WHAT AIRPLANE IS THIS?

When this contest photo and possible answers were picked, there was some fear this month’s aircraft would be too difficult to identify. Especially since one of the possible answers, the Ryan Super Navion looked almost the same.

We forgot to consider that the information super-highway is a road well traveled by most Sport Aviator readers. Not only were almost all the contest answers correct, some readers even sent in detail construction and ownership information. Good ole` Goggle strikes again.
For those who only sent in the correct answer without all the additional information, the pictured aircraft is a Navion built in 1949 by the Ryan Corporation. It is currently owned by a Mr. John Stark in Florida. Since most Navion owners are fanatically in love with this excellent aircraft, we are sure he must be taking good care of this vintage flying machine.

With “The Big One” (WW II) ending, North American Aviation, the builders of the P-51 Mustang fighter and B-25 Mitchell bomber, knew they needed a light airplane to sell once all the big military contracts ended after the peace broke out. So they set to work designing one that all those millions of wartime pilots, who would “never want to give up flying,” could buy once they left the service.

The aircraft manufacturers forgot that flying around flak-laden skies with people in little cannon-armed fighters trying to kill you does not bring about fond memories so soon afterwards. That takes time to happen. They also forgot that 11 million men and women had put their personal plans on hold for 4 years to ensure Freedom’s victory and now really wanted to get on with their lives.

Whatever the many reasons, the predicted post-war private airplane sales boom did not happen. Still, many new pilots did wish to continue flying and thousands of private airplanes were made and sold in the post-war years of the late Forty’s. 1,100 NA-145 North American Navions were among them.

The original North American Navion was first built in 1946 and was powered by a 185 hp engine. It could cruise around 170 mph and climb about 1,000 fpm at sea level. OK for a private airplane, but far from a Mustang’s performance.

(Photo courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Museum)

Despite not being a Mustang, the then-new Air Force did order 158 Navions as the L-17A. These liaison and light transport aircraft served well in Korea and were a favorite among the pilots for their handling and comfort.

Not only were the Navion’s abilities far from a fighter’s performance, but far from the Beechcraft Bonanza’s performance as well. The quick V-tailed airplane was the Navion’s main competitor. It was faster, climbed better and was just as quiet and comfortable to fly. The Bonanza also had doors, not a sliding canopy. Stuck in the skirts and dresses of the day, many women liked the doors better.

There is a story that the President of North American Aviation rode in a Bonanza and then immediately decided to sell the Navion design to somebody before North American started losing money on it. True or not, the Navion designed was sold to Ryan Aircraft, the designer of Lindbergh’s Spirit, in 1947.

The Ryan model was called the Navion 205 (Navion A) and differed from the North American version in that it was powered by a 205hp Continental engine. More than 100 were built between 1948 and 1950. Ryan also built a few hundred Navion Super 260s or Navion.

The Super Navions were powered by a 260 hp engine and could climb at 1,300 fpm and cruise at near 180 mph for about 1,300 miles because of the large wingtip fuel tanks. But despite all the extra power, the Navion’s speed was “airframe limited” and could never match the Bonanza’s 200+ mph speeds. Once the Mooney, with its 200 mph speed on just 200 hp, came along, all versions of the Navion fell further behind in the performance race.

There were even a few twin Navions built. But even the two 170 hp engines could not get this aircraft to the magic 200 mph cruise and fuel consumption was higher.

Events proved the North American decision to be a wise one as the Navion design never did “catch on” and was only sporadically manufactured until the 1970’s. There were many design changes and improvements along the way as only about 1,400 more Navions were ever built. The last, the Rangemaster “H” model (with doors this time), built in the early 1960’s, was a very good aircraft but still too slow.

The Navion has a firm handling. Its control response resembles those of a “lighter” AT-6 Texan trainer. The airplane goes where the pilot points it and rides well in turbulence (for the passengers but the pilot works some in bumpy air) and is quiet for a light airplane.

Many Navions still roam the skies today. They are kept in good shape by owners who love this aircraft, as they should, and there is even a very active Navion Society. The Navion has starred in some Hollywood productions. Steve Austin, the $6 Million Dollar Man, flew one in the TV series on a regular basis. A Charleston Hesston movie had the Navion doing carrier landing attempts before having to ditch the airplane.

Too bad the Navy would not let the movie people really land the airplane on the carrier. With the carrier doing 30 mph and a wind of at least 15 mph, the Navion’s 75 mph airspeed would have meant a ground speed of only 30 mph. That’s slow enough to stop in 400 ft. or at least to survive a barrier hit. Sadly, the Navion was denied this honor just as it was denied many of the honors it deserved that were given to faster airplanes just for their speed.

As for the Clues:
While the Piper Arrow had retractable landing gear, the trailing edge of the wing did not have a pronounced forward sweep as does the one in the contest photo. – The first Arrows had the “Hershey Bar” wing of Cherokees. Even the later versions’ wings had nearly equal tapering, not the straight Leading Edge/heavily swept forward Trailing edge of the Navion.

The Ryan Super Navion was a five-seat aircraft and always had large wing tip fuel tanks. – The contest aircraft has no wingtip tanks so that eliminates the Super Navion answer.

The Ryan Navion had a bubble canopy that slid rearwards, allowing entry or exiting the aircraft. The Navion also had fully exposed flap and aileron linkages – If those aren’t exposed flap and aileron linkages and hinges in the photo, I am not sure what would be.

The Piper Cherokee Six was a six-passenger aircraft that had conventional doors and 4 windows on each side of the fuselage. – Actually, this was not the best of clues although no one complained. It is hard to see if there are doors and not every airplane watcher realizes that four windows per side would mean the rearmost window would be visible behind the wing’s trailing edge. We will do better in the future.

Back to NTP Aviation History