Following on from the recent posts on a "Very different aircraft at Wellington" and "Also at Wellington"
Allister Jenks sent in the following.
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Hi
I was reminded by your Gannet and Wessex posts of a photo I discovered in my late father’s collection.
Based on other frames in the same film, he was flying a 1 Squadron Bristol Freighter through Wellington at the time, which combined with a frame showing an NAC Viscount and 737, puts the photo between 1973 and 1975.
I cannot find any information online about this visit, which I believe will be one of the prototype Airbus A300s.
All the information online talks about a tour to the Americas in late 1973, so I assume this was an extension of that tour.
Please excuse the poor quality. This is a significant crop and time has not been kind to this particular film. I have artificially sharpened it, which has magnified the problems quite a bit.
If you want to use the photo, please Copyright C.F.L. Jenks.
I am not a great airliner person and I was out of the country about this time - but it has the looks of the Airbus A300B1 prototype c/n 01 which first flew as F-WUAB on 28-10-1972 at Toulouse.
As F-OCAZ it was in Australia on 13-05-1974 on a demonstration to TAA and others.
So this seems a likely time period for it to be in NZ.
After about 1600 hours of which 380 were on route proving, training and demonstrations it was 'scrapped' on 27-08-1974 with the fuselage and one wing evidently going on display in the Deutsche Museum at Munch.
It was indeed F-OCAZ, and it arrived in Christchurch from Wellington on 23 May 74. My notes of the time say it was being demonstrated to NZNAC - but 1974 was not yet Airbus' time. After a local flight on the 24th, it flew to Auckland later the same day.
ReplyDeleteGreybeard is 100% correct, was there at Wellington for demo for NAC, it took staff for a flight, my Grandfather did. The late Bob Leask had a colour picture of it on the Eastern apron taken from Turangi Rd. I have a copy of it, I can email.
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