Beaver ZK-CLP

Working our way through Fieldair's Beavers, their eleventh Beaver was ZK-CLP:

This Beaver was delivered to the US Army as 52-6114 as an L 20A on 17/4/53.  It had an accident near the Terrington Basin in New Foundland on 21/8/55 but obviously was repaired as it was struck off charge from the US Army and registered as N7743B to State Airlines of Charlotte, North Carolina on 21/8/64.  It stayed with them until 12/1/65 until it was cancelled and exported to New Zealand.

ZK-CLP (c/n 493) first flew here on 24/3/65 and was registered to Fieldair on 7/4/65.  It was painted in the standard blue and white Fieldair colours as in this photo taken at Waipukurau.

And here it is in colour at Gisborne on 23/10/65 when it was still quite new.  The ex US Army Beavers did not come with the landing gear to fuselage fairings that brand new Beavers came with.  It had a wire strike near Dannevirke on 9/12/66 but was repaired as it went on to crash on 4/1/69 when it hit a fence at Wanstead, East of Dannevirke and was badly damaged.  It was cancelled from the NZ register on 23/1/69.