Mooney M22: A Terrible Execution

Video Description

In this episode we dive into the Mooney M22 Mustang – the forgotten, pressurized piston single that almost killed the Mooney Aircraft Company of Kerrville, Texas. Designed in the mid-1960s as a “family rocketship” to sit above the Mooney M20 line, the M22 was Mooney’s bold attempt to beat the Beechcraft Bonanza, Cessna 210 Centurion and Cessna 210P / P210 Pressurized Centurion at their own high-performance game, years before the Piper PA-46 Malibu arrived on the scene. We’ll look at how Mooney brought in engineer Ralph Harmon – with experience on the Bonanza at Beech and on the McDonnell 119/220 at McDonnell Aircraft – to design an all-new, five-seat, pressurized low-wing that only superficially resembled an M20. Under the skin sat a 310-horsepower Lycoming TIO-541-A1A driving both the propeller and a Garrett AiResearch pressurization system, squeezing a small cabin that sat on a beefed-up fuselage, tiny windows and tall landing gear that made the Mustang look and feel nothing like the classic Mooney hot-rod singles. We’ll talk about the ambitious New York to Paris Air Show nonstop demo flight in 1967, how the production run stalled at roughly three dozen airframes, and how each M22 Mustang was reportedly sold at a loss – contributing directly to Mooney’s bankruptcy and leaving owners with a rare, complex orphan. Along the way we compare the Mustang’s numbers and real-world usefulness to later designs like the Piper Malibu / PA-46 M-Class and the Cessna P210 Pressurized Centurion, and put the whole program in context with Mooney’s other side projects, from the experimental Mark 22 twin to their US assembly line for the Mitsubishi MU-2 in San Angelo, Texas. If you’re into deep-dive general aviation history, pressurized piston singles, or obscure failures that paved the way for later successes, this Mooney M22 Mustang story is for you.