AVIATION: Will Olive Ann Marry?

For a septuagenarian Wichita widow, Olive Ann Beech is quite a flirt. As chairman and co-founder of Kansas' Beech Aircraft Corp., which she has run since her husband Walter's death in 1950, she has been tempting—and turning down—various corporate suitors anxious to merge with her company for years. Now, after spurning such hopefuls as Lockheed and Grumman, Olive Ann may at last be ready to say "I do" —and to one of their major competitors: General Dynamics.

Mrs. Beech and General Dynamics Chairman David S. Lewis have been discussing merger prospects for...