The Hiller UH-12E c/n 2056 was manufactured by Hiller Aviation at Porterville, California in 1960 and listed to them as N5366V. It carries an acceptance date of 21-06-1960.
Its early days are somewhat vague to me, but I can see Meade Helicopters and Shasta Helicopters - both of Porterville being involved with it in its early career.
I do know that on 01-03-1973 it had a wire strike whilst spraying near Live Oak, California.
In 1974 it was listed with Parsons Corporation of Stockton, California, and then to Big Valley Aviation Inc, also of Stockton from 15-09-1976 only to be cancelled on 27-09-1976 as exported to New Zealand.
Its early days are somewhat vague to me, but I can see Meade Helicopters and Shasta Helicopters - both of Porterville being involved with it in its early career.
I do know that on 01-03-1973 it had a wire strike whilst spraying near Live Oak, California.
In 1974 it was listed with Parsons Corporation of Stockton, California, and then to Big Valley Aviation Inc, also of Stockton from 15-09-1976 only to be cancelled on 27-09-1976 as exported to New Zealand.
From my foggy memory it was registered in NZ as ZK-HJW1 on 31-08-1976 as a Hiller UH-12ET. That infers it was powered with a Soloy Turbine engine. Its c/n was also listed as 2056R (R= rebuild) to Whirl-Wide Helicopters Ltd of Timaru. It was transferred to Wishart Helicopters (1978) Ltd of Hamilton on 13-07-1978 but was quickly relisted back to Whirl-Wide at Timaru on 04-10-1978.
I found the above photo in my large shoe box, and it shows ZK-HJW parked at Timaru on Boxing Day 26-12-1979.
It appears to me to be piston engine powered (VO-540 ?).
Its registration was cancelled on 11-01-1985 as exported to Australia where it became VH-HJW on 13-11-1985 with Darwick Holdings Pty Ltd of Aitkenvale, Queensland.
Two incidents - that I know about - happened in early 1987.
On 21-01-1987 the clutch let go followed by some undercarriage damage on landing near Ayr, Queensland.
On 27-02-1987 a con rod let go leading to a forced landing on soft terra firma followed by a roll over about 90 clicks southeast of Charters Tower.
Dwyer Aviation Ltd of Aitkenville, Queensland paid the bills from 13-11-1993 followed by Terrileigh Pty Ltd of Lavington, NSW from 30-08-1995.
Next in line was South West Helicopters Pty Ltd at Cootamundra, NSW from 15-03-2002 and it was then operated by Country Connection Airlines Pty Ltd, also at Cootamundra from 23-06-2005.
Its Australian registration was cancelled on 27-06-2014 for a return to NZ to go to Wayne Van der Laan of Helicopter Management Ltd at Te Awamutu who I believe has worked with Hiller to way back in the previous century - and still has ZK-HHV and ZK-HIK listed.
ZK-HJW has not been returned to our register but appears to be in very good condition with its full ZK-HJW registration marked on the tail boom.
It is now a resident at the New Zealand Helicopter Museum in Rangiora.
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Photographed today in rather cramped accommodation.
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