Midget Mustangs of New Zealand (2)

Continuing the history of Midget Mustangs of New Zealand.

Nearly all the photos were taken by Blue Bus in his capacity of official photographer of South Island Midget Mustangs over the years.....

ZK-EDP (c/n AACA/144/1) was built by Glen Speden, who was a topdressing pilot at Oamaru It was registered on 11/4/79 making it our fourth Midget Mustang. The above photo was taken at Oamaru on 26/4/81. It had a succession of owners, being sold to Phil Murray, R Shanks and P Cunningham of Gore in 9/83 and to the Mustang Syndicate of Gore in 11/87.

Phil Murray then bought it back in 11/88 and owned it at Whenuapai and later at Wigram, where the above photo was taken on 9/5/99. It was cancelled on 29/5/01 and sold to Australia as VH-MXB, where it is still current.

ZK-MMC (c/n AACA/474) was a 12 year project built at Gore by W J Scott, David Patrick, Murray Davidson and Woody Rouse. It was first registered on 22/1/86 and made its first flight on 30/1/86. I do not have a note of who took the above photo, but it appears to be at Gore. It was sold to B G Roy of Gore in 4/97, and it crashed at Dipton West, overturning on takeoff, on 22/8/99. The wreck was bought by B N Gibbs of Lincoln but it was cancelled on 28/8/00.

ZK-MFE (c/n M-1-2036) was built by Mark Elworthy at Timaru, and was first registered on 16/8/06. It is active around the Sport Aviation scene and is photo'd here at the 2011 SANZ flyin at Ashburton on 5/2/11.

And finally (for now), our most recent Midget Mustang is ZK-ZLB (c/n 957), which is an early example. It was first registered in the United States as N180HP (with a 180 HP motor), built by E J Pilotte of Navato, California, and registered to him on 30/10/74. It was damaged in the US and was cancelled on 18/11/91. After many years it reappeared in Ashcroft, Canada from where it was bought and imported to New Zealand by Paul Kelly of Dunedin. It was first registered in New Zealand on 26/3/07. Paul rebuilt the aircraft and fitted it with an O-235 engine. The registration ZK-ZLB refers to the callsign of the Awarua Radio Station near Bluff, where Paul's father used to work. The above photo of ZK-ZLB was taken at Taieri on 9/11/10.