MBB Bo 209

Bo 209 Monsun
Role Civil utility aircraft
Manufacturer Bölkow; later MBB
First flight 22 December 1967
Number built 102


The MBB Bo 209 Monsun (originally the MHK-101) is a two-seat light aircraft that was developed in Germany in the late 1960s.

Design and development

The design started as a redesign of the Bo 208 under Bölkow technical director Dr Hermann Mylius but resulted in a vastly different aircraft with little commonality of parts with its predecessor. The fuselage was now wider and incorporated a retractable nose wheel. The wings were redesigned and relocated to a low-wing configuration (the Bo 208 was a high-wing aircraft) and made foldable for towing and storage. The aircraft was marketed with a choice of the fixed or retractable nose wheel, either a 150-hp or 160-hp Lycoming engine, and an optional variable-pitch propeller. A trainer version with dual controls was also manufactured.

With this broad array of equipment options Bölkow displayed the aircraft at the Air Show in Hanover 1970: 57 orders of the new type were drawn in advance. A commercial success of the project seemed secured, but the fusion of the Bölkow GmbH into the MBB company 1968 led to the economic decision to stop building civil aircraft. Although there were 102 Monsun manufactured between 1969 and 1971. A United States businessman invested in the model, secured funding, and started shipping factory equipment to Georgia. Before completion of the transition, the investor committed suicide after losses in stock market speculation.[1] MBB decided in February 1972 to stop production despite there still being 275 orders outstanding.

In the late 90's Dr. Mylius's son, Albert Mylius, completed a totally revised version of his father's design under a new company "Mylius Flugzeugwerk GmbH & Co KG" based in Bitburg. Two models were produced: a single seat developed as a low cost aerobatic airplane (MY-102) and a two-seat (MY-103) Mylius Aircraft which has some variations over the original Bo 209 design, like wider cockpit, better handling characteristics and improved overall performance (including aerobatic rating) with a more powerful 200HP engine.

Variants

Specifications (Bo 209-160)

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1971-72

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Notes

  1. ↑ Dave Weiman (January 1979). "The Messerschmitt that was supposed to be made in the U.S.". Air Progress.
  2. ↑ econ cruise - 60% power

References

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