18 Facts About Mooney M20

Mooney M20 is a family of piston-powered, four-seat, propeller-driven, general aviation aircraft, all featuring low wings and tricycle gear, manufactured by the Mooney International Corporation.

Al Mooney had been developing preliminary designs for the four-seater M20 for some time, while the single-seat M-18 Mite was in production in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In January 1960, the Mooney M20 company convinced Ralph Harmon to leave McDonnell Aircraft in St Louis, Missouri, and take over management of the engineering efforts.

Mooney M20 insisted on replacing the wood in the M20 with aluminum, and the all-metal M20B was completed by the end of 1960, less than a year after his arrival.

Mooney M20 went into chapter 7 bankruptcy in early 1969, and was acquired by American Electronics Laboratories and then Butler Aviation International.

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The Mooney name was dropped in 1970, as was the M20 designation; the planes were called Aerostars.

Mooney M20 was affected along with other manufacturers and was forced to downsize through temporary layoffs.

The United States Air Force announced a competition to develop a replacement for the Cessna T-41 trainer, and Mooney M20 immediately began to develop a military trainer based on the 231.

Mooney M20 ended up in the hands of Armand Rivard of Lake Aircraft and Alexandre Couvelair, a Mooney dealer from Paris.

The Mooney M20 PFM did not last, with a total of 41 units having been manufactured in 1988 and 1989.

In early 1991, Mooney M20 decided to offer its Enhanced Flight Screener Trainer model to the general public, given that the Air Force was slow to make a decision on its trainer.

Once again, Mooney M20 was offering two models: one offering high speed and the other offering high efficiency.

M20T Predator, a canopy-equipped version of the basic M20 design powered by a Lycoming AEIO-540 engine, was Mooney's entrant in the USAF Enhanced Flight Screener competition.

Mooney M20 laid off 60 employees in June 2008 and cut production, citing a weak economy and sales inhibited by high fuel prices.

In July 2008, Mooney signed a memorandum of understanding with Rolls-Royce to develop a version of the M20 that was to have been powered by the Rolls-Royce RR500 TP turboprop powerplant.

Mooney M20 reopened and staff returned to work on 2 December 2019.

Interestingly, the Al Mooney M20 got his start working as young man for the railroad industry, hence the borrowing of a steam locomotive term for use in describing part of an aircraft.

Empennage of the Mooney M20 is easily recognizable by its unique tail fin with a vertical leading edge.