Cees/Ray/Pimmnz

I just got off the phone this afternoon with Dennis Hunt, and he confirmed the S. Africa trip was in April of 1962. It was a three week trip throughout Africa that Dennis had been working to arrange with Top Flite since 1960.

Apparently in the beginning, there was no guarantee that Ed would be able to ship his planes there, so Ed worked directly WITH Dennis as the Taurus was being designed and built so Dennis would have an exact duplicate there waiting for him when he arrived. He sent Dennis drawings, (most of them very crude on brown paper), and told Dennis what to do to build his properly. The picture on post #298 shows Dennis posing with his own exact Taurus duplicate. The specs of the crate, and arrangements for transporting it were handled by Dennis.

I hope you folks are sitting down. Dennis recalls the two Taurus models that traveled to S. Africa as being IDENTICAL if his memory serves correctly.[X(][X(] I don't know if other evidence presented in this thread may serve to refresh his memory; it would be interesting to get further commentary after he reads the whole thread.

If the two planes were identical, it means the second Taurus fuselage on the right side of the crate with the military pilot and more streamlined fuselage was built at a later time, most likely after the 1962 Nats, and before the 1963 World Championships. Pictures dated August 1963 (Carrier photos), clearly show the Taurus 2 with wing #3. As has been proposed by Cees, an earlier wing was modified to produce the "carrier wing", and maybe the striped wing, (alternate wing paint scheme). Both Taurus versions were most likely present in Belgium...one with reeds and one with proportional. It has been discussed previously that Ed chose to fly his "reed" Taurus, (now the VR/CS Taurus), because of the windy conditions in Belgium.

Dennis states that Ed was always making changes and learning from experience. My own best guess is that the striped wing, (alternate paint scheme wing) was built/modified last, as it shows up in later photos, and has more modern hinged control surfaces. Ed kept these two Taurus versions after he left R/C since they were the most important to him, and held the most memories. The Taurus 2 probably became his primary plane after the 1963 "worlds". I don't see any evidence of pictures after 1963 in Belgium of the original VR/CS Taurus. I think it was "retired" after the World Championships.

I know there is still a lot of speculation, but please go "easy on me" everybody.

Hopefiully Dennis will catch up on the thread, and respond himself at a later time.

Duane