Sunday 15 July 2012

Bell 47G ZK-HBQ

A while back I went on about how I thought that the Bell 47G-4 ZK-HAY had gone to Queenstown at at the end of her flying days to become an entertainment device.See :-
http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2011/09/bell-47g-zk-hay.html

Well seemingly I was erroneous - as pointed out by Dave Bates who recently sent in a photograph of the said device. Closer examination revealed that this was in fact ZK-HBQ.
Looking at my own pics of ZK-HBQ has produced another shot of her on the counter balanced arm.
Above is the photo from Dave Bates pointing out the error of my ways, showing ZK-HBQ at Queenstown on 02-01-1981.
Below is my version of the same rig taken on 14-11-1983.
This set up was near to the then Motor Museum (which once held the Tiger Moth ZK-CCH) near the bottom of the Gondola chair lift and beside the cemetery.
ZK-HBQ was a Bell 47G-2 with the c/n 1694. It was completed in August of 1956 and became CF-JSJ with Pacific Wester Airlines at Vancouver from 30-04-1957. (PWA became Pacific Helicopters). It was sold in 1963 to Bullock Wings and Rotor Ltd of Calgary and canceled on 24-10-1966.
It came to NZ and had a rather varied career.
It was registered as ZK-HBQ on 24-11-1966 to Helicopter Enterprises Ltd; first flew here on 08-12-1966 and gained its CofA on 20-12-1966.
It endured an engine failure and heavy landing on 12-04-1967 at Manganui (sp?). Its post repair test flight took place on 22-02-1969 but on 11-02-1970 it force landed due to power loss on a beach near Wairoa only to be caught by the incoming tide. After a short period of storage it was listed to W N Champion of Auckland on 18-03-1970 and then back to Helicopter Enterprises Ltd of Hamilton on 01-05-1970.
It sustained more damage at Kaikohe on 14-04-1972, rebuilt, it first flew again on 02-08-1973, before going on lease to Central Helicopters Ltd of Alexandra in November of 1973.
I managed some pics of her at Timaru on 17-11-1973

Just after these photos it was damaged in some sort of a sabotage attempt.
Damage couldn't have been too bad because I got another pic of her at Timaru on 09-02-1974 (below).
My next note says that it went to Lloyd Helicopters in 1976 as spares.
Purely by chance I spied her at the Skippers Lodge (near Queenstown) on 01-01-1980.
Then I have Colin Robinson listed: with the remains being noted at Timaru in April of 1980.
After this we have the rotating arm arrangement at Queenstown from about late 1980 until around early 1984
Its registration was cancelled on 27-06-1984.
My notes end with the words "Australia ?"

Addendum :-
RAYNER123 has commented that it went to the USA.
A quick check of the FAA files shows that it did indeed go there and it became N7801P. It has been withdrawn from use. The last FAA action data was 01-10-2003 and it was purged from their register on 13-06-2011.
Thanks to Rayner123.

1 comment:

  1. I THINK SHE WENT TO AMERICA TO AN AMUSEMENT PARK FROM MEMORY THE WINGS ARTICLE SAID THIS COMPANY WAS GOING TO LOOK AT REALISTIC HELICOPTER SIMULATORS ( IT NEVER RAN AT FULL POWER)THE REG WAS SOMETHING LIKE N7981P OR N7901P

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