The 1 cc E.D. Bee was the fourth design to appear in the series of model diesels manufactured by the famous Electronic Developments (E.D.) company of Kingston-upon-Thames, England, hitting the market in August 1948. Its easy starting, dependable performance and general sturdiness made it an enormously popular engine, especially among newcomers to the field of power modelling. It passed through a number of design iterations, the last of which (dating from 1960) was among the most powerful 1 cc diesels of its day. It ended up being the largest-selling E.D. model engine of them all, still surviving today in relatively large numbers.  

The Bee remained in production almost right to the end of model engine manufacture by the original E.D. company. It was succeeded briefly by a sideport derivative called the Cadet which suffered from a number of design and manufacturing deficiencies which prevented it from realizing its full potential. However, the Bee had done a splendid job of meeting the needs of tens of thousands of beginning power modellers, of whom I was one myself!

A full review of the Bee (and Cadet), complete with bench tests, may be found elsewhere on this website.