Navion History
Southern Navion Air Group
Designed by North American Avation
The Navion aircraft was designed and built by North American Aviation in 1945-1946 and later produced by the Ryan Aeronautical Company.
A total of 2349 Navion series aircraft were built by these two companies. (Later TUSCO and other companies produced variations and
modifications to these aircraft.) Navions promised an affordable introduction into personal aircraft ownership to the many newly trained
pilots returning from WWII. The first flyaway price was $6100.00 with the 185HP Continental engine. Initial production aircraft boasted
149mph cruising speed at 3500', range of 550 miles on 40 gallons of gas and a useful load of 1070 lbs including 4 passengers and 80
pounds of baggage. The President of North American Aviation, Dutch Kindleberg, was quoted as saying "I want it built as well as our
fighers." North American Aviation is famous for building the P-51 Mustang, B-25 Mitchell, and F-86 among other aircraft.
Many Navion
aircraft have been modified and updated with modern avionics and modern more powerful engines. Horsepower can be as high as 310HP
and fuel capacity can be up to 148 gallons. Take off distance can be less than 200 feet when lightly loaded and range can be well
over 1200 miles.
Now it is difficult to find any two Navions that are alike!