Originally Posted by
FlyingRon
The early V tails had E-225's in them, as did some of the Navions. The 225 in the Debonair was an IO-470J. This is an engine that was never seen in a Navion. The IO-470C that some of the V-tails had was also a Navion engine, as were the IO-520's (don't know which submodel the Bos used, the Navion used a -BB). My first IO-550-B came out of a brand new A36 Bo.
The Bo's were always going to out perform the Navions of the same HP because of a couple of issues. You are correct, the Debs usually have a lighter empty weight and a higher gross than the Navion, about a hundred pounds in both directions. Of course in my biased opinion the Navion has more comfort and the stouter gear and bigger tires are real nice when operating off grass.