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 fixed-wing aircraft that can takeoff/land on short runways. Many STOL-designed aircraft can operate on airstrips with harsh conditions (such as high altitude or ice). STOL aircraft, including tho ...

)

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

, 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 2020 census, Moultrie's population was 14,638. It was origina ...

, U.S. 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 area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jackson County, Michigan, Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population of the CDP was 1,258 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 ce ...

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, 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 fabri ...

designs and are popular with bush pilots 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 exceeds its critical value.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', p. 486. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

tundra tires A tundra tire (UK: ''tundra tyre'') is a large low-pressure tire used on light aircraft to allow operations on rough terrain. A common variant of tundra tire is the bushwheel brand. These tires include an integral inner tube with the valve man ...

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 air ...

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 ...

or amphibious configurations, although the newer MXT models have

tricycle gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...

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)