I realized the week he quoted was wrong, but it really doesn't matter what the exact week was. The real issue has to do with when the Taurus was first built and flown. As I said above, a statement in the original drawn plans said Ed flew the "contest prototype" Taurus for the first time "Thanksgiving 1961" which is near the end of November. If that statement is true, (and we really have no basis not to believe it is), then the plane Ed flew at the Detroit Invitational in 1961 could not have been the prototype for what we now call the Taurus. To summarize Cees's position, he believes the original of what we would all agree is a Taurus flew at least six months before the Thanksgiving date. I'm saying it first flew in November based solely on that piece of evidence above.

There was an ancestor of the commonly known Taurus that I pictured earlier, (that Ed apparently first gave the Taurus name to), that Ed DID fly in the 1961 NATS that summer according to Ray in post #131 of the "Ed Kazmirski's Taurus" thread. That plane was quite a bit different in moment lengths, and overall look. Most people would NOT call it a Taurus, but instead a pre-Taurus. Ed most likely flew that plane, or another unnamed plane that we don't really know about.

Since the Detroit Invitational was one of the premier events similar to the American TOC, and attendance was by invitation only, it is quite possible that the old modeling mags from late 1961 or early 1962 might mention the contest, and what Ed flew. I hope Ray, (who is the best at doing this kind of research), is out there looking through his archives right now. There might even be a picture of it.

Duane