Coming together at the Taildraggers Flyin at Waipukurau yesterday, for possibly the first time since WW 2, were a couple of vintage taildraggers that have dragged their tails for longer than most. Ron Day has sent these photos:
They were Ron Day's Taylor J2 Cub
ZK-AGD originally registered here in January 1938, and John Armstrong's Piper J3C-50 Cub
ZK-AHD, originally registered here in April 1939.
We have covered the long histories of these two aircraft previously on the blog. For ZK-AGD click
HERE and for ZK-AHD click
HERE.
Thanks very much for the photos Ron.
ZK-AGD is a Piper J2 not a Taylor. It was build at Pipers Loch Haven plant in January 1938, the name Taylor having been dropped on 2 November the previous year
ReplyDeleteZK-AGD was registered in NZ in January 1938. That means it is unlikely it was built in January 1938. Assuming it was in NZ to be registered, you have to work back from there and allow for its construction and sea voyage from USA. It was registered as a Piper because by then that was the company name. To my knowledge no records survive that prove AGD was not built before November 2. If you have access to these records I would be grateful if you would provide them.
ReplyDeleteThe information I have is that ZK-AGD was first registered in NZ on 1 March 1938. It was assembled in the Council hangar at Rongotai and test flown on 8 March by Sq/Ldr Bill Grundy. I have a photograph of it during assembly. Somewhere in my records I have a January date for it test flight by Piper but cannot locate it at this time.
ReplyDeleteFascinating! The info I have (gathered from various sources) is "To James Robert Franklin, Wanganui 01/1938, to ZK-AGD 09/05/1938, used by Wanganui Aero Club. To H W (Bert) Lightband, New Plymouth. To Peter G Hobart, New Plymouth. To CJL Dundon, Wanganui, wfu 1958, damaged by hangar collapse 10/04/1968. To Murray Farr, Hawera and stored for rebuild, cancelled 17/12/1990. To Kip Netherclift and Murray Kirkus 2011, restored to airworthy, to ZK-AGD 04/03/2014, withdrawn 24/06/2014, to ZK-AGD with Netherclift AGD Partnership, Napier 17/09/2015, f/f 09/02/2017. To Ron J Day, Otane 25/06/2020, ferried to new base Waipukurau 28/06/2020."
DeleteI would love to see the photo you have of it being assembled, and any documents you have pertaining to it. Copies of these could then be added to the portfolio that is part of the aircraft. Ron
ReplyDelete