Saturday 6 January 2018

Further Information on the Gere Sport at MOTAT

It is said that good things come to those who wait.  In a post from MOTAT in January 2012 I posted a photo of the Gere Sport and asked "And finally, an unmarked Gere Sport biplane is displayed. I cannot find any New Zealand connection for this aircraft and I am not sure why it is on display - again, can anyone add anything here?"


Well today I got a phone call from Stan Smith who knows quite a bit about it.  

Stan understands that it was built in the Waipukurau area in the 1930's, possibly by a Mr Corban.  It got to a fairly complete state but never flew.  Stan bought the airframe from the said Mr Corban around 1963-64 and at that stage it was complete but without an engine or instruments.  He stored it at Wellington with his various other aircraft and when he shifted to Auckland in 1965 he arranged a deal whereby all his aircraft were trucked from Wellington to Auckland (probably in a TEAL truck which did a weekly Auckland-Wellington-Auckland run), on the basis that he donate an aircraft to MOTAT.  This deal involved a Mr Donohue who worked for TEAL and was also involved with MOTAT.  So the Gere Sport was donated to MOTAT by Stan.

The aircraft was restored by MOTAT volunteers who installed a 3 cylinder Skely radial engine, which was not the original engine.  Some years later Robbie Gentry discovered a Bristol Cherub aircraft engine at Waipukurau and Stan thinks that this may have been the engine that was to power the Gere.

Thanks very much for the information Stan.  It is great to add this to the story of New Zealand pre- WW 2 homebuilt aircraft of which I am sure there are many other stories out there and still to tell.


5 comments:

  1. Your information on the Gere biplane is inaccurate. Construction of the aircraft was commenced at Greenmeadows prior to W.W.2 and was sold in 1948 substantially complete to an owner who intended to finish the project. This never eventuated and it was sold to Stan Smith in 1966.
    TravelAdastra

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  2. Hi there TravelAdastra Thanks for your additional information on the Gere Sport. Can you please contact me on keith.morrisKMM@gmail.com or 021 1746350? Thanks

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  3. Ok Sir Minty, will email when I get an opportunity.
    TravelAdastra

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  4. Heres another question this raises then - the Szekely engine.. Where did that come from? As far as I am aware the only aircraft to use one in NZ was the Tui Special, is there a Link? The Gere, Tui and Lincoln sport all have related designs, and Stan Smith had involvement with them all. Perhaps the engine is from the Tui?

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  5. The Szekely engine in the MOTAT Gere biplane was originally imported for a Lincoln Sportplane however construction of the aircraft was not completed.
    TravelAdastra

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