1958 Mooney M22

[Raptor05121]

No, not the Mustang. The original Mark 22. In 1958 Al Mooney designed the only two-engined Mooney, which he based on the Mark 20. Called the Mark 22, it never entered production and the prototype was eventually scrapped. In 1966, Mooney reused the M22 designation for their pressurized aircraft called the "Mustang" of which only 30 were built.

 

 

 

 

 

It looks like it was based on the Rangers fuselage.

[carusoam]

The next M22 will be Turbine powered and pressurized....?

Best regards,

-a-

[Raptor05121]

You know, if they did it again with a modern J (or newer) fuselage, I bet a twin Mooney would look pretty sweet.

[carusoam]

Check out the Aerostar for what Twin Mooney Drivers like...

TBM for the pilots that move on to Turbines...

Speed, efficiency, safety and coolness....

Best regards,

-a-

[aviatoreb]

That looks a lot like the same level of airplane you would have if you just bought a twin comanche.

[carusoam]

a pair of 150hp O320s? (from a tired memory)

or would you rather have a single 310hp IO550?

You get to decide if it is TN'd or NA...

or drive what every flying professor (that I know) wants....

TC'd IO520

Aim High,

-a-

[aviatoreb]

or drive what every flying professor (that I know) wants....

TC'd IO520

 

:-)

[M20F]

That looks a lot like the same level of airplane you would have if you just bought a twin comanche.

I have always wondered about that but never seen any performance numbers or anything about Bill Wheat or somebody in the know talking about it. Just sticking a second motor on essentially a M20 frame I have to think would have been a big hit on speed, range, and useful load. Has to be some reason why it never got off the board as that was the time period when piston twins were selling well, always wondered why it never went forward and guessing lack of performance was the cause. Would love to learn more if somebody has more details.

[HRM]

I am more interested in the pressurization issue. What does it take to make an airframe pressurized? Why is it so expensive? What did Mooney have to do to create the Mustang from it's non-pressurized fleet?

[DaV8or]

I have always wondered about that but never seen any performance numbers or anything about Bill Wheat or somebody in the know talking about it. Just sticking a second motor on essentially a M20 frame I have to think would have been a big hit on speed, range, and useful load. Has to be some reason why it never got off the board as that was the time period when piston twins were selling well, always wondered why it never went forward and guessing lack of performance was the cause. Would love to learn more if somebody has more details.

 

Bill Wheat would be the guy to ask. He was in charge of the program according to Larry Ball in his book, "Those Remarkable Mooneys" In the book he says-

 

"Also occurring in 1958 was a quick and dirty attempt to look at a Mooney twin engine airplane. Bill Wheat in engineering was given approval to put together an M-20 fuselage with beefed up and heavily modified wings to accommodate two 180 hp Lycoming O-360 engines. This effort was designated the Mooney Mark 22. The aircraft reached experimental flight test and then the program was abandoned. One source indicated lack of plant capacity was a consideration. In any event, 1960 would be the last year for the wooden Mooneys."

 

The book also says this-

 

"Bill Wheat of Mooney planned to use fuel injected engines, but Lycoming was behind schedule."

 

I think from this we can gather that-

1. Resources were stretched as Mooney struggled to build momentum in those days. Clearly manufacturing a twin along side the singles was likely a step too far.
2. All the engineering on the M22 twin was done in wood. When Ralph Harmon took over engineering at Mooney, wood was done. The M22 twin would have to be re-engineered in metal. A lot of work and kind of starting over.
3. Likely the flight tests exposed problems that would require further redesigns requiring significant engineering resources to solve at a time when they were going through the herculean task of converting the M20 and M20 production over to all metal.
4. The 180 hp engines probably produced lack luster performance and basically the plane didn't really impress anybody. Likely it came up short against the other twins of the day.

I am surprised that when some of the other investors like Butler, and Republic Steel took over Mooney, that they didn't revisit the idea though.

[aviatoreb]

Thanks for that Dave.

 

Too bad they never did revisit that - I bet the metal M22 with a pair of IO360s would have done the trick.

 

This is two different arena where Mooney was on the cusp of the new trends but then backed off.  They were early to the twin party but never made a twin.  Then later they were early to the pressurized single party with the (also called) M22 and later with the M30 and both times they backed off again.  The M30 was all set to be the better than a Piper Mirage that was so successful and later it would have been the M30T turbine and that woulda been the Piper Meridian killer.  I know it lives on in the TBM concept but that TBM is a modified version - and anyway clearly it was successful and a success that Mooney corporation did not get to enjoy.

[outermarker]

I learned to fly in a 1957 M20, N5261B.

Edited January 11, 2018 by outermarker

[Guest]

On 2015-01-03 at 11:14 AM, HRM said:

I am more interested in the pressurization issue. What does it take to make an airframe pressurized? Why is it so expensive? What did Mooney have to do to create the Mustang from it's non-pressurized fleet?

Pressurized fuselages are incredibly strong, imagine your 600-800 square inch windscreen with 5 pounds per square inch, then the entire airframe must withstand the same pressure.  Every seam and joint is sealed, there is a pressure source from the turbo charger, a control system to prevent over pressure etc.  It gets complicated.

Clarence