
I was asked a question recently in a post about which aircraft I had flown was my favorite, so I will attempt to answer it this way! I am basing my answer on cost, operating cost if I owned it, and the time frame of the 50's and 60's. I realize that there a lot of aircraft on the market now which would beat these aircraft head to head, but I haven't flown anything modern besides the King air 200.
Best single engine---Cessna 210N, a pressurized 6 place aircraft, with a service ceiling of 29,000 feet, 195knot cruise speed, with a stalling speed of 58 knots, which means you can get it in and out of short fields pretty easy. A 310 horsepower engine, burns about 18 gal/hr at cruise settings, with a 972 mile range, with a 45 min reserve.
The "Pod" on right wing is a radar antenna!

Believe it or not, if you run up pressurization before ditching, the thing will float a heck of a long time. Might come in handy if doing international flights!

The office in a 210N
Twin Engine aircraft---Beechcraft "B" model Baron! For what you get, a 210MPH aircraft, 6 place, 74 knot stalling speed and 1,000 mile range, this aircraft is hard to beat considering operating cost and so forth....A Cessna 310P or K is real close in the numbers for the Baron, but the Baron is a more stable instrument platform for IFR work.


"K" model 310
4 Engine aircraft---Douglas DC-6B is a powerful freight hauler and was a nice passenger aircraft for years with the airlines. Its handling qualities'.. are the best of any 4 engine aircraft I ever flew. Very stable aircraft, easy to fly, but as far as owning one, couldn't do it because of operating costs. It, like a number of 4 engine aircraft during that time frame, had high maitance down time, when you consider maintance hours vs flight hours.
