A reunion bonus.

I had the good fortune to attend a reunion in Wellington this weekend.

After a nice smooth and quick trip via 'cattle class' into Wellington I managed a lift over to Masterton to capture the following :-

 Auster ZK-AXO (c/n 2637) was seen for the first time for many years. It was parked outside its whilst owner Ian Davies swept the hangar floor.

First registered in the UK as G-AJUZ on 05-09-1949 it came to NZ to become ZK-AXO on 03-05-1951 with the Otago Aero Club.

It was converted to J1B status in about 1953 and sold to John Sinclair of Balclutha in May of 1960. Ran Sinclair of Light Aircraft Ltd took it on and flicked it on to Jock Montgomery of Cheviot who in turn sold it to Harry Sowerby of Temuka. It then migrated back to Balclutha for a while before returning to Cheviot bfollowed by a move on to RM  Browning of Masterton from March of 1982. Ian Davies purchased it a few months later and has owned it since.

 "Hangar" carried out the preflight check of the near new Tecnam P2002-JF UL Sierra ZK-WRA (c/n 516).

 As WRA returned Bevan Dewes took off in his De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk N861WP to give the crowd (of two) a lovely handling demo over the airfield.

See recent post at http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/chipmunk-n861wp.html

Just back from using up a bit of sky was the Avid Heavy Hauler UL ZK-OST (c/n 1543-E) as listed to Robert Payne of Te Awamutu.

Post  reunion and awaiting a lift back to Quake City the Airbus A320 VH-VGY (c/n 4177) departed with its own rainbow. This aircraft is operated by Jetstar on lease from ARCU Aircraft Leasing Ltd in the Cayman Islands . (I thought you would like to know this last little snippet).

Stampe SV4A ZK-BBV

A trip to Ardmore 29 May proved to be very productive and I was delighted to be on location for the arrival of this beauty, Stampe ZK-BBV.

Thanks to Bluebus for the following blurb dating back to 2011 when the aircraft was first registered in NZ:

We begin the month (July 2011) with a first of type on the register, although it is not the first of its type to fly here. In France on 11-08-1936 a new organisation was formed by the nationalisation of military industries of several well known manufactures. Potez, Amiot, Breguet, A.N.F Les Mureaux and C.A.M.S were united to create the Society Nationale de Construction Aeronautiqeus du Nord – or better known as S.N.C.A.N. We should however cast our minds back even further: to 1922 in fact when Jean Stampe and Maurice Vertongen formed their Company at Antwerp to manufacture training aircraft for the Belgian Government and flying schools under the RSV initials. Jump ahead now to 1933 when the first S.V.4 took flight. This was a two seat trainer biplane powered with a Gipsy Major engine and supplied to the Belgian military. Visually this is often confused with the DH Tiger Moth. About 35 were completed before WW11 halted work. Post war production was also undertaken in Algeria and France – which brings us back to S.N.C.A.N.  It is one of these aircraft that has joined our register as ZK-BBV₂ as an S.N.C.A.N. Stampe SV 4A (aerobatic trainer with the Renault 4-P05 engine). Lars Fellman has imported this example from France where it has been flying as F-BBVM since 12-11-1946. Its final French owner was Xavier Maniguet of Dieppe (better known perhaps for his part in the Rainbow Warrior affair) and who was recently killed in an aircraft accident in the Alps. Lars also operates the Rotorway Exec 162F helicopter ZK-IOH and the Zlin Savage (Cub lookalike) ZK-OHA.

Zenith/Zenair CH 701s of New Zealand (3) - 2006 to 2010 Aircraft

ZK-STL (c/n 7-9777) was a CZAW built example that was imported by Anton Meier of Aerosport Aviation.  It was first registered on 12/1/06 and originally appeared on amphibious floats as in the above photo taken at the 2006 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga.  Its first owner was Anton Meier and it went to International Investments Ltd of Howickon 23/8/06 then to RJ Gray of Bombay on 20/4/07.

Most recently it went to Greg Van Der Hulst of Whangarei, on 13/1/12.  It has been returned to a wheeled undercarriage as can be seen in this photo from Jean310, showing it outside its hangar at its base of Dargaville on 15/1/15.

ZK-JLN2  (c/n 7-2026) was buuilt by John Lowther of Timaru and was first registered to him on 29/3/06.  It is photo'd above at Timaru on 29/12/07.

It was purchased by S & N Khan of Motueka on 7/8/10 and is photo'd above in their ownership at the 2011 RAANZ flyin at Masterton, on 12/3/11.

The Khan's re-registered the aircraft as ZK-KHA2 on 12/1/12 as photo'd above at the 2012 Black Sands flyin at Raglan.  Finally on 2/9/13 ZK-KHA2 was sold to WH Lawton of Upper Moutere.

ZK-ESY2 (c/n 7-9844) is another CZAW built aircraft imported by Aerosport Aviation.  It was first registered to David Clews of Hamilton on 6/7/06.  Ownership transferred to E nikolau of Hamilton on 12/7/07 and finally on 10/6/08 to Adrian Van Der Hulst of Te Awamutu (father of fellow CH 701 owner Greg Van Der Hulst).  It is photo'd above at the 2009 Black Sands flyin/

And here is Adrian Van Der Hulst approaching the airstrip at Kowhai with a back country backdrop during a flyout from the 2014 SAANZ flyin at Hastings.

ZK-JRM (c/n 5989) is a VW powered CH 701 that was built by JE (Rae) McNally of Kerikeri and was first registered to him on 7/12/06. It first flew on 29/12/06 and it is photo'd above at Kerikeri on 22/12/09.  Ownership transferred to Ngapita Trust of Pokeno on 15/5/12 and one month later to MR Durham of Hastings, on 18/6/12.

ZK-LSB (c/n 6089) was built by LS (Stu) Bufton of Rangiora and was first registered to him on 18/5/07.  It is powered by a Rotax 912 and is modified to have extra flap extension, and also has additional fuel tanks fitted.  It also has extended fuselage storage for rifles and fishing rods and additional storage and in wing lockers.  It is photo'd above at the 2009 SAANZ flyin at Ashburton.

Stu uses ZK-LSB for back country flying and for landing in riverbeds so he has fitted it with humungous wheels as in this photo taken at Rangiora on 10/10/14.  Stu has also been involved in importing several other CH 701s from the US.

ZK-OSO (c/n 7-9708) was first registered in the US as N701TL in May 2005 and it appears to be a CZAW built example.  It was imported into New Zealand by John Levy of Kaikoura and was first registered here on 28/1/08.  The above photo was taken on 13/3/09, at Motueka I think.  Ownership transferred to D Fenwick of Richmond on 1/6/08 and to SA Sutherland of Paihia on 3/11/09.

ZK-SCC (c/n 6592) was built by Steve Cunningham of Opotiki.  It was first registered to him on 9/12/08 and first flew on 300/5/09.  It is powered by a Subaru EA 81 engine and has a 3 bladed Warp Drive propellor.  ownership transferred to R Dawson of Matamata on 10/7/09 and then to RC Cawthorne of Silverdale on 28/5/11.  It is photo'd above at North Shore on 14/6/14.

ZK-EDY (c/n 7-3988) was built by Gary Eady and registered to Gary L Eady and Claire Eady of Whangarei on 6/1/10. I think both of the photos come from Gary Eady, and the above photo was taken on 15/1/10.  It is powered by a Jabiru 3300 6 cylinder engine and has Canadian Pegastrol wings with automatically retracting slats.

ZK-EDY is photo'd above at Whangarei airport on 25/7/10, now fully painted.  Unfortunately it ditched in the Whananaki North tidal estuary on 28/12/14.  However it is still registered so it hopefully is being repaired.

A few from NZCH

 The Cessna 180C ZK-BYI (c/n 50909) caught here yesterday at Christchurch as been around since November of 1960. It had an ownership change to Mount View Developments Ltd of Queenstown on 16-05-2015.

The Ross and Allan Scarlett Guimbal Cabri ZK-HPP3 (c/n 1082) was seen at Pacific Helicopters yesterday. First  registered on 05-02-2015.

Parked on the hard oiutside the Canterbury Aero Club yesterday was the Cessna 510 Mustang ZK-JAK2 (c/n 510-0347) of Air Hawkes Bay.

Taken back on the 21st is this shot of the retired Boeing 737-319 ZK-NGG (c/n 25606) minus its Air New Zealand markings. That is the wing tip of the Air Caledonie ATR  F-ONCL on the left.

Robinson R22 Beta ZK-HOU

Snapped outside the Heliflite Pacific facility at Ardmore yesterday (27-05-2015) by Magnaman was the Robinson R22 Beta ZK-HOU6 (c/n 3184).

This ordinary looking Robbie has a varied history.

After a rumoured listing on the South African register as ZS-RMT it instead came to NZ and was listed as ZK-ISC with Cochran Ag Helicopters Ltd of Balclutha on 18-04-2001 and had its first flight here on the 27th. It did not last long as it was damaged at Owaka on 22-08-2001.

On 30-09-02 it was listed to Christchurch Helicopters Ltd and underwent a registration change to ZK-HFU3 a month later.

It then transferred back down south to Queenstown for Heli-Ag Services Ltd from 21-08-2003 followed with a move to Mount Maunganui for N. Z.Helicopter Centre (2006) Ltd with whom it was damaged following a power loss at Tauranga on 18-05-2008.

Heliflite Pacific Ltd of Papakura took it on from 09-10-2008 and re-registered it as ZK-HJH3 on 15-10-2008 followed by an other registration change on 21-11-2014 to ZK-HOU6 and a ownership change to Sandra Thomas of Hikuai the following day.

As you can see this is the sixth allocation of the ZK-HOU letters.

The first HOU was a Hughes 369HS with Mountain Helicopters from April 1979 until its incident on 01-02-1984 in the Waioeka Gorge. 

Issue two was the Aerospatiale AS350BA worked on by Heliquip International out of Nelson before being re-exported in August of 1996.

Next up was the Elisport Helicopters CH-7 Angel which was a rebuild of ZK-HOC2 with Simon Clark of Auckland. This was damaged at Ardmore on 25-07-2003.

Issue four was a Canadian Home Rotor Safari for Paul Slade of Blenheim between February 2007 and July of 2010 when it was exported to Australia to become VH-TQT.

The fifth allocation went to the Kawasaki BK117 B-2 which Helilink Ltd had in their care from 25-08-2011 until its move in October 2012 up to PNG as P2-HNA. This had originally been briefly listed in NZ as ZK-HRI2 with Airwork from May of 1999 until June the same year when it took up the VH-JRB2 marks until its return to NZ in 2011.

Mustang ZK-YDZ

New Zealand's latest private jet was placed on the registered 21 May 2015 in the shape of Cessna C510 Citation Mustang ZK-YDZ. Wearing the serial number 510-0070, this very light jet made the easy transition from its previous markings of VH-YDZ with whom it flew on behalf of Pacific Real Estate, Wollongong after being delivered new in November 2009. 

The Mustang crossed the Tasman a couple of times in 2011 before it made the delivery flight from Bankstown to Sydney, Auckland and Ardmore on 23 February this year. It subsequently flew a number of times under its VH markings with visits to Tauranga, Wanganui, Hastings, New Plymouth, Westport, Hamilton and Woodbourne.  After a trip from Ardmore to Tauranga and back earlier in May the Mustang entered a locally based maintenance facility to undergo its transition to ZK markings and it was registered to Brookby Quarries who had previously operated Beech King Air C90 N890LG from January 2011 until June 2014 when it was exported to Australia.

Zenith/Zenair CH 701s of New Zealand (2) - 2001 to 2005 Aircraft

ZK-EWM2 (c/n 3955) was built by Owen Mounsey of Huntly and was first registered on 29/11/01.  It is photo'd at a flyin at Te Kowhai in December 2003.

ZK-JRT (c/n 7-3838) was built by Julian Thornton of Hamilton and was first registered on 27/11/02.  Julian has built several other aircraft including the Teeny Two ZK-DUO2  and the Just Aircraft Escapade  ZK-SKP  It is photo'd above at the same Te Kowhai flyin in December 2003.  It originally had a BMW engine but this was changed to a Rotax 912 in 2003.  Ownership transferred to Pro Flight of Tauranga on 2/4/06, to CM Wilson of Katikati on 1/5/07 and then to MC Ralfe of Hokitika on 12/6/10.

Glen Heslip of Fairlie purchased the aircraft on 30/9/12 and sent in the above photo of ZK-JRT in its natural environment in the back country.

ZK-ZAR (c/n 7-9480) was built by Ralph Sanson of Warkworth and was first registered on 28/4/04 but was not completed until 2009.  It is powered by a Jabiru 2200 engine and is badged as a "Sky Jeep"on its ts wingtips, which is what CH 701s are commonly called and which I think describes them quite well.  It is photo'd above at Dargaville on 29/3/14.

ZK-OUZ (c/n 7-3537) was built by Gavin Waite of Levin and was first registered on 13/12/05.  I photo'd it in Gavin's garage just outside Levin on 19/11/11 when it had a Rotax 582 engine.

And Gavin has sent in this photo of ZK-OUZ now with a Rotax 912 engine, taken at Foxpine recently.  Thanks for the photo Gavin.

Zenith/Zenair CH 701s of New Zealand (1) - 1995 to 2000 Aircraft

The Zenith CH 701 was designed by Canadian Chris Hientz as a STOL bushplane featuring a deep chord high wing with fixed slats, full span flaperons, an inverted airfoil elevator and an all flying rudder.  It is constructed from aluminium with blind rivets and has been a much copied design across the world.  The prototype first flew in 1986 and kits are still in production.

The CH 701 is produced in kit form by Zenair in Ontario, Canada and by the Zenith Aircraft Company in Missouri, USA.  In 1992, Zenair entered into a licensing agreement with CZAW in the Czech Republic to build CH 701s (and CH 601s), and around 750 aircraft were built in the CZAW factory up to 1996 when the license agreement was terminated.

The CH 701 has a length of 20 feet 11 inches (6.30 metres), a wingspan of 27 feet (8.23 metres) and a wing area of 122 square feet.  Empty weight is around 580 pounds (263 Kg) and MAUW varies between 480 Kg for the earlier aircraft, 498 Kg for later aircraft and 544 Kg for the CZAW manufactured aircraft.  Engines can vary from the Rotax 582 to the Rotax 912 which is much more common in recent aircraft.

24 CH 701s have flown in New Zealand to date, as follows:.

ZK-ZCH (c/n 7-1774) was registered to Graham N Farrell of Blenhiem and was first registered on 22/3/95, making it our first CH 701.  According to the nose, it was powered by a Rotax 618 engine.  I was unaware of this aircraft until researching this series, and it was from the microlight movement.  The above photo was taken at a flyin at Waitohi on 15/4/01.  Can anyone add to its subsequent history?

I had thought our first CH 701 was ZK-LOK (c/n 73538) which was built by the Kanair Partnership at Hokitika and was registered to the Niol and Ursula Lockington Trusts of Auckland on 27/1/98.  It is photo'd above at the 1998 SAANZ flyin at Matamata.  It is named "Spirit of Blazing Arrow" (the original Blazing Arrow was Avro 504K G-NZAO of Arrow Aviation in the early 1920s).  It has a Rotax 912 engine and has not changed much at all during its life in Auckland.

ZK-KJR (c/n 7-3854) was built by Keith J Ross of Nelson and was first registered to him on 2/11/99.  On 13/12/08 ownership changed to the South Eyre Trust of Rangiora, and finally on 14/10/14 to the Brown Syndicate of Kumeu.  it is photo'd above on 27/9/09 at Charlie Draper's strip near Darfield.

ZK-JLZ (c/n 4093) was built by John R Morrison of Waihi and was first registered to him on 21/11/00.  Its first flight was on in the hands of Phil Hooker.  It has a Rotax 912 engine with a wWarp Drive 3 bladed propellor.  On 25/5/02 ownership changed to PG and M Miller of Waiuku under whose ownership it is photo'd at the 2009 Black Sands flyin at Raglan.  Finally on 18/6/12 it was sold to GC Jackson of New Plymouth.  It is currently based at Stratford.

Chipmunk N861WP

I have just received an update from Bevan Dewes regarding his Chipmunk N861WP.

Below I have gathered most of the previous blogged material on this aircraft.

MONDAY, 19 MARCH 2012

More from Motueka.

De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk N861WP (c/n C1-0748) of Eugene J Demarco of Wellington. It was originally built for the RAF and serialled WP861 (from whence its current registration comes) before heading to the USA to become N65273 followed by N861WP from April 1984. It came to NZ in about 2004 and is normally based at Masterton. It is temporarily based at Motueka with Bevan Dewes.

Above: Seen at Omaka 29-03-2013

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SUNDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2013

Forest Field gathering # 1
The 25th anniversary fly in at NZFF Forest Field was a beaut.

Great weather.

Great airfield.

Great hosts.

Great spread of food.

Great gathering of aviators and aircraft.

 Three De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk's called.

Above is Canadian built ZK-ARL (c/n 61). It came to NZ in 1949 for the Wellington Aero Club.

It has been in the Christchurch area with Jim Chapman since about 1989.

The other two were built in the UK for the RAF. ZK-XUK is c/n C1-0087 and is still in its Army Air Corps colour scheme. Lou McAllister imported it into NZ in 1987 and has been with Lou since.

Below is the US registered De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk N861WP (c/n C1-0748) of Eugene Demarco. 

Originally built for the RAF with the serial WP861 (from whence its current registration comes) before heading to the USA to become N65273 followed by N861WP from April 1984. It came to NZ in about 2004 and is normally based at Masterton.

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At Rangitata Island 21-10-2013.

That is young Bevan in the overalls and cap.

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THURSDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2013

Chipmunk N861WP at Rangitata Island.

Bevan Dewes, the new owner of the De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk N861WP (c/n C1-0748),  has kindly provided these two photos taken by Alex Mitchell out of Rangitata Island.

 It came to NZ in about 2004

It is currently based at Rangitata Island with Bevan.

Check out the following video clip :-

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/9314452/Bevan-backs-grassroots-flying

Below are couple of pics I took on 21-10-2013 at Rangitata Island.

 Above : clearing out. Below : clearing in.

There were two comments to this particular post - as below

   1) pasturepilot15 December 2013 at 01:37

OH, but you are missing out on the story this plane has to tell!
WP861 had a distinguished student, Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, flew this aircraft during flight training.
 I believe he soloed in this aircraft, if memory serves. 

I grew up hanging around this bird in the 90's near Atlanta, Georgia, and flew her, twice. The gentleman who owned her passed earlier this year and I was wondering where she'd ended up after the sale years ago. Looks like several transactions later, she's still in good hands! 

2) Bevan Dewes30 June 2014 at 22:32

Pasturepilot, it would be very interesting to get in touch with you and see what information you have on WP861, I am the current owner here in NZ and am looking for all the information I can on the history of the aircraft, including previous owners,

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SUNDAY, 15 DECEMBER 2013

Chipmunk N861WP revisited.

pasturepilot has given me a rev up over my posting on the Chipmunk N861WP at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/chipmunk-n861wp-at-rangitata-island.html 

pasturepilot said :-

 "OH, but you are missing out on the story this plane has to tell!

N861WP had a distinguished student, Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, flew this aircraft during flight training. I believe he soloed in this aircraft, if memory serves.
I grew up hanging around this bird in the 90's near Atlanta, Georgia, and flew her, twice.

The gentleman who owned her passed earlier this year and I was wondering where she'd ended up after the sale years ago. Looks like several transactions later, she's still in good hands! "

Well I guess I assumed that everybody already knew this about its "Royal" connection. 

Below is a pic of WP861 taken on 04-01-1964 by Ian M Macdonald and comes via Air Britain files.

 And below as seen on 15-06-1968 by Brian Bickers - also via Air Britain.

For a quick (hands on !!) walk round with the "Duke" see :-

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/duke-of-edinburgh-learns-to-fly/query/CHIPMUNKS 

Below is an extract from http://www.nzwarbirds.org.nz/chipa.html#

"As with several previous de Havilland aircraft, the Chipmunk was to have royal connections in Britain. A brand new T.10 was delivered to RAF White Waltham and used to teach HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, to fly. Trained by Flight Lieutenant Caryl Gordon, the Duke made his first solo on December 20, 1952."

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Below we have some reasonably recent close up shots of WP861/N861WP.

For N861WP air to air check out :-

http://hatfieldaviationheritage.co.uk/chipmunk/ 

And below we see her at Forest Field on October the 6th 2013.

I received the following from Bevan last Thursday - 21 May 2015.

My name is Bevan Dewes and I am the current owner of WP861 (N861WP) based in Masterton.

As seen above the aircraft has fabulous provenance. 

WP861 was the first aircraft Prince Philip flew during his flight training in 1952-3 he flew 16hrs 35 mins in this aircraft including his basic stage flight test. The other chipmunk Prince Philip flew was WP912 which is now in the RAF Museum Cosford.

I have been lucky enough to acquire over time several letters from previous Captains of the Queens flight, Owners of WP861, even Prince Philip himself.

I also have the aircraft's RAF movements card and copies of Prince Philip's logbook for the period of his training.

I am certainly very lucky to be able to be the 'care taker of this significant aircraft.

I hope to eventually repaint the aircraft into its original RAF colour scheme it has at the time Prince Philip flew it.