Bristol Freighter Memories

Recently I found a great video on our sister blog MRC Aviation, about SAFE Air Bristol Freighters.  Titled "Bristol Freighter: 20,000 Rivets Flying in Close Formation" the link to MRC Aviation is at: (then hit play)

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2016/06/bristol-freighter-20000-rivets-flying.html

The video reminded me of my younger days when Bristol Freighters were a constant presence at Rongotai where at times assemblies at Rongotai College had to pause while a Freighter droned past!

I thought I would scratch the surface of the Bristol Freighter in New Zealand by posting the first two aircraft to be registered here, from the Neville Drake Collection.

Bristol B 170 Mk 31 Freighter ZK-AYG (c/n 12826) was registered on 8/3/51 to Straights Air Freight Express Ltd, who had won the contract for cross-Cook Straight freight from New Zealand Railways.

 It suffered several mishaps over the years.  I think this one was an overshoot at Paraparaumu on 14/11/51.

 In a later scheme for Straights Air Freight Express and with the NZR Rail-Air logo.

Finally a colour shot of it for SAFE with a tail registration.  The SAFE Air fleet underwent several minor colour scheme changes over the years including the colour being dayglo orange and then with the registration on the rear fuselage.  ZK-AYG finally retired on 9/9/67 having flown 16,768 hours.

Bristol B 170 Mk 31 Freighter ZK-AYH (c/n 12828) was also registered on 8/3/51 to Straights Air Freight Express Ltd,

Tragically, ZK-AYH crashed onto the Russley Golf Course at Christchurch on 21/11/57 when metal fatigue caused wing failure at 7,802 hours.  The four  people on board were killed and the crash is remembered by a memorial plaque on Memorial Drive near Christchurch Airport.  They were Captain RB Hamilton, First Officer HH Torgerson, J McClaggan and TM (Tom) O'Connell who was the founder and General Manager of Straits Air Freight Express, and who first conceived the Cargon system (the system of pallets that were loaded into the Freighter on rails from a special loader).

There is an excellent and very comprehensive history covering of all of the 21 Bristol Freighters we have had in New Zealand (plus the 12 RNZAF machines) posted by Flyernzl at:

http://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/11951

Question time # 187.

Question time # 187

Did anyone catch this on the TV movie the other night.

Filmed in Godzone.

What is its true identity of this Huey ?

The movie also featured a BK117 .

Any thoughts on its ID ?

Dargaville is Texan Country

Fly Synthesis Texan Top Class ZK-TXS2 (c/n F80098202/600) popped across from Whangarei to Dargaville yesterday,  It is owned by the TXS Syndicate of Whangarei but I understand it is in the process of being sold.

 ZK-TXS2 outside the pumps.

 Joined by the Aero Club's Texan Club ZK-TXN2.

Texans seem appropriate for Dargaville as I usually listen to Country and Western music on The Little Country Radio FM 88.0 as I drive home (until reception runs out).

A North Shore Aircraft Heading South

In my last post I posted about a couple of aircraft that were newly based at North Shore.  Here is one that is going the other way.

Beagle B 121 Pup Series 2 ZK-CYP2 (c/n B121/044) was registered to PJ Pont of Wanaka on 3/6/16, having been owned by Dr Paul Smedley at North Shore since 11/5/04.  I have posted about this aircraft previously at http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2011/01/betty-b-and-magic-carpet.html  It no longer has Dr Paul's Beagle Pup on the tail, and I think it is no longer named Betty B.

It is appropriate that the Union Jack is hanging at the rear of the hangar as it shows the Pup to be painted in best of british colours.

A Couple of North Shore Aircraft in the Aero Club Hangar 11-6-2016

New aircraft seem to regularly be based at North Shore, including these two fairly recent arrivals:

Cessna 172S ZK-JQA2 (c/n 172S8703) has been listed to a Puhoi owner since 16/6/15.  It was first registered here on 24/6/10 and prior to that it was N774SP.

Cirrus SR 22 ZK-LDY (c/n 0895) has been listed to a North Shore owner since 5/10/15.  I have posted about this aircraft previously but this photo shows off its gold trim line to good effect (click to enlarge the photo).  It was imported by the New Zealand Cirrus agents, B B Aviation of Feilding and first registered on 7/7/15, and prior to that it was VH-SDL and N29PC.

A Couple of Flying Machines in the Sun at North Shore Today 11-6-2016

A quick trip up to North Shore this afternoon produced a couple of flying machines that have not been featured on the blog before:

Cessna 177RG Cardinal ZK-KCW (c.n 177RG0413) was flown down from its base at Springhill by Michael Law with his son as passenger.  It is owned by The Mary Frances Law Trust of Warkworth.  It has been registered in New Zealand since 5/6/86, and was previously ZS-KCW and N2013Q.

Robinson R 22 Beta ZK-HPT3 (c/n 1318) has been registered in New Zealand since 28/5/96.  It is owned by North Shore Helicopter Training Ltd and wears Helitraining.co.nz titles (although they are hard to see with the sun reflecting off the tailboom).  It was originally N8078E.

The Great Aussie Flying Adventurers are Home!

The great Aussie flying adventurers arrived home today.  Don and David Wilkinson in David's RV 8 ZK-WLK, Bill Luther in his RV 7 ZK-WLL and Peter Merwood in his RV 6 ZK-VRV arrived at Kerikeri early this afternoon.  Congratulations guys!  The photos are from their Facebook page at:  https://www.facebook.com/crossingtheditch/.

 Landfall at Cape Reinga.

And on the ramp at Kerikeri.

Welcome home!

Fisher Dakota Hawks of New Zealand

Continuing our series of sport aircraft where the first of type was registered in 2000, the next type to come along was the Fisher Dakota Hawk.

The Fisher Dakota Hawk is one of a surprising number of aircraft that have come from Fisher Flying Products over the years (and we have 12 Fisher aircraft of 6 different models currently on the New Zealand register).  FPP was originally formed in South Webster, Ohio in the early 1980s and started out with the very early microlights.  The company relocated to Woodbridge in Ontario, Canada under new ownership in 2007.

The Dakota Hawk was designed in 1993 as a conventional high wing strut braced taildragger with side by side seating.  It is an all wood airframe with the fuselage of geodesic construction, and it is fabric covered.  Its length is 19 feet 9 inches (6.02 metres), its wingspan is 28 feet 6 inches (8.69 metres) and the wing area is 128 square feet.  Empty weight is 600 pounds (272 Kg) and MAUW is 1,150 pounds (522 Kg).  Engines can range from 80 HP to 120 HP which give cruise speeds of around 90mph.

We Have had two Fisher Dakota Hawks in New Zealand.

ZK-SUB2 (c/n DH 19) was built by Kenneth G Coulter of Dargaville and it was first registered to him on 1/8/00.  It is photo'd above in a hangar at Dargaville early on in its life.

It is photo'd above at the 2004 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga.  It was cancelled on 27/7/04 and exported to Australia where it became 19-4232 on 15/12/04.  Finally it was cancelled from the Australian microlight register on 15/12/06.

ZK-SOL (c/n DH 20) was built by Garry R Mitchell of Auckland and registered to him on 4/12/02 with its first flight being on 31/12/02.  It was based at North Shore airfield where the above photo was taken on 6/12/08. On 30/10/15 it was sold to MG Farrand of Warkworth (and Garry Mitchell is now restoring the Sirocco ZK-PTR).

Europa Tri-Gear ZK-VMC

Thanks to Flyernzl, a photo of ZK-VMC has been unearthed in the Neville Drake collection.

I have gone back and added the photo to my original post on Europa Aircraft Europas of New Zealand (3) - Tr-Gear Aircraft at:  http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2016/06/europa-aircraft-europas-of-new-zealand.html

Bell 206B ZK-IGD revisted

A brief stop at Ardmore 02 June was greeted with the arrival of the Bell 206B ZK-IGD. It has been mentioned on this blog previously with a not so sunny shot : http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2015/09/bell-206b-zk-igd.html