04/30/2008. Remarks by Walter van Tilborg: "The Kachina found its origins in the Morrisey 1000C Nifty homebuilt aircraft of William "Bill" J. Morrisey. The prototype, NX5000K c/n 1A, first flew on May 18, 1948 and featured a wood and fabric construction, a fixed tricycle landing gear, and a 65 hp Continental A65 engine (later replaced by a 90 hp C90).

Morrisey Aircraft Company was founded at Long Beach, California, USA, in 1949, and the 1000C was converted into the 2000C Nifty, N5100V c/n 1B, in 1955, featuring metal wings and an 108 hp Lycoming O-235 engine. The company moved to Santa Ana, California and was renamed Morrisey Aviation, Inc. The final Morrisey variant became the Model 2150 which now had an all-metal construction and an 150 hp Lycoming O-320-A1A engine.

In July 1960 Morrisey sold the production rights for the Model 2150 to Clifford Shinn of Shinn Engineering. Inc. also at Santa Ana, and Morrisey would direct sales, engineering and product development. The 10th airframe of Morrisey was completed as the prototype for the Shinn Model 2150A powered by an 150 hp O-320-A2B engine. The aircraft had a top speed of 148 mph (238 kmh), landed at 51 mph (82 kmh), climbed at 1,450 ft (442 m)/min, and had a ceiling of 22,500 ft (6,858 m). Fly-away price from the factory was $8,245.

Production ended after 35 aircraft in 1962, all rights were in 1967 purchased by George Varga of the Varga Aircraft Corporation and this company continued development and production at Chandler, Arizona. However, it was not until 1974 that the first Varga-built aircraft, N5062V c/n VAC-50, took the air.

The company produced several variants as 2150A Kachina, very similar to the Shin version with a fixed tricycle landing gear and 150 hp O-320-A2B or -A2C engine, and as 2180A Kachina, that was similar to the 2150A but with a 180 hp Lycoming O-360-A2A or -A2D engine. The 2150TG Kachina and 2180TG Kachina were 2150A and 2180A models with a tail wheel landing gear developed initially by Hibbard Aviation and available as new aircraft or through conversion of existing airframes. Production ended in 1982 after a total of 187 aircraft had been produced:

A Morrisey Shinn Varga Total

1000C 1 - - ––– 1

2000C (conv.) - - ––– -

2150 10 1 - ––– 11

2150A - 35 124 ––– 158

2180 - - 14 ––– 14

2180TG - - 2 ––– 2

Total 11 36 140 ––– 187

Production rights were sold on to John Smith of Mountainair, Inc. in 1986, shortly thereafter Bill Morrisey reacquired the rights and intended to produce the type in Kingman, Arizona, as the 2000C, but reportedly no additional aircraft were built. In the early 1990s the rights were sold to Loren Perry of Southern Machine and Tool in Augusta, Georgia, who formed Augustair for production of the type, again, none have been built.

Produced in 1980, the pictured aircraft was first registered as N80716 in the USA, later as OO-RTY in Belgium and presently it is registered in the UK as G-VARG."