Country of origin:

New Zealand

Description:

Single-seat light sporting monoplane

Power Plant:

One Volkswagen four-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

In the 1950s two brothers, James and William Lobert, who were residents in the south of France, showed an interest in aircraft and designed and built a range of gliders to meet their needs. Eventually they designed a light aircraft known as the Ganagobie 01. The prototype was constructed and became F-WECC, making its first flight at Lille in France sometime in 1953. This aircraft was powered by a Clerget engine which had been built in the 1930s and provided 12 kw (16 hp).

Eventually James emigrated to Australia and his brother, William, built a Cassutt III for air racing, entering a number of events in Europe with some success. James became an airline pilot and eventually retired as a Captain on Airbus A-300s.

In later years the Ganagobie design became popular and a small number of examples were built. The aircraft was re-designed by George Jacquemin in Canada to bring it up to standards of the time, and the new design became known as the Ganagobie 02, plans for the design being marketed to amateur builders by Falconar Aircraft of Canada. A number of examples of the 02 were built in Canada and the United States. In 1995 James retired, left Australia and moved to New Zealand where he worked on and produced a further development of the Ganagobie known as the Mousebird.

This aircraft was similar to the Ganagobie and was of all wood construction. No welding was required in the building of the aircraft. The Mousebird prototype was built at Waihi Beach, NZ in 1996 and was registered as ZK-JLO (c/n J.L.0100), being registered to James Lobert on 10 December 1999. It is believed only the single example has been completed.