Mustang versus Spitfire!

Well, not quite true..... Citation Mustang ZK-MUS and Spitfire ZK-WDQ wait their turns to depart from Ardmore 07 Jan.

Robinson R44 ZK-IZA

Izard Aviation has branched out and added a Robinson R44 II ZK-IZA to their stable of aircraft, presumably out of the Taupo region.

Ardmore 6/1/11, Mike Condon photo

More missing freinds

By request - here are four more Cessna 185's - no longer with us in this form.

Cessna 185D ZK-CHS was c/n 185-0793 and initially used by Rural Aviation in the ag role. By 68 it was with the Rex/Taupo Flying School, then to Air Central and lastly with Taupo Air Service. It crashed alongside the Desert Road on 19-03-1979. Photo taken at Taupo in September of 1969.

ZK-CKU is another 185D. Its c/n was 185-0931. Seen here in the old Tauranga hangar in its Adastra scheme in March of 1969. In the 70's it went onto floats and in this mode it crashed at Waihora Bay on Lake Taupo on 19-02-1978.

Two more of Mount Cook 185s. Above is the A185F ZK-COH c/n 185-1009 as seen on the private strip at Franz Josef on 05-04-1972. It has a undercarriage collapse on the Fox Glacier on 06-12-1980. Fortunately this airframe was rebuilt and became ZK-LJG in November of 1996, and as such we should see her at Masterton.

Cessna 185 ZK-CVG was c/n 185-0681R - being a rebuild of ZK-CGD which had been bent at Porangahau in November 1966. It was rebuilt by Rural Aviation and became ZK-CVG on 01-08-1967.  It was involved in a mid air with the Aerospatiale AS 350D Astar ZK-HEA2 near Fox Glacier on 27-06-1992.

ZK-VDQ - Very Darned Quick Lancair

Taupo on 2 January produced a surprise when I came across John Spry working on the electronics of his Nieco Lancair 320 ZK-VDQ. It is normally based in Wellington but John flys it to Taupo for the holidays. John kindly replaced the top engine cowling for this photograph.

ZK-VDQ was purchased by John from Australia as a partly completed kit which he then finished. It was first registered on 16/11/05. John is obviously really keen on Lancairs as he has previously owned 2 others: ZK-PDS (Pretty Darned Speedy?) from 4/92 until it force landed in the Pauatahanui Harbour in 3/97, and was cancelled in 9/97. And then ZK-SDQ (Seriously Darned Quick?) from 30/9/97 to 11/10/05, and which is still owned in the Wellington area.

Looking at absent friends

With the approaching Cessna 180/185 fly in at Masterton not too far away I thought I would rummage through the olde shoe box and dig out some shots of 185's that will not be coming to the 50th celebrations.

 ZK-CAT was c/n 185-0209 and is shown above at Feilding on an un-recorded date. Can anyone tell me what the sign writing on the fuselage side is ? and also what the insignia on the door and fin is. CAT struck a fence on take off, crashed and burned at Waimana on 26-07-1974.

 ZK-CAU (above) was c/n 185 0211 and is parked up here at Wellington International on 11-09-1969.

It was destroyed outside a hangar fire at Bridge Pa on the 14/15-09-1971. It had been tied down beside the hangar. Were any other aircraft destroyed in this fire ?

 ZK-CCX was c/n 185-0115 and was photographed at Queenstown in April of 1969. It was damaged at Parakai when it swung on take off on 29-01-1990

ZK-CHJ was a Cessna 185C with the c/n 185C-0756. It crashed on the Upper Tasman Glacier on 09-08-1984.

Turangi - Covered Zenith Country

A brief stop at the Turangi airstrip on New Years Day produced only covered Zeniths!

ZK-DBZ was across from Stratford, and was securely tied down and covered. It is a Zenair CH 601 HDS (for Heavy Duty Speedwing) which was built by Don Boyd in Wellington, and it was first registered on 23/6/04. The HDS wing is shorter than the regular 601 wing and is tapered for greater speed. There is only one other 601 HDS in New Zealand, being ZK-SWB.

And in the background was another covered Zenith in a different type of hangar - a very low PVC structure like a big open fronted tent (it was pegged down), with secure fencing around and big wire netting gates at the front. Very neat and very rural.

At least the gates allowed a photograph! This covered Zenith was ZK-MAM, a CH 601 XL model owned by Mike's Aviation Management. It is ex VH-ZSA and was first registered in New Zealand on 12/1/09. You can tell that it is ZK-MAM by the label on the closely fitting cover!

Coyote ZK-XAS

Rans S-6S Coyoye 11 ZK-XAS , c/n 03081871 , at Rangiora 03-01-2011, on its way from New Plymouth, Omaka to home base Taieri.

Rans S-6S Coyote 11 ZK-XAS comes on line for Corran Munro of Dunedin. It is a standard S-6S with an 80hp Rotax and an adjustable Ivo propeller. The aircraft was inspected on 22-11-09 and first flown the next day at Taieri by Craig Miller of Custom Aviation. Corran won an Evening Star flying scholarship in 1959 which lead to a PPL in March of 1960 under the eye of Hugh Skilling, followed by a CPL and twin rating with Bob Burns in 1974. This lead to some charter work with the Otago Aero Club. On December 24th 1977 Corran, Doug McCammon, Roger Barrowclough and Graeme Tikey flew the Cherokee Six ZK-EBU around NZ in one day; over water all the way, except for refueling stops at Hokitika, Kaitaia and Napier, in a record time of 15 hours and 59 minutes.
The XAS registration comes partly from a character in the book Vintners Luck and also in memory of an amazingly sociable cream Burmese cat named XAS. He loved riding in the car, would eat cherries, apricots and apples and had no hesitation in going flying. Corran was previously partners in the Druine Turbulent ZK-CGT with John Penno; Corby Starlet ZK-EEZ with David King and Pauline Hogue and in the Cherokee 140 ZK-DEJ and is in the Cherokee 235 ZK-LYC syndicate.
The above notes have been extracted from the pages of the December 2009 issue of the N.Z.Aviation News Magazine.

Titan Mustang Misses at Matamata

While travelling to Wellington for Christmas, I called into Matamata aerodrome which was very quiet on a Thursday. However I came across 2 very interesting Titan Mustangs both named "Miss ...."

John Shuttleworth was working on his ZK-SMF which was first registered on 6/8/09 and has now flown around 10 hours. The engine is a heavily modified Mazda rotary from an RX 8 which produces around 190 HP and is I think this is the only T 51 using this type of engine in New Zealand. John is still carrying out minor tweaks and he observed that it is pioneering work all the way.

ZK-SMF is painted up in the colours of the No 3 (Canterbury) Squadron of the NZTAF and features extensive stencilling in the style of the 1950's - you can enlarge the photo to read the detail. In a really neat touch, the aircraft is named "Miss Dixon" with a 1950's photo of Miss Dixon who is now Mrs Shuttleworth. John Shuttleworth told me that both the No 3 Squadron TAF Mustangs and his future wife were very distracting to him during his student days at Lincoln!

And the other "Miss Mustang" was Peter Walton's ZK-WSV which is now named "Miss B'havin" and lives in Mike Crene's Kiwi Mustangs hangar.

Mike has recently completed another T 51 Mustang ZK-WUH for an owner at Darfield, which was delivered in early December, and he is also building a Razorback B Model T 51 for himself to replace his ZK-DBG which has been sold to a buyer in America.

ZK-BDE 's race against time.

Coming together rapidly now is the rebuild of the 1953 Cessna 180 ZK-BDE , c/n 30459. As can been seen, the wings and taiplanes are now fitted. Fuel was added to the port wing tank today for the first time.

Will it be ready for the Cessna 185 50th anniversary at Masterton over the weekend of January 20-23 ?

Recent Rangiora departures

I start the year with three recent departures from the Rangiora region.
The Canadian built De Havilland DHC-1A1 Chipmunk ZK-CVM , c/n 34 , of Don Penniall has moved north to Matahui Airlines Ltd of Katikati. Built for the Indian Government in 1949 it was registered here on 03-04-2003. It has the later Canadian style canopy fitted. Its markings of CVM and 034 are the last three letters of its original Indian registration of VT-CVM and its construction number of 34; with the Canadian maple leaf insignia within the roundel. I am wondering if - now that Don's hangar is empty - if we will see the LOM powered Chipmunk come together here !

 The Cessna 150H ZK-CXL , c/n 150H-68308 , entered the NZ register on 21-01-1970 with the agents, Rex Aviation (NZ) Ltd for delivery to the New Plymouth Aero Club. As you can imagine it has had a bunch of owners over the years. In June of 2007 it was listed with MacDonald and Walker of Christchurch with a change to Graham Ian Readman of Rangiora on 14-04-2010. I must admit that I have not seen it recently so have included the above shot of her as seen at New Plymouth on 13-06-1973. On 04-12-2010 it was relisted to CXL Ltd of Kaukapakapa.

Pietenpol Air Camper M/L ZK-JQN , c/n DP02 , was completed from a partially completed kit by Donald Palmer of Kaiapoi and hit the register on 06-05-2005. It has spring steel U/C legs, a Cortina 2L engine and a 62inch propeller. It was first flown that December by Evan Belworthy. Ownership changed to James Coleman of Christchurch on 21-01-2007 and more recently to Glen Morgan of Greymouth.
Now if memory serves me - Glen started to build a Air Camper sometime in the 80's, but sold the project. Is this the same airframe that he has re acquired ?   Pic taken at Rangiora on 26-07-2009.