Maule Air, Inc. is a manufacturer of light, single-engined, short take-off and landing (

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...

)

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

, based in

Moultrie, Georgia Moultrie is the county seat and largest city of Colquitt County, Georgia, United States. It is the third largest city in Southwest Georgia, behind Thomasville and Albany. As of the 2010 census, Moultrie's population was 14,268. It was originally ...

, USA. The company delivered 2,500 aircraft in its first 50 years of business.

History

Belford D. Maule (1911–1995) designed his first aircraft, the M-1 starting at age 19. He founded the company Mechanical Products Co. in

Napoleon, Michigan Napoleon is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population of the CDP was 1,258 at the 2010 census. It is located within Napoleon Township. Geography According to t ...

to market his own starter design. In 1941 the B.D. Maule Co. was founded, and Maule produced tailwheels and fabric testers. In 1953 he began design work, and started aircraft production with the "Bee-Dee" M-4 in 1957. The company is a family-owned enterprise. Its owner,

June Maule June De Etta Maule (February 1, 1917 – October 29, 2009) was an American businesswoman. Maule was the owner and manager of Maule Air, a manufacturer of light, single-engined STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) aircraft headquartered in Moultrie, G ...

, widow of B. D. Maule, remained directly involved with factory production until her death in 2009 at the age of 92.

Products

The aircraft produced by Maule Air are

tube-and-fabric Tube-and-fabric construction is a method of building airframes, which include the fuselages and wings of airplanes. It consists of making a framework of metal tubes (generally welded together) and then covering the framework with an aircraft fab ...

designs and are popular with

bush pilots Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally ...

, thanks to their very low

stall speed In fluid dynamics, a stall is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil as angle of attack increases.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', p. 486. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. This occurs when the ...

, their tundra tires and

oleo strut An oleo strut is a pneumatic air–oil hydraulic shock absorber used on the landing gear of most large aircraft and many smaller ones. This design cushions the impacts of landing and damps out vertical oscillations. It is undesirable for an airp ...

landing gear. Most Maules are built with

tailwheel Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

configurations, although the newer MXT models have

tricycle gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

Aircraft models

Gallery

File:maule.mx-7-235.superrocket.g-iton.arp.jpg, Maule MX-7-235 Super Rocket, built 1987 File:Maule-Amphibian.780.jpg, A Maule amphibian File:maule.m7-235b.arp.jpg, Maule M7-235B Super Rocket, built 1999

References

External links

Maule Air, Inc. website

Maule aircraft models
{{Maule aircraft Aircraft manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Colquitt County, Georgia Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1941 1941 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)