Cresco ZK-JOF working from Nelson.

 The Pacific Aerospace Cresco 08-600 ZK-JOF c/n 032 of Otago Airspread Ltd ((Nelson Division)) arrived into Nelson via Taieri and Twizel on the 15th and has been busy working the area to the west since.

In the above photo, from Bill Mannix ,it has just arrived back at Nelson at the end of a long days work.

It is hard to believe that this airframe is coming up to 25 years old. In fact the early Cresco's were hatched in the very early 1980's.

ZK-JOF was officially registered on 01-07-2002 to Lonaoks Pty Ltd c/o Pacific Aerospace of Hamiton. It first flew on the 11th and was ferried from Hamilton to Lord Howe Island on 07-08-2002 - then on to points further west. Presumably as a demonstrator. 

It did not join the Australian aircraft register and was ferried beck to NZ on a ten hour flight from Coffs Harbour to Napier on 06-09-2002.

It took up with Andy Stephenson under his Farmers Air label from Gisborne from 13-09-2002. 

Life for it has not been all aerial application work.

As above as seen at Taupo on 03-03-2008 it spent some time in the meat bombing role. 

Note the large open door, the fuselage side windows., the rear vision mirror, the hand hold rail above the door and the large step below the door.

 Title was officially transferred to the Farmers Air Ltd name from 07-01-2011.

Super Air Ltd of Hamilton took it over on 04-03-2014 followed quickly by Otago Airspread Ltd of Mosgiel from 14-10-2024.

It is actually in the Nelson area covering the unserviceable locally based Ravensdown Cresco ZK-LTW which is in the Generation Global hangar receiving some tlc.

Tuesday at Rangiora.

I found three strays at Rangiora on Tuesday last (19th May).

Outside Aerofix was the Guimbal Cabri G2 ZK-HPP3 c/n 1082 - over from Karamea.

The Rans S-6EC Coyote II ZK-KOT c/n 06081887-ES came in from the Kokonga region via Timaru.

 It was acquired by Petre Innes back about March of 2025 and replaces his Zenair CH701               STOL ZK-MIZ2. 

Alpi Aviation Pioneer 300 Hawk iS ZK-TGB c/n 370 up from Timaru. It has been in the hands of Graham Smith since new. 

It carries the script "Pilot - Graham" and "Copilot - Margaret" on their respective side of the canopy.

All three have been covered previously in these pages.

Also at Avspecs - a Boeing B 17G Flying Fortress!

Nearly 2 years ago I posted about the Boeing B 17G Flying Fortress "Yankee Lady" coming to Avspecs and you can see that post HERE  In that post I got it a bit wrong because it turned out that what arrived at Avspecs was only the fuselage and empennage and the outer wings.  The B 17's engines and wing centre section are being restored in the US at Erickson Aircraft at Madras, Oregon and when both parts of the project are completed (hopefully in 2028) the Avspecs team will travel to Oregon to oversee the re-assembly of the aircraft and make it ready for flight.  Last Tuesday I visited Avspecs where the B 17 was sitting at the front of their hangar looking very shiny:

The B 17 was acquired by Charles Somers in 2024 and will be receive a new identity before it flies again.  Charles Somers chose Avspecs because he really liked the detailed restoration work that they have done on many warbirds, and he has four of Avspecs' restorations already in his collection (a Mosquito, Spitfire, Tomahawk and a Dragon Rapide).  He has tasked Avspecs to return the fuselage to exactly how it would have emerged from the Boeing factory in 1944 including working turrets and replica weapons and bombs.

This is the biggest project that Avspecs have ever done and it will be fascinating to see how it progresses.

The Fifth Mosquito at Avspecs!

I had reason yesterday to drive down to Naike to see a man about a microlight, and so I called into Ardmore on the way to see progress on the latest Mosquito restoration at Avspecs.  And progress is good!

This latest Mosquito is a FB Mark VI bomber version and its provenance is that it was built in 1945 by the Standard Motor Company of Coventry in England as TE881 for the RAF and after the war it was ferried to New Zealand for the RNZAF where it became NZ2345, being bought on charge on 28 May 1947.  However it was quite quickly put into storage at Woodbourne.  It was declared surplus in June 1955 having flown only 69.35 hours and was sold to the Williams brothers and then made its way to John Smith at Mapua in pieces and was discovered after John's death in 2019.  (Most of the warbird world's attention was focused on John Smith's other Mosquito NZ2336 which was complete and now has been restored at Omaka).  The boxes of NZ2345 were recovered to Avspecs and now form the basis of their latest restoration as photo'd above on 19 May.  And in April 2025 it was registered ZK-WEL2.

When completed the Mosquito will go to Warbird Experiences Ltd/Fly a Spitfire.com in England.  I was told that it will be completed this year so a few more trips to Ardmore will be in order!

Another Savannah Registered - ZK-CEE/2

Last week another ICP Savannah S was registered, making 48 Savannah's that have been registered here to date.  But this one is a bit different - it is on amphibious floats!

ZK-CEE2 (c/n 16-08-54-0496) has been refurbished at Whangarei by Savannah owner Dave Cull at Whangarei after it was imported from the Solomon Islands in 2025.  Last week it was registered to its new owner, F A Watts of Napier.  Dave told me that the nose wheel (which is a bit difficult to see between the floats) retracts forwards when in flight.

It is a 2016 kit and was flown in the Solomon Islands as I-C664 by an Italian Roman Catholic priest to visit the far flung islands in the Western Solomons for missions purposes, but this was curtailed by Covid so it has very low hours.

Bishop Steve Lowe has provided some information on the previous owner of the Savannah:  He was Luciano Capelli who was the Bishop of Gizo in the remote Western Solomons.  It is his family crest on the fuselage and this has been kept for ZK-CEE2.  Bishop Capelli retired in August 2023 and we can assume his replacement was not a pilot!

Belanca Viking ZK-VIX at Rangiora. Plus ZK-TIE.

The Fernside (near Rangiora) based Bellanca Viking 300 17-30A ZK-VIX c/n 79-30944 was photographed yesterday at Rangiora by Tony McFarlin.

This has been listed with Greg Ward since about March of 2025.

 SEE HERE for previous post on this aircraft.

We also have a better photograph of the Tie Upp Aviation Cessna A152 Aerobat ZK-TIE c/n A1520917.

See Here for any earlier post in ZK-TIE.

Two Nelson visitors today. Saturday the 16th

 Bill Mannix captured these two visitors at Nelson this morning.

The Apollo Air Ltd.'s Beechcraft B300 (350i) Super King Air ZK-APL2 c/n FL-415 as seen on short finals for 02. It had flown Nelson to Westport and back to Nelson. Later it returned to home base at Christchurch.

See here for previous posts on this King Air.

             In from Murchison and parked at Repaircaft was the Murchison Heli Tours Ltd 's Eurocopter AS 350 B3 ZK-IKA2 c/n 3409.

See here for several other posts on this Squirrel.

Tecnam P92-2000RG ZK-MGW

Amongst the visitors to Pauanui today on this stunning autumn day was the rarely seen Tecnam P92-2000RG ZK-MGW.   This was originally imported new in late 2003 and since that time has had 3 different Taupo owners,  the latest acquiring it in 2022.

 

Short S45 Solent 4 ZK-AMO at MOTAT

As I was in the Western Springs area yesterday and armed with my Gold Card, I called into the Aviation Hall at MOTAT to re-familiarise myself with the museum.  It was much the same as I remembered it but I thought it was pretty dark inside, and the aircraft were mostly still hard to photograph.  And a lot of the smaller aircraft were hanging from the roof in the rear part of the big hall.  However the TEAL Solent flying boat is in a position to get reasonable photos of from the mezzanine floor so I took a couple. and I will post them here as we have not covered ZK-AMO on the blog before: 

ZK-AMO (c/n SH.1559) was delivered to Tasman Empire Airways Ltd (TEAL) in November 1949 and along with the rest of TEAL's Solent fleet (ZK-AML, AMM, AMN and AMQ)  flew trans-Tasman services between Auckland and Sydney and between Wellington and Sydney, and also operated the "Coral Route" from Auckland to Tahiti.  Wikipedia details the Coral Route as follows:  

"It became the only air route into Tahiti, with Americans and others from Northern Hemisphere flying by landplanes into Nadi in Fiji, making the short trip across to Suva to join the flying boat at Laucala Bay, for its fortnightly flight along the Coral Route, leaving on a Thursday morning for Samoa, alighting on the Satapuala lagoon about 2:00 pm. Passengers were driven by cab through Samoan coastal villages to Apia, where they enjoyed respite and dinner at Aggie Grey's hotel until 2:00 am when they were driven back out to Satapuala for a pre-dawn take-off to the Akaiami lagoon at Aitutaki where they went ashore for breakfast and an optional swim until mid-morning takeoff for Papeete, timed to ensure that arrival was after the end of the siesta period at 2:00 pm. After launching ashore and completing Customs, passengers had to wait a further hour while their luggage was sprayed against horticultural pests, a time usually spent by the majority across the road from the Customshouse at Quinn's Bar. In all, a 30-hour leisurely introduction to life in the South Seas which made the Coral Route a legendary travel experience."

ZK-AMO flew its last service on 14 September 1960 and on 8 December 1960 it was donated to the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) whose volunteers have done a great job of preserving and restoring it to its current condition inside the Aviation Hall on Meola Rd in Auckland.

You can see a lot of the smaller aircraft in the MOTAT collection hanging from the roof (where you can't really see them very well).  And to the right of the photos is the equally impressive Short Sunderland NZ4115.

Group arrival at Pauanui

A surprise group arrival at Pauanui airfield late afternoon was a collection of 4 aircraft from Christchurch and 1 from Dunedin who all did a touch and go before heading north to Waiheke Island.

They comprised Rans S6-ES ZK-SIX,  Searey ZK-WET, Kitfox VII ZK-ROX, Kitfox IV ZK-JFA and Karatoo ZK-KTI.     Their histories have been well covered on earlier Blogs on this site.