Half Monocoupe, Half Howard, All Business
“I like to cruise between 11 and 14,000 ft, with 23" of manifold pressure, about 1800 rpm, and about 225 mph true airspeed (TAS).” states Mark Holliday, owner of the Mullicoupe N274Y (s/n JRY-03-2), the second example of the type built by Jim Younkin at his Springdale, Arkansas, shop.
A legend in the field, Jim Younkin is known mostly for his re-creations of racers of the Golden Age, starting with the Travel Air Mystery ship, Mr Mulligan, and a few other creations, such as the “Goliath” super Stearman, the Mystery Pacer, and a Beech Staggerwing production line that cranked out four better than new examples of the fabled machine.
Younkin traces back the genesis of the Mullicoupe:
“Bud Dake and I were sitting under Mr. Mulligan’s wing at Blakesburg in 1982. We were thinking how neat it would be to have an airplane like that sized for the R-985 for personal transportation, rather than the R-1340 Mr Mulligan had.”
The concept matured and became a cross-breed between Mr Mulligan and a Monocoupe 110 Special. For a number of years, the Mullicoupe was a fill-in project at Younkin’s shop. Three were built for Jim Younkin, Bud Dake and Red Lerille. After Bud’s passing, number two was sold to Mark Holliday, of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, who keeps the plane at Platte Valley Airport, northeast of Denver, Colorado, and Lake Elmo MN.
Mark comments:
“I grew up in general aviation. My dad had an FBO in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. I soloed on my 16th birthday, obtained my private on my 17th, commercial at 18, Airframe and Powerplant mechanic shortly after.
In the beginning, I mostly flew deliveries and charter flights. In 1984 I started with Piedmont Airlines, then USAirways and retired in 2005. I got involved with the Vintage Aero Flying Museum (VAFM) of Fort Lupton, Colorado about 10 years ago.
My first airplane was a Culver Cadet, and I have owned -and still own- quite a few Swifts. I have flown all of the airplanes in the VAFM collection, including the Fokker D-VII, D-VIII, DR 1 Triplane, SE.5As, Sopwith Pup, and a BT-13.”
The Mullicoupe is definitely not for the Sunday pilot, as is apparent by Mark’s evaluation of the airplane:
“Preflight is a regular walk-around, with some close attention to the engine-prop combination. To get in the airplane, if you are tall enough, you back up to the door, one hand on the strut, the other on the seat, and you push yourself up into the cabin. Otherwise, there is a small ladder that hooks up to the door frame and allows you to climb in. Once you’re in, it is a pretty standard airplane.
Starting is pretty much regular R985 procedure: boost pump on, a few quick shots of primer, hit the starter button, and the engine roars to life. For taxi, you have to s-turn, after asking your passenger to keep an eye open for anything you might not see. It has a non-steerable tailwheel, so you maneuver with differential braking. Sitting on the left side, you can see ahead pretty well through a cutout on top of the instrument panel, but are pretty much blind on the right side.
Once aligned at the end on the runway, lock the tailwheel, and advance the throttle to 36 inches manifold pressure - the maximum authorized in normal operation- for about 2300 rpm. The acceleration is awesome. It takes only a couple seconds for the tail to come up, and you are up and climbing. With a reasonable load -about half tanks- the airplane rolls for 500 to 600 ft.
I like to climb at about 160 IAS, which, depending on the load, gives a 1500 to 2000 fpm rate of climb. I have seen around 4000 fpm in a max climb, but forward visibility is pretty poor with the nose so high.
It does beautiful rolls, loops and cuban eights. I never spun the airplane or snap-rolled it, because I think it is not that kind of an airplane. I have flown only one Monocoupe before, but the Mullicoupe is completely different.
It also is faster by a 35-40 mph margin than a regular Howard, and marginally -about 5 mph- slower than Mr Mulligan. It is not as stable as a Howard DGA but I am amazed at how nice the ailerons are for a high wing airplane. They are very responsive, with a light feel, and a good roll rate. The rudder is powerful, and, yet, fairly sensitive.
There are four fuel tanks for a total of 140 gallons. The 22 gallons per hour consumption is a little hard on the credit cards, but the airplane is a great means of transportation.
I had it for five years now, and flew it for over 270 hours. In this time frame, I have not had any trouble with it, the maintenance being limited to normal items, such as tires, etc. It is a very well designed, very well built airplane.”
By Gilles Auliard
