There were several Tiger Moths present and flying at Wanaka and they flew in de Havilland flypasts along with Bevan Dewes' Fox Moth and Vaughn Davis' Chipmunk. But there was another Tiger Moth on the airfield, being Wanaka Helicopters newly acquired ZK-APS:
As with all Tiger Moths
ZK-APS has a long and interesting history and is probably a bit like "grandfather's axe". Its fuselage was built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company at Hatfield in 1940 and shipped to New Zealand where the de Havilland Aircraft Company of New Zealand built the wings and gave it the c/n of DHNZ 45. It became NZ795 with the RNZAF on 30/1/41 and served with 1 and 3 Elementary Flying Training Schools and then was put into storage at Shelley Bay in Wellington. In 1947 it was sold to the Southland Aero Club who registered it as ZK-APS on 15/8/47.
It then went to the South Canterbury Aero Club and it crashed at Timaru on 22/12/56 and was cancelled on 8/3/57. It was then rebuilt at Timaru by Aerotech Ltd with an enclosed cabin and was registered ZK-BUO on 11/11/57. It then passed through owners at Oturehua (near Naseby), Waipiata (near Ranfurly) and New Plymouth before being sold to the New Plymouth Aero Club on 16/11/67and they converted it back to open cockpits. It crashed at New Plymouth on 11/9/68 and was sold to a Hamilton owner, and it crashed again, this time at Puketaha Point on 18/2/72.
It is photo'd here at Timaru on 23/3/74 where it had Honey Puffs sponsorship. Simon Spencer-Bower bought it on 22/3/74 (one day before the above photo)and he repainted it in its wartime yellow RNZAF training scheme and operated it for many years. And finally it was registered to Wanaka Helicopters Ltd who re-registered it back to ZK-APS in early December 2025.
Thanks for the photo of ZK-APS Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment