Beaver ZK-BXN

Fieldair's thirteenth Beaver was ZK-BXN which was a new aircraft which arrived at Hawker Siddely's in August 1965.  Its registration was out of alphabetical order and seems to be part of the filling in the registrations from ZK-BXJ to ZK-BXO which were not allocated back in 1960/61.

ZK-BXN (c/n 1597) first flew here on 22/10/65 and was registered to Fieldair on 28/10/65.  It is photo'd above outside the Hawker Siddely hangar at Wellington prior to its delivery.  Note the undercarriage to fuselage fairing which usually was taken off in service.  In the background is the packing crate with the next Beaver ready to be unpacked and assembled, probably ZK-COV.

It did not go through the Fieldair management changes in 1980 and 1984 but it did received a yellow colour scheme as in this photo that I think was taken at Te Araraoa.

 

The reason it did not go through the Fieldair management changes was because on 27/4/77 its ownership changed to Rangitikei Air Services Ltd of Taihape with whom it was painted in this distinctive colour scheme.  It was named "Pukeokahu" and also "The Fletcher Eater".  It is photo'd above at Taihape on 16/7/78.

And here it is, in need of a clean, at Feilding on 18/8/92.

On 24/7/96 ownership changed to J S and L F Kerr of Hokitika.  It is photo'd above on take off at Hokitika in a passenger configuration.  It only was based in Hokitika for about a year as it was cancelled from the New Zealand register on 6/6/97.  The photo is from dhc-2.com

It was exported to the US and registered N99NL to Bear Aircraft Sales Inc of Shrevesport, Los Angeles on 22/7/97.  On 27/5/99 ownership changed to No See Um Lodge Inc of Chugiak in Alaska as a floatplane as can be seen in the above photo taken on 26/5/22.  It is still extant.