Andy;

The answer to your question I believe is that it is a PRE-Taurus....kind of a link between the Orion and the MAN Taurus, (the plane in the ad). According to magazine and picture documentation provided by Ray in the Ed Kaz Taurus thread, (page 7 post 131), it was flown at the 1961 NATS, and gathered a lot of interest. As you mentioned, it doesn't look anything like what we would come to know as the popular Taurus. If it had a different paint scheme, you might look at it as maybe a highly modified trike gear Orion, but he called that 1961 plane a "Taurus". He tried a long nose moment and short tail moment on this 1961 plane. He obviously didn't like the results, as the next version which appeared after the '61 NATS...(the final Taurus), was the reverse, with a short nose and long tail moment. One report said the 1961 NATS Taurus crashed due to radio problems.

I don't mean to challenge Cee's theory in his own thread, but we are looking for the "true history" of what really happened back then. If his theory is true, one term needs to be fully explained. What is meant by "contest Taurus"?

Unless I misunderstand him, Cees says the "contest Taurus" is on the right side of the crate. This is the plane Cees is recreating now, (and it certainly looks like a recognizable Taurus). My understanding of the "contest Taurus" is the plane spoken of on the prototype plans where the term "contest Taurus" is actually used, (drawn on Dec 6, 1961 which also mentions the 1st flight as being at Thanksgiving 1961). I believe that at least one, and probably both planes in the crate were built according to that plan. If Cee's "contest Taurus" in the crate in April 1962 was in existance in March of 1961 as Cees says, why didn't Ed fly the more advanced second generation Taurus at the 1961 NATS, (summer of 1961), instead of what the magazine and picture says he flew? There is no way the right side fuselage in the April 1962 Africa crate could have been in existance in March of 1961, (several months before the 1961 NATS), unless it was already built at the time of the 1961 NATS. Why fly a plane that is of earlier vintage when both were supposedly available to use? Of course, another explanation might be that the magazine account and picture of the plane Ed flew at the 1961 NATS was wrong, but there is no evidence for that assumption. That article and picture were published 46+ years ago, (at the time)...we have to assume it is accurate.

The first plane we have actual evidence for that looks like the real Taurus we know, (contest or otherwise) appears in the article about the April 1962 trip to Africa. There is no doubt that both the planes in the crate from April 1962, are genuine "in final form" Taurus models.

When the 12-6-61 plan is finally examined, I believe it will look like the Africa planes used in 1962, and later at the 1962 NATS. This was the plane in the MAN article....its first flight was Thanksgiving of 1961 as the plan says...after the '61 NATS.

Duane