A Merlin by any other name - Aero Resources Inc

com;lluedThe Merlin ... (was) designed aroundour basic philosophy of matching pressurizationto the altitude performance capabilitiesof the airplane. Our aim is to fill a voidthat existed for a light transport type airplanein the six to 10 place category thatoffers high performance and pressurizedcomfort up to 30,000 feet-an airplane thatcruises between 250 and 300 miles perhour, yet still is able to use small airportswith 2,000 to 2,500 foot runways, andthat can be marketed in the $200,000 to$300,000 price category.That is a quote from remarks madeby Edward J. Swearingen Jr. in January1965 to introduce the Merlin. Boththe designer and the. airplane are stillactive, even though both the man andthe product, together with the companyhe had formed, have gonethrough many changes.Swearingen got the airplane fromfirst flight to certification in 15 monthsand made the first customer deliverythree months later. That, in the currentcycle of four-to-six year developmentcycles, is as amazing as the differencebetween the first retail price of$335,000 and the current version's$1,970,000 (both without avionics).As the accompanying spotter'sguide indicates, there have been almostas many changes to the Merlin inthe ensuing 19 years as there havebeen to the value of our dollar. But thecurrent version, the Fairchild 300,shares many common characteristicswith the first Merlin. It is a round, tubularfuselage (round is best for pressurizationaccording to the engineers)sitting on a wing; the fail-safe approachto structures is very much apart of both, as is flush riveting. Visually,the lineage is obvious.The 300 is a development of the last66. FEBRUARY 1984