KEEP ‘EM FLYING BY SPARKY BARNES
A 1952 Mooney M-18C Mite flies overhead, revealing its clean lines. Photos by Sparky Barnes.
A clipping from a company brochure about the Mite.
MIGHT THAT BE A MOONEY? YES, YOU’RE LOOKING AT AL MOONEY’S TINY MITE!
THE MOONEY MITE SEEMS TO HAVE EFFORTLESSLY EARNED A LOYAL FOLLOWING AMONG PILOTS WHO HAVE EITHER FLOWN OR OWNED ONE. WHEN PASSERSBY HAPPEN UPON A MITE ON THE FLIGHT LINE AT FLY-INS, THEY’RE DRAWN TO IT – WHETHER FROM CURIOSITY OR TO HAPPILY SHARE THEIR OWN MITE MEMORIES WITH ITS OWNER. SO WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES THIS TINY AIRPLANE SPECIAL TO THESE FOLKS—IS IT THE SIZE, THE PERFORMANCE, THE UNIQUE DESIGN FEATURES, OR ITS HISTORY? PERHAPS IT’S A COMBINATION OF ALL THESE THINGS.
MOONEY Albert W. Mooney was 42 years old when Mooney Aircraft, Incorporated of Wichita, Kansas, received Type Certificate No. 803 (CAR 3) for the Mooney M-18 Mite. Mooney had already spent more than half his life designing airplanes for several aircraft companies. In the late 1920s,
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he showed himself to be ahead of the times when he worked at Alexander Aircraft and developed a retractable landing gear for the low-wing, speedy Bullet monoplane. He and his brother, Arthur, briefly started their own company to develop further advanced designs, and the Mooney A-1 was born. But the Great
Depression darkened the economy and their business folded. Mooney later worked for Bellanca, Monocoupe Aircraft, and Culver Aircraft Corporation (where his aerobatic, elliptical-winged Culver Cadet design came to life). After World War II, Mooney’s eighteenth airplane design, the M-18, evolved
Photos by Sparky Barnes
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