Commander 680 airplane flying in bad weather from Washington, D.C., to Massachusetts. It crashed into an apple orchard in the western Massachusetts town of Southampton on the final approach to the Barnes Municipal Airport near Westfield.{{Cite magazine |date=26 June 1964 |title=Teddy's Ordeal |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,898150,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=23 May 2008 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204184340/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,898150,00.html |archive-date=4 February 2013}}{{Cite web |date=8 May 2008 |title=The Luck of the Kennedys |url=http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Kennedy-N344S.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201075014/http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Kennedy-N344S.htm |archive-date=1 February 2009 |access-date=24 February 2009 |publisher=Check-Six.com}} The pilot and Edward Moss, one of Kennedy's aides, were killed.{{Cite news |date=July 1999 |title=John F. Kennedy Jr. – Timeline: Misfortunes of a Family |publisher=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/interactive/specials/9907/kennedy.tragedy.glance/frameset.exclude.html |access-date=23 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323142249/http://www.cnn.com/interactive/specials/9907/kennedy.tragedy.glance/frameset.exclude.html |archive-date=23 March 2008}} Kennedy suffered a severe back injury, a punctured lung, broken ribs and internal bleeding.{{Cite news |last=Swidey |first=Neil |date=16 February 2009 |title=Chapter 2: The Youngest Brother: Turbulence and tragedies eclipse early triumphs |work=The Boston Globe |url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/16/chapter_2_the_youngest_brother/ |url-status=live |access-date=24 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222210906/http://boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/16/chapter_2_the_youngest_brother/ |archive-date=22 February 2009}}
• World War II hero and actor Audie Murphy died in an Aero Commander 680 crash while flying as a passenger on 28 May 1971. The aircraft was flying in bad weather at night and was on approach to Roanoke, Virginia when it flew into the side of Brush Mountain outside Blacksburg, Virginia, West of Roanoke. Four others and the pilot were also killed.{{Cite web |date=1 August 2007 |title=Biography for Audie Murphy |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001559/bio |access-date=1 August 2007 |publisher=IMDb}}
• On 11 August 2002 photographer Galen Rowell, his wife Barbara Cushman Rowell, pilot Tom Reid and Reid's friend Carol McAffee were killed in an Aero Commander 690 crash near Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop, California.{{Cite web |last=Delgado |first=Ray |date=12 August 2002 |title=Galen Rowell 1940–2002 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Galen-Rowell-1940-2002-Wilderness-photographer-2783900.php |access-date=27 November 2016 |website=San Francisco Chronicle |publisher=Hearst Communications Inc.}}
• On Sunday 2 October 1994, an Aero Commander 690 operated by Seaview Air as flight CD111 departed for from Williamtown, NSW, on a flight to Lord Howe Island. Eight passengers, including honeymooners and a family with two children, boarded the single-pilot aircraft. 30 minutes after departure a distress call was made by the pilot with no future communications made. Only some minor wreckage was ever recovered. During the investigation a number of safety breaches by the operator were discovered including regular operations with overweight aircraft, inaccessible safety equipment & illegal regular public transport operations when the operator was only approved to operate charter flights. The incident was a significant one to occur in Australia & lead to a $20 million royal commission which resulted into fundamental changes to the governing aviation body in Australia.{{cite web |title=INVESTIGATION REPORT 9402804 Rockwell Commander 690B VH-SVQ en route Williamtown to Lord Howe Island New South Wales 2 October 1994 |url=https://www.atsb.gov.au/sites/default/files/media/24362/aair199402804_001.pdf |website=Bureau of Air Safety Investigation |access-date=12 October 2024}}

File:Aero Commander L-26B 3-view line drawing.png

{{Aircraft specs

|prime units?=imp

|ref=Jane's all the world's aircraft 1976–77.{{harvnb|Taylor|1976|pp=346–347}}

|crew=Two

|capacity=four passengers

|length ft=36

|length in=9.75

|length m=11.22

|span ft= 49

|span in=0.5

|span m=14.95

|height ft=14

|height in=6

|height m=4.42

|wing area sqft=255

|wing area sqm=23.69

|airfoil=NACA 23012 modified

|aspect ratio=9.45:1

|empty weight lb=4635

|empty weight kg=2102

|max takeoff weight lb=6750

|max takeoff weight kg=3062

|eng1 name=Lycoming IO-540-E1B5

|eng1 type=air-cooled flat-six piston engines

|eng1 number=2

|eng1 hp=290

|eng1 kw=216

|max speed mph=215

|max speed kts=187

|max speed kmh=346

|max speed note=at sea level (TAS)

|cruise speed mph=203

|cruise speed kts=176

|cruise speed kmh=326

|cruise speed note=at 9,000 ft (2,750 m), 75% power, TAS

|stall speed mph=68

|stall speed kts=59

|stall speed kmh=109

|stall speed note=flaps and landing gear down, CAS

|minimum control speed mph=75

|range miles= 1078

|range nmi=936

|range km=1735

|ceiling ft=19400

|ceiling m=5913

|climb rate ftmin=1340

|climb rate ms=6.8

|avionics=

}}

{{Aircontent

|related=

|similar aircraft=

|lists=

|see also=

• Bob Hoover
• Beechcraft King Air
• Partenavia P.68

}}

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Andrade |first=John |title=U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909 |publisher=Midland Counties Publications |year=1979 |isbn=0-904597-22-9}}
• {{Cite book |last=Andrade |first=John |title=Militair 1982 |publisher=Aviation Press Limited |year=1982 |isbn=0-907898-01-7 |location=London}}
• {{Cite book |last=Hagedorn |first=Daniel P. |title=Central American and Caribbean Air Forces |publisher=Air-Britain (Historians) |year=1993 |isbn=978-0851302102 |location=Kent, UK}}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Hatch |first=Paul F. |date=29 November 1986 |title=World's Air Forces 1986 |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1986/1986%20-%203176.html |magazine=Flight International |volume=130 |issue=4039 |pages=30–104 |issn=0015-3710 |ref={{harvid|Flight International 29 November 1986}}}}
• {{Cite book |last=Simpson |first=R.W. |title=Airlife's general aviation |publisher=Airlife publishing |year=1995 |isbn=1-85310-577-5}}
• {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=John W.R. |title=Jane's all the world's aircraft 1976–77 |publisher=Jane's yearbooks |year=1976 |isbn=0-354-00538-3 |location=London |author-link=John W. R. Taylor}}

• {{commons category-inline|Aero Commander 500 family}}
• {{Cite web |title=Twin Commander aircraft, LLC |url=https://twincommander.com/}} (Legacy Support)
• {{Cite news |last=Bergqvist |first=Pia |date=November 2, 2012 |title=Grand Renaissance Commander |work=Flying magazine |url=https://www.flyingmag.com/aircraft/turboprops/grand-renaissance-commander/ |quote=A rugged high-performance airplane with more than just a face lift}}
• {{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Leroy |date=April 16, 2015 |title=The Twin Commander turboprops |work=Twin & Turbine |url=http://twinandturbine.com/article/the-twin-commander-turboprops/ |access-date=17 May 2021 |archive-date=17 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517185936/http://twinandturbine.com/article/the-twin-commander-turboprops/ |url-status=dead }}
• {{Cite news |last=Huber |first=Mark |date=Feb 2016 |title=Twin Commander 1000 |work=BJT online |url=https://www.bjtonline.com/business-jet-news/twin-commander-1000 |quote=Decades after its introduction, it remains rugged, capable… and cool}}

{{Aero Commander aircraft}}

{{Gulfstream}}

{{USAF liaison aircraft}}

{{US utility aircraft}}

{{Thai civil aircraft designations}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aero Commander 500 Family}}

500

Category:1940s United States military utility aircraft

Category:1940s United States civil utility aircraft

Category:Aircraft first flown in 1948

Category:High-wing aircraft

Category:Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft

Category:Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear