BAS Part Sales in the News: Mooney Flyer Edition

Mooney was founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1929 and is currently based in Kerrville, TX, a small Texas town of about 25,000 people. The company is named after brothers Albert and Arthur Mooney, although Al was the driving factor in the early business.

Albert and Aurther built the Alexander Bullet, which invited some financial interest from the Bridgeport Machine Company, leading to the founding of the Mooney Aircraft Corporation in 1929. Over its lifetime the Mooney brand would go through many owners and several bankruptcies, the first of which came shortly after its founding, largely due to the Great Depression. Continuously working in aviation through WWII, Albert Mooney started Mooney Aircraft Incorporated in 1948 with his brother and several partners. Mooney Aircraft Incorporated produced the Mooney Mite M-18 in the early 1950s.

During the development phase of the first four-seater M20 in 1953, Mooney's chief financial backer Charles Yankey died of a stroke. This left the company nearly bankrupt again, as Yankey's family had no interest in the aviation business and declined to invest in the production of the M20. Mooney was saved by a pair of investors from Midland, TX, and the M20 was certified in 1955.

The Mooney brothers left the company shortly thereafter and worked for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in Georgia until their retirement. The M20 steadily gained popularity as it was able to achieve speeds of up to 170 mph with a 150hp Lycoming engine. The combination of speed and efficiency proved to be a popular feature of the Mooney M20.

From 1969 to 1974 the Mooney brand was bankrupt and passed through 2 owners landing in the hands of Republic Steel Corporation, whose General Manager Robert Cumming had been flying a Mooney M20F Executive for many years. Republic Steel Corporation successfully operated Mooney, developing new models and producing healthy profits, until Republic Steel Corporation was acquired in 1984 and Mooney was dropped. In the span of two months, Mooney again passed from one buyer to the next landing in the ownership of Lake Aircraft, a Mooney dealer from Paris.

Development and production continued from the 1980s through the 1990s until another bankruptcy in 2001. The company was acquired and restructured as Mooney Aircraft Company, Inc., a division of Mooney Aerospace Group, Ltd. Two years later the Mooney assets were sold to Allen Finance while the Mooney Aerospace Group went through another bankruptcy, only to reacquire the Mooney assets in December of 2004.

In November of 2008, the company announced it was halting all production and laid off 229 of the 320 employees due to the recession of the late 2000s. In December 2008 Mooney laid off another 40 workers leaving the company with 50 employees and 25 unsold aircraft. By August 2013 Mooney was less than ten employees who maintained the company's facilities and provided parts and technical support to aircraft owners. Mooney was purchased by a group of Chinese investors in 2014, announcing a $50M investment at the Sun N Fun fly-in in Lakeland, FL in April of that year. Several new models were developed and produced until the company was again shut down on January 6, 2020.

As of today, the company is owned by US Financial, LLC, and works to provide support for the existing fleet of more than 7,000 Mooney aircraft worldwide.

The history of Mooney is filled with peaks and valleys, success and failure. The Wikipedia page makes for a great read on the ups and downs of the Mooney brand spanning nearly 100 years of aviation history. And we know firsthand how much people love their Mooney aircraft; we talk to them every day. Click here to read the more complete Mooney history.

Also check out the Mooney website for more info on their current activities and offerings.