We once had a SIAI Marchetti SF 260 in New Zealand

Did you know that we once had a SIAI Marchetti SF 260 registered in New Zealand?  I didn't until I recently came across a photo of it while looking at stuff from the PDL International Air Race that was run from London to Christchurch in 1987.  The aircraft was a SF 260C registered as ZK-MUR.

The aircraft was designed in the early 1960s by Stelio Frati for Aviamilano and it was his first all metal design.  Stelio Frati also designed the classic Falco and the SF 260 shares some of the lines of the Falco as well as the same wing and some structures.  It was designed to be an aerobatic sport aircraft but was also pitched at the military It was very successful in its military guise as a trainer or light attack aircraft, and in fact it served in a remarkable 33 Air Forces around the world.  Of the around 1,000 aircraft produced the big majority went to military customers.  The aircraft was developed a lot during its life and in 1980 a turbo prop version was developed using an Alison 250 engine

The SF 260 had a length of 7.10 metres (23 feet 4 inches), a wingspan of 8.35 metres (27 feet 5 inches) over its tip tanks.  Its empty weight was around 755 Kg (1,664 pounds and it had a MAUW of 1.200 Kg (2,646 pounds).  With an IO 540 engine its maximum speed was 180 knots (333 km/hr) with a stall speed of 68 knots (126 km/hr).

The soon to be ZK-MUR arrived in Wellington from Brisbane on 28/1/86 as N72FD and it flew here as such for 5 months.  It is photo'd above as such at Christchurch on 25/3/86.

It was registered as ZK-MUR (c/n 729) on 5/6/86 to Murray Richmond of Featherston.  It is photo'd above, also at Christchurch on 27/3/87 at the air show in association with the finish of the PDL International Air Race.  It wasn't in New Zealand for very long as on 29/9/88 it was flown from Auckland to Brisbane (and I guess on to England) as on 15/10/88 it flew from Prestwick in Scotland to Reykjavick at the start of an Atlantic crossing on delivery to the USA.  On 17/10/88 it was flying across Greenland when it suffered an engine failure 3 miles from Narsarsuak and force landed (was it written off?).  Its New Zealand registration was cancelled on 20/2/89.