Warbird Information Exchange

Picture brings up a question. Why did Mooney move from the airplane capital of the world to Kerrville , Tx. I know this is Gods country, but that seemed like a risky move. Did he just want to prove you could build airplanes with goat farmers or what. Still not much else goes on industry wise in this part of the world. Don't get testy locals, my dads company did sub-contract work for Mooney back in the day.

Ober,

I did a little research on the Mooney move. According to Larry Ball's "Those Remarkable Mooneys" the Mooney factory was having a very hard time getting and retaining employees in Wichita. The Korean conflict had made it hard to hire employees, and the pay scale was high what with Boeing, Cessna, Beechcraft etc. being in town too. The second reason for the move was Wichita Muncipal becoming McConnell AFB. The Mooney airstrip and property were inside the traffic pattern and would have to move.
The publisher of "Flight" magazine, George Haddaway, searched all over Texas (he lived in Dallas) for a suitable site. Kerrville had a population with a good work ethic and needed some form of industry, so they leased the site that became the factory to Mooney for $1.00 per year for 99 years.

As a personal aside, the original factory was a WWII hangar built for the Army Air Forces, and is where our '64 E was built. Here is a photo of the upper story that Mooney installed in the hangar. Stanley, the man in the dark shirt, gave us the tour in May of 2004--he started with Mooney in 1958!


Scott