Mooney provides Military Mite

A while back, we came upon the following letter to the editor [Fred Quarles] in the MMOA Bulletin of November 1969. Now, thanks to Dr. Robert Schroeder (N118C), we have a photo to go along with it:

Gene Schouweiler of New Brighton, MN writes, "N4101, sn 276, was made at Kerrville, TX and sold to the Ballistics Research Laboratories at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland on 4/3/53.N4101drone75.jpg (38607 bytes)

"It appears that this was the first Mooney built at Kerrville as N4100, sn 275 was built at Wichita, Kansas and sold on Nov 13, 1952. The Ballistics Research Laboratories used the aircraft in a restricted category as a test bed for auto pilots and on one flight at a gross weight of 1050 lbs.

"On the left side of the fuselage, just below the canopy under a coat of paint the following lettering can be made out: TARGET AERIAL DRONE, Model XK2, SN 0001. I have no more information as to the activities of the aircraft while it had these designations on its side...."

February 11, 2000