Cassutt Racer(s) of New Zealand (Only One to Date)

The Cassutt Racer was designed by TWA pilot Tom Cassutt in 1951 as a Midget Air Racer, and appeared in its first air race at Dansville, New York in 1954. Over the years it has been developed into the Cassutt 111M Sport Racer which currently races at Reno and other air races in the US. Plans are still available but we have had only one Cassutt Racer in New Zealand, and I am unaware of any more that are being built.

The Cassutt has a length of 16 feet (4.88 metres)and a wingspan of 15 feet (4.57 metres), and its wing area is 68 square feet (6.3 square metres). It weighs 500 pounds (227 Kg) empty and its MAUW is 850 pounds (386 Kg). On an 0-200 motor its max speed is 248 mph (400 km/hr). However some US air racing models have performance in excess of this.

The photos are from the Keith Morris collection


ZK-DHJ (c/n AACA 116/1) was built by Rex Handley of Blenhiem , and was first registered on 8/2/78. It was named "Free Roamer" and it first flew on 18/2/78. It is photod here at the 1979 AACA flyin at Gore, but I do not have a record of who took the photo. It was sold to T J Smith of Blenhiem on 12/1/84, and then to M M Smith of Dunedin (?) on 17/6/87.

Finally it was sold to Brett Emeny of Inglewood on 21/8/89. It is photod here in a hangar at the Norfolk Road airstrip at Inglewood in 1987. It was withdrawn and cancelled on 10/7/02, and its motor was used in Andrews A1 ZK-BLU.