While At EAA AirVenture 2016, The ANN Crew Had Marching Orders To Find Interesting Airplanes At Oshkosh

One of the planes we spotted on the field was an airplane called the Mooney M10 Cadet. It could best be described as a love child between the Mooney Aircraft Company and the ERCO Ercoupe. With this airplane, Mooney took an aircraft that was originally certificated by the CAA as, “characteristically incapable of spinning,” and changed it so that it could be used as a primary trainer that could enter a tailspin.

Research on spin proof airplanes actually started shortly after World War I, advanced in the 1920s, and the Ercoupe was certified in 1939 as being “incapable of spinning.” A great number of these “spin proof” Ercoupes continue to operate and qualify under the definition of a light sport aircraft.

Design engineer and renowned aircraft safety proponent, Fred Weick, spent several years with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, which later became NASA), researching the concept of a spin proof airplane. He later joined the Engineering Research Corporation (ERCO) to bring his research into commercial production in 1939 with their Ercoupe.

As time went on after World War II, the Ercoupe continued in production with follow-on companies and its name was eventually changed to the Aircoupe. Mooney acquired the type certificate in the late 1960s with a plan to provide a primary trainer under its moniker that would promote sales of their well-known high performance four place aircraft. If you take a close look, you can see that the Mooney tail replaced the Ercoupe twin tail so that the Mooney’s trademark “reverse sweep” rudder would be easily recognized. It’s reported on Wikipedia that only 59 of these aircraft were built.

It’s interesting to note that Mooney’s new proposed trainer plane has been introduced as the M10T. It also makes us wonder if, in this day and age of concern over loss of control accidents, Mooney’s new trainer will be spinnable or non-spinnable.

(Image by ANN at AirVenture 2016)

FMI: www. ercoupe.com/info_1.php