More Messenger Magnificence

As I have posted, I was out at Kaipara Flats airfield yesterday when Bruce Lynch's magnificent Miles Messenger ZK-AKE2 flew off some of its test flying hours:

With the somewhat sameness of many modern sport aircraft that are optimised for performance, it is a real privilege to see something SO different with so many quirky bits, and so many neat angles to observe..

On take off....

Overhead....

On short finals....

And over the airfield perimeter.  The sound is also quite loud with a four into one exhaust and no muffler.

This is likely to be my last post on Bruce's Messenger for a while.  If you are sick of so many photos of it maybe you CAN blame the messenger!

Timaru visitor Pilatus PC-12 N786CW

 On Tuesday the 7th the Pilatus PC-12/47E N786CW c/n 2200 flew into Timaru from Queenstown with its Malaysian owner - for lunch with a friend - before heading back to Queenstown. It then headed over to Hobart and Melbourne.

Built as HB-FQZ it was delivered to its owners Calvin & William Aviation (who also operate a Gruman Gulfstream) based at Subang Sky Park, Malaysia on 27-09-2022. Title shifted to TVPX in May of 2023.

Thanks to Simon Brown for the photo.

Beech 400A Nextant VH-OVS into Christchurch

 A brief visitor to Christchurch today was this Beechcraft B400A Nextant VH-OVS2 c/n RK-239/17.

Another Tony McFarlane photo.

Previously registered as N785TA, N485FL and N868JL - it joined the Australian register on 18-12-2013 has been operated by Careflight since December of 2015.

It arrived at Christchurch from New Castle via Brisbane - had a brief stop over - then departed back to New Castle.

A Varied Collection of Aircraft at NZKF Today 8-10-2025

Today was the first fine day in quite a while for flying from Kaipara Flats (although the field was still quite wet in places).  Michael Bach continued the test flying of Bruce Lynch's Miles Messenger, and I took this photo of an extremely varied collection of types of aircraft:

From left, the pretty standard configuration CTLS ZK-FDE2, the un-mistakeable Messenger ZK-AKE2, the high wing pusher Sky Arrow ZK-EBR2 and the canard equipped Eagle 150 ZK-XAB.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Have You Seen One of These?

I recently came across a video of a strange type of microlight flying machine from Japan - it was a weight shift pusher with the pilot in a prone position and seemed to have a bird like tail that could be moved, and by the sound it was powered by a 2 stroke engine.  It looked like it flew very well.  Here are some screen shots of it from the Japanese video:

Here is the machine taxying out.

In flight.

And approaching to land.

You have to be quite flexible to get out of it!  And I suppose it only comes in a single seat version!

The reason I am posting this is because I think there may have been or are some of these machines in New Zealand.  A friend of mine told me that they are called "Mosquitos" here and that he had seen a video somewhere of them flying off the Northern end of the beach at Orewa.  And I think there might have been one flying at Waitohi back in the day.  To my knowledge none have ever been registered here.

So my questions to blog readers are:  Have you seen one in New Zealand?  Do you have a photo you could supply?  Are there still any of them out there?   It would be great to know to add to our knowledge of microlights in New Zealand.  Over to you!

Omaka Wings & Wheels 28-09-2025

Some shots here taken by Aaron Murphy at the Omaka Wings & Wheels event on 28-09-2025.

The De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth ZK-AJH c/n 82887 as rebuilt by Wayne Tantrum and was recently reflown after a seventy odd year layup, with Ian Pirie's ZK-APP c/n 82302 beyond.

Both served with the Royal Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force followed by time in the agricultural role.

Parked in the background is the Classic Aircraft Waco YMF-5F ZK-CFL2 c/n F5-019 of Classic Aircraft Sales Ltd.

The seldom mentioned Percival P.56 Provost T Mk1 ZK-JOT as listed with Paul Stent of Kumea.

Built for the Royal Air Force and given the WV666 seral and delivered in mid 1954. 

It became an instructional airframe with the serial of 7925M in about August of 1965.

Rescued from there it popped up on the US register as N2416R in October of 1985 only to reappear in the UK as G-BTDH from 25-01-1991. This registration was cancelled in February of 2000 following an incident near Lasham on 28-03-1998.

Next we know it popped up on the NZ register as ZK-JOT on 17-04-2003 with Don Subritzky and Alan House of Auckland.

Also known as a Cessna 305 this aircraft was one of about 3400 built mainly for the US Army.

This airframe c/n 23452 is a O-1G Bird Dog and was allocated the US Army serial number of 53-8031 and later spent time with the South Vietnamese Air Force as 538031.

After its importation to NZ I believe it was initially penciled in to become ZK-FYB. (following ZK-FYA which is the drab olive one you see about occasionally). 

It instead became ZK-DOG on 14-07-1994 with Mackley Aviation Ltd of Auckland.

It was out of circulation from April 1996 through until returning to the register on 03-10-2000 in the above orange scheme and listed to the Kaipara Aviation Trust.

From 02-04-2020 it was transferred to Rob Mackley.

A new addition to the Omaka collection is this Airco DH-2 Replica built by Ernie Moreno of Independence, Oregon and registered in the US as NX292EM.

With '292' being the Independence EAA chapter number and 'EM' being Ernie's initials.

See HERE for photos of it in Ernie's hangar.

Also see Here for a video clip from Omaka.

It became ZK-DHR on 18-08-2025 with Classic Aircraft Sales Ltd.

Another outstanding World War One aircraft - Omaka based.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Pioneering Microlight Flight from North Cape to Bluff in February 1982 - Some New Photos.

Back on 17 September I posted about the remarkable flight of three microlights from North Cape to Bluff in February 1982.  You can see that post is HERE and I included some photos of two of the microlights at Timaru.  Murray Kirkus also saw the microlights pass through Hastings on 12 February 1982, and he took the photos below at that time:

This is Marty Waller in his Quicksilver MX ZK-MRW

And this is Ken Asplin in his Mirage ZK-KJA.  You can see that both microlights carried "Score a Ten" draught beer sponsorship but neither had registrations applied under their wings.  We have photos of ZK-KJA (I assume, at Te Kowhai) before and ZK-MRW (at Pikes Point) after the North Cape to Bluff flight where both are in standard colours, so it looks like the beer signage could have been on bespoke sailcloth covers.

Murray also said he flew with them from Hastings to Waipukurau in his Turbulent ZK-CFY.

I will go back to my original post and add these photos in.  Thanks very much for them Murray.

Miles Messenger ZK-AKE/2 Arrives Home to Kaipara Flats 2-10-2025

The much anticipated arrival of Bruce Lynch's Miles Messenger 2A ZK-AKE2 into Kaipara Flats airfield occurred this morning under gloomy skies, flown by Michael Bach.  

All tucked up in the hangar that Bruce had built for her.  She is quite a bit bigger and heavier than other planes on the airfield.

The arrival means that the Messenger joins other historical aircraft on the field including the Aeronca 100 ZK-AMW2, two Tiger Moths ZK-ASM and ZK-CCQ (and sometimes ZK-ATM2) and the Fox Moth ZK-APT.

Cherokee Archer ZK-EBZ revitalised.

The Piper PA-28-181 Cherokee Archer II ZK-EBZ c/n 28-7790262 arrived in NZ in March 1977 and was registered to Airwork (NZ) Ltd of Ardmore on 24-08-1977. 

And then to the Canterbury Aero Club from 07-11-1977.

EBZ at Christchurch on 24-01-1978.

It took up permanent residence at Ashburton in late April of 1985 - briefly with the Ashburton Flying Syndicate - before being listed to H R Evans, T I Coulter and M J Cooper in July that year.

It officially joined the Mid Canterbury Aero Club from 23-05-1990.

At Ashburton on 10-07-1991.

Note the large MCAC door logo.

It underwent a repaint and lost its Piper factory scheme and came out as below.

Photo above shows it at Ashburton on 18-12-2011in its new scheme including the 'non standard'

registration markings.

On the 12-05-2025 it was flow down to Taieri to South Air Ltd for some serious TLC and a repaint and it returned to Ashburton on 19-09-2025

As seen below on 27-09-2025 thanks to Aaron Murphy.

Miles Messenger ZK-AKE/2 First Flight at North Shore 30-9-2025

A momentous day at North Shore airfield yesterday 30 September 2025 saw Bruce Lynch's Miles M 38 Messenger 2A ZK-AKE2 take to the skies for the first time in 57 years, flown by Michael Bach.  The following are screenshots from a video taken on the day:

Engine running and Bruce removes the chocks.

Taxying out to the fuel pumps.

Tail up on Runway 21.

And airborne!

You may think that ZK-AKE would have been registered back in 1946 like ZK-AKA, AKB, AKC and AKD, but no: it was built in 1947 and registered G-AKEZ to T Shipside Ltd of Nottingham on 27 August 1947.  It had numerous UK owners until its C of A was revoked on 15 November 1968 after which it went as-is to the Torbay Aircraft Museum in Higher Blagdon in Devon (which no longer exists) and where the above photo was taken in 1971.  It was exported to New Zealand in 2006 where Bruce Lynch has been restoring it at North Shore for the last 20 years.  It was registered to Wingnut Aviation Ltd of Warkworth on 29 May 2024.