joy to fly. A solid performer, the Mite offers its pilot excellent visibility and cruises at a relatively fast airspeed considering its small engine. The Mooney M-18L was marketed
as the “One-Man Business Airplane” in a company brochure. Highlighting the Mite’s safety, it touted mild, controllable stalls; a low landing speed of 40 mph, and described its handling qualities in high winds as being “unexcelled.” Economy of operation was explained in automotive terms: “30 to 40 miles per gallon at direct cost of 70c to 85c per 100 miles.” The relatively small group of Mite
owners today would likely agree that the airplane was “ruggedly built to exacting standards for long life and trouble-free service making for lowest maintenance cost.” Lastly, the brochure elaborated: “... Go where you wish with least limitations of terrain and field size. Be independent of higher surface winds, and quickly climb to where the tail-winds blow. Most ideal for salesmen, small businesses ... private owners, and JUST PLAIN FLYING FOR FUN. It Has What You’ve Always Wanted and Never Got.”
RECORD SETTERS Al Mooney pushed the distance limits of one of these Mites on June 24th, 1950. He climbed into a model M-18L (modified, with 45 gallons of fuel), and flew nonstop from Brownsville, Texas to Watertown, South Dakota—thereby celebrating his 25th anniversary as an aircraft designer and setting an unofficial distance record (for Category One airplanes) of 1,312 miles in fewer than 11 hours—as well as creating some favorable press for his company. Mooney wasn’t the only pilot to set
a record in the diminutive M-18. In 1953, Canadian Frank Ogden set an FAI altitude record (Sporting Code Class C-1.a Group I) of 19,400 feet in a “Wee Scotsman” (CF-HFN); he
simply flew as high as possible until he ran out of fuel, and then glided down to the airport. Donald Sinclair of Massachusetts set an FAI world speed record of 136.1 mph (1,102 pound class) in a stock Mooney Mite (N4150) in 1969.
AIRFRAME
The M-18L measured just shy of 27 feet from wingtip to wingtip, and 17 feet 7 inches from nose to tail. Although a featherweight at only around 500 pounds empty, the Mite was strong and sturdy. Its one-
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