Mooney worked  for various Colorado aircraft manufacturing companies, before moving to Wichita in 1929. With financial backing from Bridgeport Machine Company, he developed the Mooney A-1 and A-2, but the Depression closed the business in 1931. He continued to engineer and build aircraft in Colorado, Delaware, Missouri and Ohio. In 1939, Mooney and K.K. Culver formed the Culver Aircraft Corporation, featuring the Culver Cadet with the latest elliptical wing design and retractable undercarriage. After moving the company from Ohio to Wichita, in 1940, Mooney designed the PQ-8 and PQ-14 used by the Army and Navy. In July 1946, a new Mooney Aircraft Company was formed with a single seat, retractable gear plane called the M-18 “Mooney Mite.”