Meyers 200
Single-engined retractable-gear light aircraft
title: "Meyers 200" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1950s-united-states-civil-utility-aircraft", "meyers-aircraft", "aero-commander-aircraft", "single-engined-tractor-aircraft", "low-wing-aircraft", "aircraft-first-flown-in-1955", "aircraft-with-retractable-tricycle-landing-gear", "single-engined-piston-aircraft"] description: "Single-engined retractable-gear light aircraft" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyers_200" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Single-engined retractable-gear light aircraft ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox aircraft"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Meyers 200 |
| image | Meyers 200 N2987T.jpg |
| caption | A 1966-built Aero Commander 200D |
| national_origin | United States of America |
| manufacturer | Meyers Aircraft Company |
| introduction | 1955 |
| more_users | |
| produced | |
| :: |
| name=Meyers 200 | image=Meyers 200 N2987T.jpg | caption=A 1966-built Aero Commander 200D | type= | national_origin=United States of America | manufacturer=Meyers Aircraft Company | designer= | first_flight= | introduction=1955 | retired= | status= | primary_user= | more_users= | produced= | number_built= | developed_from= | variants=
The Meyers 200 is a single-engined light aircraft produced in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s.
Design
It was the brainchild of Al Meyers and was a development of his Meyers MAC-145 design. The holder of a number of speed records in its class, the Meyers 200 is widely admired for its clean lines, and is also known for its exceptionally sturdy airframe. This strength is derived from a tubular 4130 chrome-moly steel truss structure with aluminum skin that protects occupants.
Acquisition by Aero Commander
In 1966, the Aero Commander division of North American Rockwell purchased the rights to the Meyers 145 and 200, as part of a strategy to capture a share of the light aircraft market in the United States. Known briefly as the Aero Commander 200, it soon emerged that the firm could not produce the design economically. Meyers' firm had been virtually hand-building each aircraft and no jigs or tooling for the kind of mass production envisaged by Aero Commander even existed at the time the rights were bought. Having spent US$4 million to produce just US$3 million worth of product, Aero Commander ceased production in 1968 and sold the rights to the Interceptor Corporation, which developed a turboprop-powered version as the Interceptor 400. Ownership of the rights eventually passed to Prop-Jets, Inc., later known as Interceptor Aircraft Corporation. In 2014 the Global Parts Group, via a separately formed affiliate company called Interceptor Aviation Inc, purchased the rights along with all associated assets and intellectual property related to the Meyers 200 and Interceptor 400 model aircraft.
Operational service
The Meyers 200D has never had an in-flight structural failure and has never had a Federal Aviation Administration mandated Airworthiness Directive (AD) issued against the airframe. The 4130 chrome-moly steel tubular roll cage and understructure act like a race car protective cage during a crash. Several Meyers aircraft have been forced down in the trees and off airport runways with documented instances of the occupants walking away with only minor injuries or a broken bone.
Variants
Meyers
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Meyers200A.jpg" caption="Meyers 200A"] ::
- 200 — single prototype powered by Continental O-470
- 200A — production version powered by Continental IO-470 (11 built)
- 200B — (17 built)
- 200C — raised roof-line and larger windshield (9 built)
- 200D — engine replaced with Continental IO-520-A and flush riveted wings (8 built)
[[Aero Commander]]
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Meyers-200.jpg" caption="An Aero Commander 200D Taxiing"] ::
- 200 — Aero Commander version of the 200D (77 built)
- 200 — Aero Commander version of the 200E (1 prototype built)
- T200E — experimental twin-engine conversion - never built
Interceptor
- 400 — Turboprop based on the 200
Specifications (Meyers 200D)
|ref=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1967–68 |prime units?=imp General characteristics
|genhide=
|crew=1 |capacity=3 passengers |length m= |length ft=24 |length in=4 |length note= |span m= |span ft=30 |span in=6 |span note= |height m= |height ft=7 |height in=4 |height note= |wing area sqm= |wing area sqft=161.5 |wing area note= |aspect ratio= |airfoil=root: NACA 23015; tip: NACA 4412 |empty weight kg= |empty weight lb=1940 |empty weight note= |gross weight kg= |gross weight lb= |gross weight note= |max takeoff weight kg= |max takeoff weight lb=3000 |max takeoff weight note= |fuel capacity=40 USgal normal, 74 USgal usable with auxiliary tanks in wing
|more general= Powerplant
|eng1 number=1 |eng1 name=Continental IO-520-A |eng1 type=air-cooled six-cylinder horizontally-opposed |eng1 kw= |eng1 hp=285 |eng1 note= |power original=
|prop blade number= |prop name= |prop dia m= |prop dia ft= |prop dia in= |prop dia note= Performance
|perfhide=
|max speed kmh= |max speed mph=215 |max speed kts= |max speed note= |max speed mach= |cruise speed kmh=333 |cruise speed mph=210 |cruise speed kts= |cruise speed note=(max cruise) |stall speed kmh= |stall speed mph=54 |stall speed kts= |stall speed note=(wheels and flaps down) |never exceed speed kmh= |never exceed speed mph= |never exceed speed kts= |never exceed speed note= |range km= |range miles=900 |range nmi= |range note=(normal fuel, 45 minutes reserve) |endurance= |ceiling m= |ceiling ft=18500 |ceiling note= |climb rate ms= |climb rate ftmin=1400 |climb rate note= |time to altitude= |thrust/weight=
|more performance=
- Take-off run to 50 ft (15 m): 1200 ft
- Landing run from 50 ft (15 m): 1150 ft
|avionics=
References
References
- Sport Aviation. (June 1960)
- Air Progress. (December 1971)
- {{Harvnb. Taylor. 1967
- "The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage".
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