On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 06:30:38 -0500, Mitchell Holman
wrote:

Bob Harrington wrote in news:Xns99191866D29A6moi@
140.99.99.130:


One with big dreams here in the Pacific Northwest...

When I was a low time pilot in the late 50s, some of these were
available to rent cheap, mainly because they only had one seat. I flew
several for that reason, and they were fast and sporty. Landed a bit
hot, and some had wheels up mainly because low time pilots would
forget. The Mite had a hand-operated, retractable gear system which
was difficult for some to operate. Pilots who had trained on fixed
landing gear aircraft would occasionally forgot to lower the gear.
This is said to have happened to an embarrassed Al Mooney while he was
giving a demo flight. This incident prompted him to invent the unique
Wig-wag warning device which waves from the instrument panel when the
pilot throttles-back with the gear up. Mooney had confidence in the
rugged little Mite. Mooney advertisements claimed that belly-landings
were a quicker, safer way to stop in difficult landing situations, and
would cause little damage. Also, in crosswinds the gear was a bit
fragile.

One thing most folks forget is that Al designed the prototype around
the light and relatively powerful Crosley auto engine! The geared down
(via pulleys) engine used a sheet metal fabricated block. I have
several hours in one of these!

Cheers, Bob
www.mooneymite.com/history.htm