Some specials from Oshkosh

 Another selection of photographs from Lord Nelson taken at the recent Oshkosh gathering.Above we see the recently certified Zlin Savage Norden N7117 from Continental Capital Corporation of Wilmington, Delaware.

Another De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver conversion is the Wipaire Boss Beaver N914CW with a P&W PT6A turbine and Wipaire amphibious floats operated by Concrete Works of Colorado Inc.

A more radical variation of the DHC-2 Beaver is this all electric MagniX powered eBeaver C-FIFQ of Harbour Air with its Wipaire floats.

Above we have the Great Lakes Waco 2T-1A2 N85GL as listed with the Waco Classic Aircraft Corporation.

The 'Beast' - Murphy Moose SR 3500 N833ST with its PT6 engine (which replaced it previous M14P radial) and its Montana Float Co 3500 amphibious floats.

The Cessna 208 Grand Amphibian N208WF with its 687hp PT6A-140 engine and Wipaire amphibious floats.

Savannah Ss at Paraparaumu Yesterday 4-8-2024

Jordan Elvy was out at NZPP yesterday afternoon when a couple of Savannahs popped across from Masterton:

ZK-SVN (c/n 16 06 54 475) was registered on 23/4/24.  It has not been posted on the blog previously.

ZK-JIM4 (c/n 08 18 54 0634) was originally built for Jim Larsen of Wanganui but has been with its Masterton owner since 20/10/20.

Thanks for the photos Jordan.

Beavers and Beavers #6 ZK-CFU - Update

Continuing with Fieldair Beavers, their 6th Beaver was ZK-CFU.  Dave Paull posted about ZK-CFU back in 2010 and his post can be found HERE  There is no more history to be added but we can add a few extra photos:

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver , c/n 1530 , came to NZ through De Havilland NZ of Wellington and was registered as ZK-CFU to Fieldair Ltd of Gisborne on 28/1/64 and I believe delivered to them on 14/4/64.  It was originally in Fieldair's blue and white scheme as in this photo at Gisborne.  I do not have any record of who took the photo or when.

It went through the gamut of Fieldair's various yellow colour schemes as in these three photos which were all taken by the late Bob Kerr and are sourced from AustAirData.  Above at Dannevirke on 5/4/71.

At Napier on 28/12/73

And at Waipukurau on 23/2/78.  

It was damaged at Waipukurau on 20/3/78 when it taxied into a ditch, and on 16/5/78 it swung off an airstrip on take off at Tikokino and was badly damaged. The damaged aircraft was then stored but not rebuilt. Ownership went to Fieldair Holdings (Central) Ltd of Palmerston North from 16/5/78. It was cancelled from our register on 05/8/83. Parts were later used in the restoration of Beaver ZK-CMW which went to the RNZAF Museum and was painted to represent the RNZAF Antarctic Beaver NZ6001.

Beaver ZK-AZB in East Coast Air Services Markings

In going through my old Beaver photos I came across this rather poor photo of ZK-AZB:

However it does show ZK-AZB in East Coast Air Services Ltd livery, the only photo of it that I have come across.  I have no idea where the photo was taken or who took it.  I have gone back to my recent post and added this photo.

And I have also added some information on ZK-AZB in the Ohakea Museum colours.  Thanks to a comment by an anonymous blog reader it was based at Ohakea in a passenger configuration for a time in the mid 1990s when it was owned by Hallett Griffin. 

South Island Circuit

 Passing through Rangiora on Friday was a flock of Paraparaumu aircraft on circuit of the South Island.

Peter Lechner's very tidy Grumman American AA-5 Traveler ZK-DKW c/n AA5-387 at the Rangiora fuels pumps.

The Kapiti Districts Aero Club Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP ZK-KAL3 c/n 172S10305 was previously ZK-JRE before getting its personalised Kapiti marks in April of 2015.

Their Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP ZK-KAZ2 is c/n 172S10406 and was previously ZK-XPS until joining Kapiti to take up is current marks from 14-03-2012.

The Grumman American AA1-C Lynx ZK-LFS c/n AA1C-0191 is of 1978 vintage and came to NZ in 1994. It has been with Lynx Air Ltd since July of 1999.

Another member of the Kapiti Aero Club is the Piper PA-28-181 Archer II ZK-MWM c/n 28-7890321. Initially listed with its owner Neil Morris using his initially to become ZK-MWM from July 2019 and has been on line with the Club since 2020.

Peter Merwood was also partaking in his Vans RV-6 ZK-VRV c/n 24692 which he has had since 2012.

Also taking part were the Tecnam P2002 Sierra ZK-LSF c/n 486 of Simon Ford.

And then the Guimbal Cabri G2 ZK-IMZ which bypassed Rangiora.

More Oshkosh gems from Lord Nelson.

 Here we have another selection of gems from Oshkosh thanks to Lord Nelson.

The Waco YQC6 N16212 came from St Charles, Illinois with Stephen Zorelein.

The Stinson Vultee V-77 N985D is listed with Frank Winkler of Joplin, Missouri.

The Stinson SR-8B Reliant marked as NS-81 in its early marking of the Department of Commerce.

Another Howard DGA-15P N67426 from Miller, Missouri with Kiman Kingsley.

And the Cessna 195 N4312N from 1948 vintage is listed to John Barron from Perry, Missouri. 

Farewell to John Nicholson Byers.

 It is my sad duty to report the passing yesterday of John Nicholson Byers a well known and respected aviator out of Rangiora.

I first met John in the late 1970's when he was tinkering around on a Taylor JT-2 Titch which was registered as ZK-DNH on 26-07-1973 but for some reason was never completed and I believe is still in storage. Its registration was cancelled on 02-03-1994.

He purchased the AESL Airtourer ZK-DBA from Airwork in January of 1975, selling it in February of 1978 after buying a share in the Piper PA-22-108 Colt ZK-BSL in mid-1977. His next purchase was the Jodel DR1051 Sicile ZK-JOD from Jeff Bryant, who was also partner in the Colt ZK-BSL. The Jodel had been flown into New Zealand from Switzerland in January of 1979. John named it 'Lucinda Too' and it became his pride and joy.

I am uncertain when he obtained his next project but I recall him having it in a hangar near the crash fire unit at Christchurch Airport in 1993. He worked away quietly on this aircraft for some years before being evicted from Christchurch Airport. So he acquired a hangar at Rangiora and continued the meticulous rebuild of his BA Swallow II. This had previously been registered in Australia as VH-UUN on 18-11-1935. This registration was cancelled as withdrawn from use on 05-02-1946.

John was very secretive about the history of this aircraft and was very reluctant to have photos of it taken following an earlier write up on the project which was not factual to John's high standards.

It was placed on the New Zealand register on 13-03-2030 as ZK-UUN.

It carries the name 'Lucinda'.

The project was very, very, near completion.

The photo above taken on 15-04-2024 shows it fully assembled in John's hangar. It is a rather large aircraft with a wing span of just over 13 metres.

Note the original wing parts on the wall behind.

A large section of the wing folds forward to allow the wings to be hinged back.

The FOLDED WINGS of JOHN NICHOLSON BYERS.

R.I.P.

A Cessna 195 That Didn't Make It to Oshkosh

It was great to have some photos from Oshkosh 2024 from Lord Nelson - more please!  The Cessna 195 lineup was impressive.

But here is a photo of one that sadly didn't make it - that must have been one helluva landing!

EC120B ZK-HGT 3

Visiting Pauanui airfield briefly today was Hamilton based EC120B ZK-HGT3.    This was originally imported from Australia for Volcanic Air Safaris, Rotorua back in late 2016 as ZK-IRO, being sold to Auckland based Opie Equipment Ltd in late 2020.    The latter company upgraded to EC130B4 ZK-IFC in early 2024, and IRO was sold to its new Hamilton owner being reregistered to HGT in the process.

 

Some classics from Oshkosk

Lord Nelson has just returned from Oshkosh.

Below we have his selection of high wing classics.

A Portion of the Cessna 195 line up at Oshkosh. 

We currently have two of these on the NZ civil register, ZK-AZK and ZK-BEB2.

       The WACO YMF-F5C N526PZ amphibian above is actually a "modern classic" built by the                                                                   WACO Classic Aircraft Company in 2020.

                                          AFAIK we have five Waco's currently on the register. 

         The original 1936 model UOC ZK-AEL and the ex World War Two rebuild UPF-7 ZK-UPF.

   Then we have the more modern 1992 model T-10 (Taper Wing) ZK-WTW, and the 2012 YMF-F5                                                            ZK-YMF and the 1988 built ZK-CFL2.

The Stinson SR-7B N3040 advertising the 'sponsors fine products'.

It is listed with Gary Ackerman from Texas.

Another Stinson is the V-77 civilian version of the military UC-81/AT-19 N73373 as listed with Mitchell Clark of Colorado.

The Howard DGA-15P N9125H belongs to Richard Laury of South Carolina. The DGA stands for 'Damn Good Airplane' and the 'P' tells us that it should be Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior powered.

We had one briefly on our register as ZK-AHP in 1946 which had previously served with the US Embassy Military Attache at Wellington.