At Matamata airfield the light was fading when I arrived but there was enough light to photograph Airfarm Ltd's Fletcher FU 24-950M ZK-CRF (c/n 121). Surprisingly, it has not been posted on the blog previously but it has an interesting history which I detail below:
ZK-CRF has been operated by the husband and wife team of John and Janet Spence under the Airfarm Ltd banner, since 11/6/08. There is a nice article on their operation at https://www.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz/rural-news/rural-general-news/husband-and-wife-team-s-special-love-of-ag-aviation
But ZK-CRF goes back to 1966 when it was the first New Zealand built Fletcher FU 24. It was built by Air Parts (NZ) Ltd at Hamilton with a 285 HP Continental IO 520A engine, and first flew on 24/6/06. It was registered to Wanganui Aero Work Ltd on 1/7/66. It was named "Waitara" and carried "NZ Made" titles. The above photo (from the Wings Over NZ Fletcher thread) shows it early on in its life, on 4/3/67, at New Plymouth.
It was converted to a 400 HP FU 24-950M model in 1975 with its first flight with this engine on 17/12/75, and was registered to Fieldair Ltd of Palmerston North on 26/1/76. Then followed a series of ownership changes as Fieldair morphed into Fieldair Holdings (Central) Ltd on 18/11/80 and then into Fieldair Holdings Ltd on 30/3/84. The above photo is of ZK-CRF in Fieldair ownership at Nelson on 27/12/79.
Ownership changed to Far North Air Ltd of Kaitaia on 22/8/97 and it was operated at least initially in its Fieldair colours but without the Fieldair titles, as in the photo below taken at Kerikeri in 1998.
Most recently it was purchased by John and Janet Spence of Airfarm Ltd at Matamata as detailed above.
Ownership changed to Far North Air Ltd of Kaitaia on 22/8/97 and it was operated at least initially in its Fieldair colours but without the Fieldair titles, as in the photo below taken at Kerikeri in 1998.
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