The Ryan Navion is a light, fixed-wing aircraft designed and initially built by North American Aviation in the 1940s. It was later produced by Ryan Aeronautical Company and the Tubular Steel Corporation (TUSCO). The Navion was designed to cater to the expected postwar boom in civilian aviation and was modeled along the lines of the North American P-51 Mustang.
The Navion was originally designed as the NA-143 by North American Aviation at the end of World War II, with a total of 1,109 units built in 1946-1947, which included 83 L-17As for the US Army and National Guard. Ryan Aeronautical Company acquired the design in 1947 and produced an additional 1,240 Navions, powered by Continental O-470 or Lycoming O-435 engines, including 163 units for the US armed forces. Production ceased in 1951, with Ryan wanting to focus on defense production.
Thereafter, production rights passed to the TUSCO Corporation, which in 1960 launched the Navion Rangemaster G, a revised version with a more conventional five-seat cabin with access via car-type doors instead of the sliding canopy of earlier Navions. Production of the Rangemaster G began in 1961, and by mid-1962, the rate was reported to be at 20 per month. However, Navion Aircraft Company, set up by TUSCO, went bankrupt, and the rights to the Navion were later acquired by the Navion Aircraft Corporation, established by members of the American Navion Society in mid-1965.
The Navion has been primarily used by the United States Air Force and United States Army, with a total of 2,634 units built across all variants, including the Camair Twin Navion and the Temco D-16. Today, the Navion is still an active aircraft in use by private owners and aviation enthusiasts worldwide.