Performance was key to Beech Aircraft gaining a USAAF contract for 150 aircraft in 1941. The order was the first of many and the company eventually built more than 5250 aircraft for the military. The Beech 18 trained pilots, navigators, bomb aimers and gunners as well as serving as a military transport. The USAAF operated four versions; the AT-7 Navigator, the AT-11 Kansan for bombing and gunnery training, the C-45 Expeditor as a light transport and the F-2 for aerial photography and mapping. During WW2, 90% of all USAAF navigators and bomb aimers were trained on AT-7s and AT-11s.

The last Beech 18 rolled out of the factory on November 26, 1969 was the Beechcraft Super H18 Model, a low-wing cantilever monoplane of all-metal construction powered by two Pratt and Whitney R-985AN-14B radial air-cooled engines providing a cruise speed of 220 miles per hour and a range of just over 1500 miles. The Beechcraft Super H18 carries a flight-crew of two and up to nine passengers in a separate cabin.

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