![The Meyers 200A was the first variant of the 200 line ever produced. [Credit: Wikimedia Commons]](https://flyingmag1.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/640px-Meyers200A.jpg?width=640&height=306)
Lost Wings is FLYING’s ongoing look back at aircraft that once captured pilots’ imaginations but faded quietly from the flightline. These machines—some bold experiments, others everyday workhorses—represent the restless innovation and craftsmanship that shaped general aviation’s past. Each installment revisits a design that aimed high, flew well, and, for one reason or another, slipped into history.
There are numerous stories across aviation history, and across history in general, of a viable product coming to market and, after proving its worth, falling out of favor due to economic unviability or other social factors.
Concorde is perhaps the most infamous example of these tales. And while it’s always unfortunate to see an aircraft bite the dust for ancillary reasons other than performance, the lasting examples are often considered timeless, instilling envy and nostalgia when one of the remaining happens to show up on the runway.
The Meyers 200 is one of these fallen classics.
Initial Development
Developed by talented aircraft designer Al Meyers, the Meyers 200 was ahead of its time.
Born in 1908, Meyers was a gifted mechanical engineer who, in the lead-up to World War II, worked for top companies like Stinson Aircraft and aviation pioneers like Chance Vought and Glenn Martin. Meyers, anticipating an increased demand in training aircraft brought on by the war effort, moved to Michigan and started the Meyers Aircraft Company.
Meyers quickly put forth his first design, the OTW (Out To Win), a conventional biplane with tandem seating that first flew in 1936. The aircraft saw a limited production run and was even sponsored by the federal government under the Civilian Pilot Training program, designed to boost the number of eligible pilots during the war.
During the following years of direct U.S. involvement in WWII, much of the country’s focus at home was solely on achieving victory abroad—and Meyers’ company was no exception. After the war, Meyers returned to aircraft manufacturing with a spate of new designs, the MAC-125 and 145.
Hitting production in 1942, both designs were low-wing monoplanes with side-by-side seating for two. The names of both models corresponded to the horsepower of their respective engines.
Meyers wanted to expand on the 145 design and develop a four-seat aircraft capable of family flying but that didn’t compromise on performance—and the Meyers 200 was born.
While the prototype’s first flight was in 1953, the Meyers 200 didn’t see certification until 1958, with production beginning in ’59. Throughout its six years of manufacturing, four different variants of the 200 were made—the 200A, 200B, 200C, and 200D—with each new edition improving on the previous.
In 1965, the 200D debuted, and along with being the best-performing 200 of the bunch, it was also the last aircraft ever produced by Meyers.
The 200D boasted a higher cabin roof than its predecessors, with wraparound cabin windows that provided pilots nearly 360-degree of visibility. It was powered by the 250 hp Continental IO-250-A and set a number of speed-related records.
Competitors for the Meyers 200 at the time included the Piper Comanche 250 and Beechcraft Bonanza. While the 200 was certainly faster, it lagged behind both aircraft in terms of payload capacity and was several thousand dollars more expensive than the other options.
Aero Acquisition
During the time immediately after WWII, some 10 years before the development of the Meyers 200, America entered into what’s now known as the postwar general aviation boom.
In 1939, as few as 1,000 pilots had graduated from flight training, a number that ballooned to over 165,000 in 1943 at the height of United States’ involvement in the war. With many of these newly minted pilots returning to civilian life, conventional wisdom said that the GA community was about to explode. Ad campaigns were run, terms were coined, and the mission was to put an “airplane in every garage.” As a result, an estimated 30,000 aircraft were built in 1946.
Everyone wanted a piece of the red-hot GA aircraft market, particularly the major defense contractors that still had the capability of mass-producing aircraft as they had been over the last few years. Even though the Meyers 200 didn’t directly benefit from the initial postwar boom, the movement’s success continued well into the 1960s, where an estimated 9,000 light-twin and single-engine airplanes were still being produced each year.
By late 1965, Meyers was facing financial issues. So he struck a deal with Aero Commander, a subsidiary of defense conglomerate North American Rockwell, for the rights to the Meyers 145 and 200.
After a production run of 69 planes in 1966 and 20 in 1967, and a merger between Aero Commander and its parent company, Aero ceased production of the aircraft.
Production Issues
One tenant of the Meyers Aircraft Company was that each aircraft was built to order, essentially by hand.
Meyers employed this practice to protect its business from overproduction issues that plagued many smaller aircraft manufacturers at the time. Because each aircraft was built in such a methodical way, no tools for mass-production even existed—a fact that Aero Commander found out only after it had acquired the rights.
Aero Commander went bottom up on its investment, spending $4 million to produce $3 million worth of aircraft. Overall, between Meyers Aircraft Company and Aero Commander, 141 Meyers 200s were reportedly produced, with fewer than 100 still flying.
Lasting Legacy
In addition to being a testament of aviation passion and ingenuity, the Meyers 200 remains one of the safest aircraft ever assembled. The airframe consists of a tubular 4130 chrome-alloy steel structure with aluminum skin that runs from the firewall to the rear fuselage bulkhead.
Throughout the entire history of the aircraft, never has an airworthiness directive been issued for the airframe. According to the Meyers Aircraft Owners Association, many Meyers 200 have been forced down among trees and off-airport runways with occupants walking away with only minor injuries.
