Tim Gorman captured the "arrival" of Air New Zealand's Bombadier Dash 8 ZK-NEP at Wellington last Thursday, on 16/4/26. There was quite a strong cross wind! I happened to also be flying into Wellington on Thursday on an Airbus A 320 and we had to abort our first attempt at landing and go around (which was flown quite tightly with great views over the city and Southern coastline).
NZ Civil Aircraft
A blog on New Zealand Civil Aircraft.
Thursday, 23 April 2026
Wednesday, 22 April 2026
Update on the ex Sir Tim Wallis Hurricane
I was recently reading the December 2025 edition of the magazine Aeroplane when my attention was drawn to a WW2 aircraft with New Zealand connections. This was the ex Tim Wallis Hurricane 1 that was registered ZK-TPK and painted as P3351 at Wanaka from 3/8/99 to 25/2/13.
I had not realised the historical significance of this aircraft which is that as P3351 it is the only surviving example of a Hurricane that saw service in the Battle of France as well as the Battle of Britain. It was later shipped to Russia under Lend Lease on the SS Ocean Voice that was part of an Arctic Convoy and that was attacked and badly damaged before making it to Murmansk. The Hurricane served with the Soviet Air Force before being shot down, probably in the winter of 1943.
Tim Wallis acquired the wreckage of P3351 in 1992 from an English owner and formed Hawker Restorations in the UK with Tony Ditherage to restore the aircraft. This was the first of many Hurricanes that Hawker Restorations have restored to flying condition (10 to date, which forms the majority of the Hurricanes flying in the world today). Tim (later Sir Tim) Wallis funded the raw materials, tools, jigs and plans acquisition for a trio of Hurricanes (the other two went to Paul Allen of the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum in the US and Stephen Grey of the Fighter Collection in the UK) and his example was the first. It was shipped to New Zealand in 1995 where Air New Zealand completed it in their Christchurch workshops. It flew again at Christchurch airport on 12 January 2000.
Warbirds Over Wanaka Catchup - 3
Of all the helicopter displays over the weekend, probably the most impresive was that given by the Sikorsky EH-60A ZK-HKU of Kahu Helicopters.
Despite its impressive size, the pilot threw the thing around the sky in a most dynamic fashion.
Tuesday, 21 April 2026
Robinson R 44 Raven II ZK-HTY/3
To brighten up your day across what is a pretty grey day across the whole of the country, here is a photo of High Country Helicopters Ltd's R 44 Raven II ZK-HTY3:
ZK-HTY3 (c/n 11523) was first registered in New Zealand on 17/1/07 and has had nine owners since then. It has been owned by High Country Helicopters since 15/4/16 and it has recently been repainted in pink.Jordanian Air Force UH-1H Iroquois "808"
It has a well proven war record having served in the "American War" in Vietnam and later in Germany.
It was one of several obtained by Royal Jordanian Air Force and was allocated the serial number "808"
Warbirds Over Wanaka Catchup - 2
With the withdrawal of the F-22s and the other fast noisy aircraft, the jet display entertainment was much more linited than in other years.
However, the four-ship 'American Eagles Jet Display Team' rose to the occasion and put on a really good and polished display with their L-39s despite being limited by the cloud cover.
Monday, 20 April 2026
Warbirds Over Wanaka Catchup - 1
After attending this show I then extended my South Island trip with an in-depth exploration of the West Coast.
Having found some interesting articfacts around there, I have only recently arrived back home and got time to look at photos.
For me, the show was a bit limited by the weather, a bit of a stuggle with a new camera, and the layout of the Wanaka airfield itself. The sun is in quite the wrong orientation for good airborne photos. Maybe they should rotate the whole runway 90 degrees?
Anyway here are some of the 'hot stuff' on takeoff:
And the one that didn't actually get to fly due (I understand) to brake problems, Yak-7B ZK-YKB
Sunday, 19 April 2026
ZK-Pending at GCH open day 18-04-2026
JetRanger ZK-HKR on the powerline patrol.
Beck Helicopters used the JetRanger ZK-HOC on this job last August SEE HERE









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