Kittyhawk P 40E ZK-RMH Addendum

Further to my previous post on the history of P 40E Kittyhawk ZK-RMH (www.nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/curtis-p-40e-kittyhawk-zk-rmhnz-3009.html ). Handbag has sent the following photo, scanned from Classic Wings Downunder magazine, and taken in December 1997.

ZK-RMH first flew in this naked state on 19 December 1997 at Whenuapai, flown by John Lamont.  The original photo was by Kevin Botman.

Thanks for the photo Handbag !

Sightings around Christchurch

 Parked over near the Canterbury Aero Club for the last couple of days has been this Cessna 182H Skylane ZK-MGB (c/n 56545). Ex Australia, PNG and then Australian again - it arrived at Christchurch via Auckland and Norfolk Island back on 09-10-2002. It is listed with Michael Boissard of "Sherwood" away beyond Waiau in North Canterbury.

Piper PA-34-220T Seneca ZK-BJM2 (c/n 34-48048) belonging to Ridgeair Ltd popped into Rangiora today. Pic from Allan Bowman. C172 ZK-RMX committing aviation in the background.
http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2010/12/piper-seneca-zk-bjm.html

 A couple of strangers (to me) at Heli Maintenance today were (above) the Robinson R44 Raven 11 ZK-IKB (c/n 10483) of Harold Baigent of Papakura.

Below is the Robinson R44 Raven 11 ZK-HHN3 (c/n 10438) in the Heli Maintenance hangar. This has been listed to Southern Helicopters Ltd of Blenheim since first listed in NZ on 07-09-2004.

Awaiting its fate

Boeing 737-3U3 ZK-NGE (c/n 28733) rests engineless outside ANES hangar at Christchurch.
It was withdrawn from service on 10-01-2013.
The history of thgis airframe can be found at :-
http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/boeing-737-3u3-zk-nge-retires.html

Cessna's at Ardmore

The following photos are from a couple of recent trips to Ardmore:

Cessna 172S ZK-CTD of CTC Aviation, Hamilton

Airline Flying Club's Cessna 152 ZK-ETZ

Auckland Aero Club Cessna A152 ZK-FLF

Ardmore Flying School Cessna 172R ZK-LAT

Mainland Air Services Cessna 152 ZK-NST all the way from Dunedin. 

Coastguard Northern Region Cessna 182T ZK-SAR. 

The New Zealand International Airshow at North Shore

The New Zealand International Airshow was held at North Shore Airfield over the Auckland Anniversary weekend, 26 to 28 January 2013.  From what I saw it was an airshow (Jim), but not as we know it.  It seemed more like an aerial X Games.

Two local Robins ZK-TZD and ZK-TZF did a lot of the flying, including the air races in which the 2 planes competed over a fixed side by side course which included loops and stall turns, flown by a succession of pilots trailling smoke, on a knock-out basis until a winner was found on the last day.  They also flew with the Jetman who was the main attraction.  The start plane for the air races was Furio ZK-LLG.

The show kicked off each day with vintage aircraft displays featuring locally based De Havilland aircraft.  The there were also displays from the Air Force, who used the event for recruiting with their big bus on the airfield.  Then there were daily displays from Extra 300 ZK-XRA and Stikemaster ZK-STR, and also various parchutists.  And that was about it really.

One of the parachute displays that was quite spectacular was from Melissa and Rex Pemberton.  He was dropped from a helicopter from 12,000 feet wearing a "squirrel suit", and he proceeded to glide very fast at a glide ratio of 3 to 1 while trailing smoke.  The Melissa, who is a member of the American Aerobatic Team, flew the Giles 202 ZK-NUT around him as he sped through the sky, as photo'd above with a very long lens and considerable cropping.

I think this photo captures a sense of the speed that he was flying.  Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?

Then Melissa proceeded to do an impressive aerobatics display in ZK-NUT to finish off their routine.

As I said, it was an airshow but not as we know it.  Everything seemed to have been done well and also quite expensively (huge screens on the airfield to see the action in the air, traffic control, complementary buses to the airfield, miles of temporary fencing, portaloos for Africa....).  It will be interesting to see if it broke even, as I think the crowds were down on those anticipated.  I hope it did. 

Postcard from Greymouth

Ian C has kindly provided a couple of shots from Greymouth taken in the last day or so.

The first is of pressurised Cessna 210 ZK-VIR operated by Air West Coast featuring what appears to be a fancy new prop setup.  A side on shot of ZK-VIR can be found at Third Level NZ.

The second shot is of Pipstrel ZK-JAT delivered to Greymouth 28 January.
http://www.nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/a-busy-sunday-at-nzrt.html

Amazing set up.

If you have 16 minnutes to spare have a look at this video clip.

I like the way they go IFR after take off, and watch out for "bigfoot".

It  has been around for a wee while but Enjoy.

I believe this took 7 years and $4.8 million !

Watch at least long enough to see a take-off and landing. Http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=gn1qMYfFrro&feature=related

Some more from Masterton on 18 and 19-01-2013

 Also lurking among the mass of other aircraft was this De Havilland DH98 Mosquito ZK-MOS.

And so it is being towed away to bed for the night.

The Spitfires at Masterton weekend

I stumbled across these two Spitfires at Masterton on the 18th of January.

Above is the MkIX ZK-SPI from ITL Aviation Ltd. This is ex RAF, Italian, Israeli and Burmese Air Forces.

 

Below is the MkIX ZK-WDQ (c/n CBAF 5487) recently listed to the Warbird Adventure Rides Ltd.

A busy Sunday at NZRT

 The Pipistrel Alpha Trainer ZK-JAT2 (c/n 448) awaits its owner (Seaside Flying Ltd) to complete his type rating before flying to its home at Greymouth.

 A stranger among the trikes was the Airborne XT-912-B with its Airborne Arrow wing. It has a c/n of XT-912-0140 which means it is ZK-DGR of Blue Skies Microlight 2006 Ltd of Motueka. It previously had a Streak 111 wing.

 One that has not seen a lot of air under its wings lately is this DenneyKitfox 111 ZK-JWN (c/n AACA/2087/1076). That is about to change as owner Steve Noad is about to trundle off with instructor Mike Small to regain currency.

 A reasonably recent arrival in the area is this Maule M-5-235C Lunar Rocket ZK-LJA (c/n 7258C) of Mike Earl Earthmoving Ltd. Check out previous blog at :- http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/maule-zk-lja.html

 A more recent arrival at Rangiora is the Jabiru UL ZK-LEI (c/n 574). It was ferried south by Brent Thompson the previous weekend. See previous post at :-  http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2010/07/zk-lei-winglet-less.html

 Carrying out more of its test flight program was the Murphy Elite ZK-WRM (c/n 578E).

A real out of towner was the Tecnam P92 Echo Super ZK-TES (c/n 720) of Neville Dunton of Health Solutions Consultancy Ltd from Tauranga. It has a factory fitted tow hook.

Three from Masterton yesterday 27-01-2013

Roving reporter Geoff Lloyd kindly sent in these three pics taken at Masterton on Sunday 27th January 2013.

 Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee ZK-EFP2 looked familiar, but the registration did not. It in fact was first registered in NZ as ZK-DUZ (c/n 28-7525275) on 09-10-1975 and went to the Otago Aero Club. In August of 83 it went to M Gebbie of the Buttercup Alpine Resort at National Park and then to D McLeod at Te Anau in April of 1985. It then transferred to James McBride in April 1988 before heading up to Tauranga for Euroflight International from 24-10-2005. They re-registered it a ZK-EFP2 on 13-02-2006 and sold it to Allan Higgie of Wanganui that November. It was listed to Middle Earth Flying Svchool (its current owner) of Otorohanga on 28-01-2009.

 Vans RV7A ZK-MIS (c/n 72461) was one of the RV's built by Rex Newman at Omaka. It was first registered to Rex on 19-10-2007 before being listed to The COD Impact Trust of Auckland on 09-01-2008.

ZK-VRV is a Vans RV-6 with the c/n of 24692 was first registered to Leonard Smith of Waikanae on 30-03-2006. Ownership changed tro Peter Merwood of Porirua on 05-10-2012.

Autogyro AGM

The Autogyro Association AGM was held at Dannevirke 26-28 January 2013 and QW has kindly provided the following photos from a picture perfect day for such flying machines, plus a few conventional types on location!

Local resident Maule M-4-210C ZK-DON

Robinson R22 Beta ZK-HII

Jabiru J120-C ZK-MLA from Te Horo

Jodel D9 ZK-KMM from Waipukurau (still looking great Sir Minty!)

Autoflight Single Seat Dominator ZK-RAZ

Air Command Commander Elite ZK-RBS

Rotor Flight Dominator ZK-RCB

Auto Flight Dominator II ZK-REQ

Celier Xenon ZK-ZMY

Christchurch lately

Two of the pickings from recent Christchurch sightings.

 Down from Way To Go Heliservices at Rangiora on 24-01-02013 was their Robinson R44 Astro ZK-HVQ4 (c/n 0235). It is just winding down on the Pacific Aviation pad.

The Taranaki Air Ambulance Trust's Piper PA-31-310C Navajo ZK-MJF (c/n 31-7912089) rests outside the Canterbury Aero Club on the 22-01-2013. As you see, it is a 1979 model, which served its first six years in the States followed by a spell in Canada before coming to NZ for M J Funnell (hence its registration letters) in May of 1994. It was transferred to the Helicopter Services (BOP) Ltd name on 27-02-2001 having been used as the Waikato Air Ambulance. Next move was to the New Plymouth Aero Club in September of 2011 as the Taranaki Air Ambulance. Since then ownership has bobbed between the Taranaki Air Ambulance trust and the New Plymouth Aero Club.

WW2 Mosquito FB and six fighters at Wings Over Wairarapa

The two P40 Kittyhawks

Above we have the Curtiss P40N-1-CU ZK-CAG2 (c/n 28492). This was cranked out for the USAAF as serial number 42-104730 before being sent out to the Royal Australian Air Force to become A29-448. To cut a long story short it was written off and later retrieved by Charles Darby and arrived in NZ in 1974 and stored. Restoration was begun by Pacific Aircraft Co and completed by Pioneer Restorations and it first flew here on 17-03-2000. It was listed as ZK-CAG on 08-03-2000 to The Kittyhawk Partnership (Charles Darby and Garth Hogan) and painted up as A29-448 on its port side and A29-1050 on the starboard side.

Ownership moved to Frank Parker and Liz Needham as Warbird Adventure Rides Ltd on 20-09-2012.

It has recently pick up a set of sharks teeth. (I seem to recall it had them at Wanaka in 2006).

**********************

Below is Curtiss P40E ZK-RMH (c/n 19669) which was allocated the USAAF serial of 41-25158 followed by the RAF serial of ET482. Instead it came down under for the RNZAF to become NZ3009 in April of 1942. It was withdrawn from use in mid 1945 and finally struck off charge on 02-03-1948. From the Rukuhia storage facility it moved over to Asplins Garage on SH1 at Rukuhia until shifting to MoTaT in February of 1968. Charles Darby and Jim Pavitt came on the scene in about October of 1992 and restoration was carried out at Pacific Aircraft Ltd with it becoming ZK-RMH (for Ray and Mark Hanna) on 04-12-1997 to Pacific Aircraft Ltd. First flight after rebuild was on 19-12-1997 at Whenuapai. A few months later (April 1998) it was listed to The Old Flying Machine C0 (NZ) Ltd (Ray Hanna) and shipped to England in April of 1999 to become G-CCBE from 10-03-2003 to Classic Aviation Ltd. This is where it picked up its Nationalist Chinese markings. It returned to NZ as ZK-RMH from 18-06-2003 and was converted to a two seater by Pioneer Restorations. Ownership moved to Air Tight Trust on 31-08-2005 and to The Old Stick and Rudder Co Ltd on 14-05-2012.