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.

Karatoo ZK-KTI at Forest Field.

 Aaron Murphy captured these shots of Ian McPhail's Australian Aviation Works Karatoo J6-C ZK-KTI

at Forest Field recently. 

Some more recent ZK-KTI posts can be found HERE

Thank you Aaron.

A Couple from Hawera Today 29-9-2025

The Hawera Aero Club held their Daylight Saving flyin today and Jordan Elvy took a trip up SH3 to get there.  Jordan reports that the weather wasn't too good, but that there were a couple of interesting visitors that flew in from just up the road at Stratford:

Jabiru SP ZK-JJR has been owned by Robert Boniface of New Plymouth since late 2024 and has acquired a new swoopy colour scheme.

And Stolp V Star ZK-MIJ has been owned by Lou Venables of New Plymouth since October 2022.  It carries the Stratford Flyers logo on the rudder.

One size fits all. Wigram 25-09-2025

 During a quick visit to the RNZAF Museum at Wigram yesterday I noted two groups of young folk proceeding boldly forth.

One size fits all.

ZK-HSX. The elusive Huey.

Graeme Stratton recently flicked me this photo below of the seldom mentioned Huey ZK-HSX2.

Jim Shewin is piloting the Bell UH-1H Iroquois ZK-HSX2 c/n 10320 - keeping a burn off “controlled” back in 2010.

This Iroquois has been working away in New Zealand since 1999 but appears to have had very little publicity.

So :-

This is a model UH-1H-BF with the Bell construction number of 10320.

As the c/n tells us it was built at Bells' Fort Worth, Texas facility - It received the U.S.Army serial number of 68-15390 and appears to have been 'posted' to Fort Hood, Texas about February of 1969.

As far as I can tell it was in South Vietnam in 1970-1971 with D Troop of the 3rd Squadron of the 4th Cavalry. 

They were known as the Centaurs and carried a small emblem on the lower rear corner of the sliding door. This was a Centaur - a horses body with a human upper body and head.

68-15390 carried the number 390 on its tail fin in white and was named 'Beloved' whilst being flown by James Tonelli (and probably others). 

It was also known to have used the radio callsign of  'Centaur 23'. 

Now I am not sure if this was the aircrafts or the pilots individual call sign.

It was operated mainly as a 'slick' - for the dropping and picking up of troops.

The above pic I believe show 68-15390.

The below pic shows 'Centaur 23'

Are they the one and the same ?

Renegade Woods was out Northwest of Saigon near Cu Chi.

An LRRP is the abbreviation for Long Range Recce Patrol , and LZ is for Landing Zone.

Brief extract from the April 2nd 1970 action report mentioning Centaur 23.

As the chaos on the ground unfolded, Warrant Officer James Tonelli brought his UH-1 into a low-level approach under heavy fire, dropping down 15 feet from the crater. After the Rangers raced to the chopper and piled in, Tonelli managed to get the overloaded helicopter airborne in spite of taking multiple hits from ground fire, 

Obviously both Tonelli and the '390' survived the American War and the helicopter underwent a civil conversion with Richards Heavylift Helo Inc and joined the US civil aircraft register as N375AV on 31-01-1996 for Aerovantage Ltd of Seattle, Washington.

They moved it on to Construction Helicopters Inc (CHI) of Porter Valley, California from 12-03-1997.

Its US registration was cancelled in January of 1999 as exported to NZ.

It became ZK-HSX2 on 02-03-1999 for Peter Bradley of Rotorua.

Two photos of it in its hangar at Murupara on 17-03-2000.

Below - as seen at Murupara on 30-04-2000.

Title then moved to Lakeland Helicopters (1989) Ltd of Rotorua from 19-12-2002.

Bates

Dave Bates capture this shot of ZK-HXS at Murupara with some colour added on 22-01-2004.

Above photo was taken at Wanaka in February 2008. Photographer unknown.

Presumably marked up for a movie !

Heli Resources (2012) Ltd at Rotorua became the listed operator from 18-04-2013.

Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Some More Photos from Very Early MAANZ Days

Recently I posted on the formation of MAANZ (the Microlight Aircraft Association of New Zealand) on 22/8/81.  I posted that there was a MAANZ gathering of microlights at Te Kowhai on 12/12/81.  The link to that post is:  https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2025/09/microlight-aircraft-of-new-zealand_11.html

It turns out that Murray Kirkus was there and he took a few photos (that was back in the day of black and white photos and you rationed your photos because you only had so many photos on a film that you had to get developed - how things have changed!  A bit like microlights).

In this photo we have a Quicksilver MX and a Mirage.  Murray has also advised that Tommy Namais is the guy in front of the Quicksilver with the beard and shorts and Ken Asplin is standing in front of the Mirage.  Tommy Namais was an American hang glider pilot who came to New Zealand with Marty Waller and together they formed Pacific Kites 1981 Ltd who were the agents for Quicksilver microlights.  You can see that there was a lot of interest in the microlights and also that there was no registration under the wing of the Quicksilver.

In this nice photo of a Mirage in flight taken by Murray on the day you can see that there is a control column and the spoiler is activated on the top of the port wing.

Murray also was at the 1982 AACA flyin at Taupo (where I also was, but we did not meet up).  His photo of the Quicksilver MX and three Mirages is from a different perspective from my photo.  Murray also remembered that none of the four microlights had registration letters under their wings.  Again, you can see that there was a lot of interest in the new types of flying machines.

I will go back to my original post and insert these photos.

New Lifeflight Rescue Helicopter for Wellington

On 19 September 2025 Life Flight's new Airbus H145 D3 helicopter flew into their base at Wellington Airport and Tim Gorman of ZK-Aviation was there to take a series of great photos of the event:

ZK-IXS3 (c/n 21397) is a brand new machine and was temporarily registered D-HBTS in Germany - it replaces Life Flight's BK-117 ZK-HLF which had been in service for more than 20 years!  It has been prepared for Life Flight by Airbus Helicopters at Ardmore.  On ZK-IXS's entry into service Life Flight CEO Mark Johnston said "This isn't just a new helicopter - the Westpac Rescue Chopper service in part of the fabric of our local community."

Thanks for the photo Tim, you can't beat Wellington on a good day!

A Big Weekend for One Designs in New Zealand

The fully aerobatic Rihn DR 107 One Design was designed by Dan Rihn in the US and first flew in 1993.  It was designed with the idea of a one design aerobatic contest that would be sanctioned by the FIA but this never eventuated due to several reasons including the lack of aircraft early on and the reluctance of people to commit to building the aircraft from plans.  Never the less it has proved a popular aircraft and there are more than 50 flying worldwide.  This number was added to at Whakatane on Saturday 20 September when Chris Schadler flew his DR 107 ZK-WAM3:

ZK-WAM3 (c/n 94-115) has been finished by Chris Schadler from a partly built project that Steve Gwilliam bought in from Australia and then sold to Chris.  The One Design is the fifth aircraft building project that Chris has been involved in - several SG Storms and a smart Vans RV 3, ZK-WCO, that he has flown in New Zealand aerobatic competitions since 2015.  The One Design is a step up in aerobatic mounts.

David Wilkinson flew down to Whakatane to see the first flight of Chris Schadler's One Design.  David flew in his own One Design ZK-EZG2 that he has recently re-covered the fuselage on and it is photo'd here at lunch at Matamata where you can see it now has white registration letters instead of the previous black.  David has just got his aircraft back into the air so it was a big  weekend for One Designs here.