A Wellington Arrival!

 

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).

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.

Two photos of ZK-TPK which was painted as P3351 in its early war 73 Squadron RAF colours.  Underneath it was painted black on Port and white on Starboard which was for recognition during the Battle of France.  The photo below is at Warbirds Over Wanaka in 2006 but I have no record of where or when the above photo was taken,

After being inactive at Wanaka for some time t was sold to Jan Frizo Roozen of Monaco in 2013 and was registered F-AZXR.  Hawker Restorations bought it back in 2022.

 

And here is the latest iteration of the Hurricane painted Battle of Britain colours as P3143 of 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF.  This is because it is now owned and operated by Letecke Muzeum Tocna (Ivo Lukacovic) in the Czech Republic.  It is registered in Belgium as OO-MKT.  This fits well with the Czech history of P3351 but I think it was more authentic when Sir Tim Wallis owned it.  Of course any owner can paint their aircraft however they want to (perhaps they have to get approval from the powers that be to use a particular historic aircraft's colours) but it rather reminds me again of grandfathers axe.

Now that the Hurricane is in the Czech Republic it is planned to display it alongside another New Zealand restored WW2 aircraft in the form of "our" Avro Anson Mk 1 ex ZK-RRA  which is owned by the RAF Station Czechoslavakia and is registered OO-ANS.  A strong New Zealand connection in the world of warbird restorations!

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.

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"

This Bell UH-1H-BF c/n 9903 recently arrived in Rangiora for the New Zealand Helicopter Heritage Museum thanks to Alan Beck of Beck Helicopters of Eltham.

One of three I believe Alan obtained from the Jordanian Air Force.

Ordered in the US fiscal year 1967, allocated the serial number of 67-17705 and taken up by the US Army in August 1968.
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"

The serial number and national flag look like they were applied in a hurry !

It is a very welcome addition to the NZ Helicopter Heritage Museum.

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.

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

ZK-Pending at GCH open day 18-04-2026

 Airbus BK117 D-3 (H145) c/n 21103 D-HBKX3 is seen with its German test registration at Donauworth - Its pending Swiss registration covered over.

It is the first five bladed H145.

Below HB-ZQO was listed to Schweiz-Luft-Ambulanz AG (REGA) on 11-05-2022.     

It was canceled from the Swiss register on 27-01-2026.

It arrived in NZ earlier in the year and was registered here as ZK-IGD4 during February to GCH Aviation Ltd at Christchurch.

JetRanger ZK-HKR on the powerline patrol.

 Bell B206B JetRanger III ZK-HKR3 /n 3855 was parked at Way To Go Helicopters at Rangiora on Friday 17th all primed up and ready to start another session of power line inspections in the North Canterbury area.

Check out FlightRadar24.

See also HERE for more details of the job.

Beck Helicopters used the JetRanger ZK-HOC on this job last August SEE HERE

Three foreign visitors at GCH Christchurch. 18-04-2026

 Parked out at the GCH facility today were these three off shore visitors.

The Lear 45, c/n 45-262, was originally listed to Lear as N50126 for delivery to VH-VVI on 09-03-2005. This was cancelled on 22-08-2007 for it to become N45AU until it returned to the Australian register as VH-VVI again from 16-12-2009.

N998R is a Bombardier Global 7500 with c/n 70019. Built as C-FKZU and transferred to N769F in January 2020. Leased by Diker/Rodin Motorsports about mid 2024. Then re-registered as N998R for Diker/Rodin Motorsports from 13-02-2025.

Then we have N815GY.  A Gulfstream GV-SP (G550) c/n 5202 of Dry Fly Aviation of San Francisco. 

Built as N992GA about Auguust of 2008 it went quickly to N1SF then to N973SB in 2020. It became N815GY in Mid 2024.