C-GBVY, the Bearskin Airlines Fairchild Metroliner 23 that I flew on. Photo – Bernie Leighton | AirlineReporter.com

This is a continuation of Day of the Turbine (Part 1): Flying on the Convair 580 & Day of the Turbine (Part 2): The Original King Air

The Swearingen Merlin began in a manner akin to the Pacific Airmotive Tradewind. It existed to answer the question, “how can we modernize a Beech piston twin?” By the time Ed Swearingen and his partners had finished their modifications, the aircraft had slowly evolved into its own turbine-powered type. As far as executive aircraft went, the Merlin was relatively popular. It was produced at the Swearingen plant in San Antonio from 1965 until 1998.

The Metroliner came to be as a stretch of the Merlin. It was equipped with the same inverted Garret AiResearch TPE331s, but lengthened to accommodate up to nineteen passengers. Fairchild purchased Swearingen, but continued the Metroliner and Merlin brands. Indeed, they kept production of the Metroliner going until 2001.

C-GJVB, a Metroliner 23, was built in 1998 and I set to take a flight in the classic airliner.