Stephan Wilkinson

"The Mooney factory is in the same place...: Been to Kerrville many times, though not recently. I'm in the Hudson Valley, near SWF.

"Told a story of how much "dope???" they had to use." Sealant?

Yes, of course Russia and Ukraine are two different countries, but I believe the airplane was initially flown to Russia, perhaps on some kind of sales-demo trip. My fault for not making that clear. There was a time when I'd have fired up my Ducati Desmo and done what you suggest, but now I'm in my dotage (83). There is one Brit forum that I post on occasionally, so maybe I'll try them for possible further info. It's run by the Key Publishing company and is unfortunately populated by sniffy anoraks who get annoyed when you don't follow their customs.

Yeah, I had visited that website and tried to find the M22. Looks like a huge outdoor junkyard. I wonder why it was flown to Russia in the first place.

The Wikipedia "Mooney M22 Mustang" page shows a photo of Mustang N7706M on display at a Ukraine aviation museum. Is that airplane actually on display there currently, or was this a photo taken during a temporary visit by the airplane? (It's the one that flew from New York to the Paris Air show in 1967.) Is there a story behind this photo?

We have a regular series of articles at Aviation History called "Extremes" that examines interesting aircraft that were, well, extreme developments, and that's why I'm writing about the Mustang. Yes, I'm well aware of the twin Mooney M22 and of the 301. And as for the Alon, as a brand-new pilot in the late 1960s, the very first airplane I bought was an equally brand-new Alon.

Not my first rodeo. I have many hours in 201 Mike, which Flying Magazine owned when I was an editor there. It was the very first production 201. I've flown a lot of different Mooneys at one time or or another, including the Porsche, which I loved. Didn't know Al Mooney, but I did know Roy LoPresti. As far as I can tell from the above replies to my original post, there are no M22s currently flying, although there may be a few "I could fly it if I wanted to" or "It's flyable but the nosegear is broken right now," etc. Interesting.

Thanks, Greg. Didn't mean for you to do my work for me... Stephan

I'm doing an article on the M22 for Aviation History Magazine, of which I'm a contributing editor. Question: How many Mooney M22s are currently active, either in the U. S. or overseas? The most recent number I have is three, but that was in 2013.