Mooney Aviation Company
Mooney Airplane Company, Inc. is an American aircraft manufacturer from Kerrville, Texas.
- 2.1 Development of the Mooney corporate logos
History
The company was founded in 1929 as the Mooney Aircraft Corporation of Albert ( " Al " ) and Arthur Mooney. In his history of the manufacturers came again and again in financial difficulties - the first time was in 1930 Mooney bankrupt - and was repeatedly acquired by another company. After the Second World War, founded Al Mooney in 1946, which specializes in single-engine, piston-driven, four-seat aircraft Mooney Airplane Company, Inc.. He began with the production of a small, single-seat machine ( Mooney M18 Mite ), the first with a 19 kW (26 bhp ) strong, water-cooled inline engine was equipped with four cylinders of Crosley, very soon by a 48 kW (65 hp), air-cooled Lycoming piston engine has been replaced. The most well-known Mooney - type series is the M20, which is to this day still built in Kerville, Texas, and was developed in 1955 by Al Mooney. The tail and the wings of the M20 were initially only made entirely of wood and covered with fabric. Only in 1961 was built with the M20B the first all-metal version.
A common feature of all Mooney designs is slightly inclined forward trapezoidal fin. The elevator trim is done in the Mooney M20 is not - as with most airplanes - only via the elevator, but the complete tail assembly is adjusted.
In November 2008, production of aircraft has been discontinued until further notice. At the same time, numerous employees were laid off. The company is currently looking for investors.
Record aircraft
The History of Mooney is always accompanied by world records. So Al Mooney developed the first single-engine, piston-driven aircraft with a pressurized cabin, the M22 Mustang. He established the first production aircraft, which reached a top speed of over 200 mph ( 320 km / h) with a 200 -horsepower engine and presented with a turbocharged M20K -231 the speed record for a transatlantic crossing in a single-engine, piston- powered aircraft on. Mooney aircraft are among pilots has always been a very reliable, fast, efficient and comfortable travel machines.
With the M20J 201, the speed of 320 km / h was achieved in 1977. The fastest piston-driven aircraft, manufactured by Mooney M20M Bravo was the DX with a maximum of 220 kt (407 km / h) cruise speed. Since 2007, the Mooney Acclaim with max. 237 kts (440 km / h). Recently, a Acclaim S is offered with a maximum speed of 242 kts. The engine has two turbochargers here. The Acclaim S is currently the fastest single-engine piston-driven production aircraft with retractable landing gear.
Others
The fans and followers of Mooney aircraft Mooniacs call themselves.