Country of origin:

New Zealand

Description:

Single-seat ultralight sport monoplane

Power Plant:

One 37 kw (50 hp) Rotax 503 UL-2V two-cylinder, two-stroke, fan cooled engine with electronic dual ignition

Specifications:

History:

In the early 1980s Mr Maxwell Clear, a New Zealander, travelled to the United States to look for a microlight aircraft to purchase but could not find anything he considered suitable so, on returning to New Zealand, he formed a group with ten other like-minded aviators and decided to build a completely new aircraft, this turning out to be the Bantam B-10, the production run to be 10 aircraft, one for each of the members of the syndicate. The prototype was completed and flew in late 1983. It was so successful a total of 15 was completed before production moved to the B-20 and later the B-22 series. Of the 15 B-10s completed, nine are known to survive. It was built from commercially available materials and powered by a Rotax 503 engine.

Production of the aircraft took place at Te Kowhai on the north island and it was basically designed around the American Phantom ultralight with conventional three-axis controls. The prototype was test flown by Keith Trillo in November 1983.  Development continued to the B-20 which was also a single-seat design but had pull-on sailcloth and fully fabricated wing ribs, and about 20 examples of this model were completed, a few examples being imported to Australia. The type remained popular and, to meet demand, lead to the B-22 series with the Rotax 582 engine which was introduced in 1986.

The fifteen B-10s completed were all placed on the civil aircraft register between March 1984 and November that year. These were: ZK-FGI (c/n 0001); ZK-ZII (c/n 0002); ZK-JLD (c/n 0003); ZK-NJB (c/n 0004); ZK-FIF (c/n 0005); ZK-MWV (c/n 0006); ZK-RDB (c/n 0007); ZK-ZAK (c/n 0009); ZK-LII (c/n 0010); ZK-KGG (c/n 0011); ZK-JEP (c/n 0012); ZK-TIL (c/n 0013); ZK-FKE (c/n MAANZ 293); and ZK-ROW (c/n MAANZ 294).