ORIGINAL: UStik
Only a detail, but may I remind of our former findings regarding this picture. Evan posted it (#131 p6) and said it was shot at the 1961 US Nats (without specifying the source). We noticed that the model has the new Taurus paint scheme and an Orion wing. Later we found out that Ed had different wings (thickness) already on the Orion. Seems the Taurus wing has the new nose and the strip ailerons, that's all. One source said Ed flew a modified Orion at the 1961 Nats. The development Astro Hog - Orion - Taurus is obvious. And the Orion had 68" wingspan and 690 sqin wing area. So this plane might be the 1961 Nats model.
This was definitely a hybrid, or transitional plane between the Orion and the prototype version of the Taurus. The Taurus kit came later and had some additional subtle differences. To me this is an interesting story to watch this evolutionary process, and to hear Ed's explation of why he made the changes, (in the Jan 1963 MAN Taurus article).
In the post mentioned, (p6 #131), I take the information from the source as factual, especially when posted with a quote or picture from a publication mentioned in the post which I assume he has in front of him. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of old magazine articles, but occasionally mistakes can be, and are made in the original articles themselves. In my own articles, some of the picture captions were not quite right, and some facts were unintentionally twisted.
Opinions or INTERPRETATIONS of the data are a whole different matter
. As anyone who has read this thread should know, it's hard to get everyone on the same page. Usually though the true picture eventually becomes more clear.
Duane