Nesmith Cougar (Only One) of New Zealand

The next type of sport aircraft to be registered here was the one off (to date) Nesmith Cougar.

The Nesmith Cougar was developed by Robert Nesmith of Houston, Texas in 1957.  At that time Nesmith thought he could improve on Steve Wittman's earlier Wittman Tailwind, but in fact the two are so similar that they are very difficult to tell apart.  The Cougar was developed for a higher powered engine (the 118 HP O-235 instead of Wittman's original 85HP Tailwind)  Of course, builders have installed more powerful engines in both aircraft, and Tailwind ZK-RET currently has a 160HP O-320 engine).  The Cougar originally did not have flaps but some builders have added them.  The dimensions of the Cougar and the Tailwind are within inches of each other and they both use the same 83 square feet wing with the NACA 4309 airfoil.  Take your pick!

The Cougar's length is 18 feet 11 inches (5.77 metres) and wingspan is 20 feet 6 inches (6.25 metres).  Empty wieght is around 624 pounds (283 Kg) and MAUW is 1,250,pounds (567 Kg).  And with an O-235 engine the top speed is listed as 195 mph.

ZK-CNA2 (c/n RD 1) was first registered on 22/11/11 as a Class 2 microlight to Rodney J Davis of Blenheim, and it is photo'd above at Omaka on 26/2/15 with Rod Davis at the controls.  The registration ZK-CNA refers back to the first ZK-CNA which was a Piper Pawnee that Rod Davis flew as an ag pilot for Aerial Work (Marlborough) in the 1970s.  ZK-CNA2 has an O-235 engine and was built over a period of around 20 years, with its first flight carried out by Jerry Chisum on 24 July 2013.  Rod Davis also previously built Thorp T 18 ZK-ROD.

On 2/5/15 the aircraft was sold to Peter J Locke of Hokitika and then recently, on 16/1/20 it was sold to P J Gotlieb of Foxton Beach.  It is photo's above after delivery to Foxpine on 16/1/20.