MOONEY 201

The Mooney M20J (the MSE shown here) is a lightweight, fast and efficient single that gets great speed out of modest power. Photo by Alan Wilson

If we were to choose three words to describe the original Bonanza, they would be "modern," "efficient" and "slick." Those same adjectives could be used to describe the Mooney single, which came about as an evolution of a design that was really none of those things. But to Mooney's great credit, the company pulled it off and created a plane, the Model M20, that was all of those things and wore them all as it waltzed into the marketplace as though that was the idea all long.

Efficiency is the keyword. The company for years prided itself on getting the most speed out of the least power, and it did that in impressive fashion. The aerodynamically cleaned-up Mooney 201 (the M20J) came out in 1976 with the claim that it got one mile per hour of airspeed for every horsepower.

The truth is the first M20 was a 150 hp wood-winged plane that had nothing but room to grow, and it did. By the early 1960s it had gotten an all-metal wing, improved control surfaces, a bigger engine---200 hp seemed like a sweet spot---and updated amenities. They were still cozy airplanes, with the back seats being particularly so, though the latest updates did much to address this issue (along with adding a pilot's side door, as well).

As just about every aircraft manufacturer has at some point, Mooney has gone through a roller- coaster ride of financial reversals, with more than a half-dozen owners over its lifespan and even more numerous production shutdowns over the years. And while the core of the Mooney design DNA is still thought of as efficiency, latter airplanes were higher powered and, hence, less fuel-efficient, but, happily, faster than ever. The Mooney

Acclaim is the fastest GA piston production single ever, using turbocharging and the ever-slick Mooney aerodynamics to make good on around 240 knots true at its ceiling of 25,000 feet.

But for many people, the ultimate Mooney remains that M20J Model, a fast, fuel-efficient and sexy light single that delivered on the original concept of the personal, high-performance plane that Beechcraft invented in 1947.

Modern High-Performance Singles

J BeckettWriter