Free transverse vibration and buckling of a double-beam continuously joined by a Winkler elastic layer under compressive axial loading with the influence of rotary inertia and shear are considered in this paper. The motion of the system is described by a homogeneous set of two partial differential equations, which is solved by using the classical Bernoulli-Fourier method. The boundary value and initial value problems are solved. The natural frequencies and associated amplitude ratios of an elastically connected double-beam complex system and the analytical solution of the critical buckling load are determined. The presented theoretical analysis is illustrated by a numerical example, in which the effect of physical parameters characterizing the vibrating system on the natural frequency, the associated amplitude ratios and the critical buckling load are discussed.