Islander (ZK-KTR) on the move.

The Britten-Norman BN-2A-6 c/n 759 was built by Intreprinderea de Reparatii Material Aeronautic (IRMA) of Bucharest, Romania as G-BCZD and finished at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. This included conversion to -21 standard with the 300hp Lycoming IO-540-K1B5 engines and with an air ambulance internal fit out for demonstrator duties with Britten-Norman (Bembridge) Ltd from 18-03-1975.

The photo below shoes it in its 'raw' state at Gatwick in 1975 following delivery from Romania.

It was on display at the Farnborough Air Show on 10-09-1976.

Photo from Trevor Warne.

I have a note to say that it was sold to Nigeria on 14-04-1980 only to pop up on the US register as N11216 from 17-10-1980 with Jack Wall Aircraft Sales Inc of Memphis, Tennessee.

It was cancelled on 22-04-1981 as exported to Japan where it became JA5268 for Nagasaki Airlines.

Above JA5268 taken in the late 1980's

In January 1990 it was sold and became P2-MFZ2 from the 11th listed with Missionary Aviation Fellowship at Mount Hagen, PNG, and then re-registered as P2-VAB around 1996, as below in the late 1990's in its Vanair titles.

It was ferried from Norfolk Island to Auckland on 09-08-2005 - and then on to North Shore Airfield to the Great Barrier Airlines facility..

It was noted there (below) on 05-10-2005 by VJ in this near all metal scheme, still with its Vanair fin title and red/white & blue nose cone.

Above - by 09-03-2008 it was in this all white scheme, minus engines and main door.

It also had the 'KTR' markings on its fuselage.

And noted again on 26-01-2009 by Westland831.

Jean210 captured this view on 01-06-2011. It appears to have its wing covered in black plastic and graffiti on its rear fuselage. Also a 'spare' Great Barrier side door is fitted.

In September of 2021 it was noted at Classic Flyers at Tauranga. Photo via the 3rd Level NZ Blog. 

By 30-12-2023 (above) it was coming back together thanks to the Classic Flyers engineering team in a pseudo-RAF colour scheme.

It is in fact bound for the Adventure Game Park at Gibbston Valley.

As seen below at Classic Flyers at Tauranga on the 28th of April - by Planewriting.

The wings (minus the engines) and the tailplane are on the truck tray with the fuselage on the trailer beyond.

In the left foreground is the wing of the Vampire NZ5751.

I believe the ZK-KTR registration was never officially listed to this airframe.

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UPDATE posted 18-05-2024

Islander Delivery

A small volunteer crew had an outstanding trip "Down-South" delivering our part-restored BRITTEN NORMAN ISLANDER Airframe. We certainly got some strange looks - and did a lot of chatting to interested bystanders along the way. Over 2500kms later and four nights out - the guys arrived home from The Gibbston Valley near Queenstown where Rolf (in blue below) the Islander's new owner is building a style of Adventure Park on his property. As you can see Rolf is chuffed with his new aircraft. We are pleased that it went to a good home.