Wittman W8 Tailwinds of New Zealand (2)

I have previously posted about Wittman Tailwinds of New Zealand back in May 2013.  At that time we had had one example only - ZK-RET, and the post can be found  HERE  Since my earlier post ZK-RET has been re-designated (on 6/9/13) as a Class 2 microlight! (It is a pretty hot aircraft for a microlight), and then Bill Izard sold it down South, to the GA Partnership of Belfast (on 26/1/16) and it is now under the ownership of A.C.K Farming Ltd of Kaiapoi (from 3/5/16).

In my previous post I noted that we will see more Tailwinds, and in 2017 we had our next example registered.

ZK-XMC (c/n 989) was built by Craig Thomas and was registered to the Chen Syndicate of Auckland on 26/1/17.

It is photo'd above at the Pukekohe East airstrip on 10/6/17 before its first test flight.  Unfortunately the test flight did not end well when an engine problem necessitated a forced landing back at the strip where it overshot and hit a fence at the end of the strip and flipped onto its back on the road.  Fortunately the pilot suffered only minor injuries and the aircraft is now being repaired.

Thanks very much to Bill Izard for the photos.