Monday 8 February 2010

Horn TH 1 at SAANZ Fly In Tauranga

I include this post loosely with my Mustang theme. While it does not claim to be a replica Mustang it was inspired by the Mustang lines.

I was delighted to see the Horn TH 1 ZK-TLH at the SAANZ flyin at Tauranga, because I have been aware of it stealthily lurking around for more than 20 years and this was the first time I had seen it. Tom Horn built this aircraft at Levin in the 1980's and it was one of the first indigenous design microlights in New Zealand. As noted above its lines were inspired by the Mustang and you can see this in the canopy and the tail. It is surprisingly big for a Class 1 microlight. It was first registered by Tom Horn in April 1989, and later sold to his brother Graham Horn at Taupo. More recently it has been bought by Brian Taylor of Whangarei who seems to get about more widely in the aircraft.

Does anyone else have any more information on this aircraft?

2 comments:

  1. The Horn seems to be based at Dargaville.
    It has been out-and-about there whenever I have called through recently.

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  2. I was delighted to see this too.

    I first saw this as it was designed and built in the Manawatu/Levin area. Two were planned. One by Tom and the other by Robert Laskey of Levin. Robert got side-tracked when most of the fuse and wings were done. I VERY nearly took it off his hands around 1998ish I think. I still regret not taking up his "free to a good home" offer...

    Brian heard about Roberts frame and that it was sitting somewhere near Waikanae (Paraparaumu). He aquired it while on holiday (big trailer, no weight) and has it as spares for his cutrrent TH 1.

    The current TH-1 has a Subaru 1800 and a recent turbo add-on. Brian has been working on inside fix-ups and will start the outside cosmetic work soon. It cruises at 100Kts. More power = more fuel use and higher temps. Not speed!!!

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