Beavers and Beavers # 15 ZK-CPS - Update

Continuing with our look at Fieldair's Beavers, their fifteenth Beaver was ZK-CPS.  Dave Paull posted the history of ZK-CPS back in 2010 and his post can be found HERE  It was one of many Beavers that were imported in 1965 and below is a photo I took of it outside Hawker Siddeley's before its delivery. 

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, c/n 1609 , was shipped to Hawker-Siddelely of Wellington on 28/9/65. It was first flown on 03/12/65 and was listed to Fieldair Ltd at Gisborne as ZK-CPS on 31/1/66.

It is photo'd above at Masterton on 23/9/89

And again in the same parking spot at Masterton on 3/6/73 in a later yellow colour scheme.

On 24/11/76 it was involved in a fatal accident at Nikau in the Wairarapa when it ran off the side of an airstrip on take off and hit trees.  Its registration was cancelled on 13/4/77.

Wheels, Wings and Rotors. Kurow last Sunday the 18th.

 Caribou was at the Kurow Wheels, Wings and Rotors fund raiser for the Otago Rural Support Trust during the weekend and offers the following photographs from the 18th.
There was not a great turnout due to the weather conditions being not favourable.

The North Otago Aero Club had their Cessna 172N Skyhawk II ZK-EOI c/n 17271937 on site. 

It has been with the Club since July of 2006.

Hughes 269B ZK-HOR2 c/n 840132 is listed with Alec Forsyth of Ashburton.

The Hughes 369HS ZK-IOZ c/n 64-0608S is listed to Stephen Robertson of Oamaru. 

It carries the days sponsors titles of L J Hooker Rural.

In the background we see the Heliventures NZ Ltd Schweizer 269C ZK-IED2 c/n S1918 up from Oamaru and the Bell (Garlick) UH-1L ZK-HUE2 c/n 6045 over from Herbert.

A long shot of (if I am not mistaken) the Alpi Pioneer 200 XL ZK-MSG c/n 2018 of Steven Clarke from Oamaru.

The Cessna A185F Skywagon ZK-TWZ c/n 8502289 came down the Waitaki Valley from the Glenbrook Station near Twizel.

See HERE for more on this airframe.

Thanks Caribou for the pics.

Beavers and Beavers #12 ZK-CMW - Update

Fieldair's fourteenth Beaver was ZK-CMW which came to them by a circuitous route.  Dave Paull has posted its history back in 2010 and you can see that HERE   I cannot add to its history which was complete in the 1990s, but I can add some more photos.

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver , c/n 1084 , was delivered to DH Australia on 20/10/57 and joined the Aerial Agricultural Pty Ltd fleet as VH-AAL3 on 19/12/57. It moved over to Robby's Aerial Services of Parafield, South Australia on 24/1/63 as VH-RAL.  Its Australian registration was cancelled on 10/8/65 on export to NZ

It was registered to Air Contracts Ltd of Masterton on 4/9/65 as ZK-CMW. It arrived at Hawker Siddeley's at Wellington in this Robby's scheme (well at least the cheat line), photo'd here prior to delivery in September 1965.

And here it is with a more pleasing fuller cheat line in the Beaver style, also at Wellington, on a maintenance visit.  It had at least two accidents; both near Pahiatua; first was a wire strike on 14-03-1966. The second was on 19-06-1968.  It was sold in a damaged state to Fieldair Ltd on 03-02-1969.

After repair by Fieldair it was used as a training aircraft as it was fitted with dual controls.  This photo was taken at Palmerston North on 7/4/75 and I guess it never wore the Fieldair blue and white colour scheme. 

It was withdrawn from use on 14-07-1975 having flown 8915 hours. Title moved to Fieldair Holdings (Central) Ltd of Palmerston North on 18-11-1980 until its registration was cancelled on 30-03-1984. It was transferred to the RNZAF Museum at Wigram in January 1986 and was reworked to represent the RNZAF Beaver NZ6001/NZ6010 , c/n 911 , which was lost in an incident on the Beardmore Glacier on 15-01-1960.

It was then transferred to the RNZAF Museum at Wigram in January 1986 and was reworked along with some parts from Beaver ZK-CFU to represent the RNZAF Beaver NZ6001 c/n 911 , which was lost in an accident on the Beardmore Glacier on 15/1/60 (re-serialled as NZ6010).  This photo shows it being prepared for exhibition at Wigram on 27/1/87.

On display at the RNZAF Museum on what remains of the the Wigram Air Base.

To help fill the picture in, here is a photo of the original NZ6001 at Wigram in March 1959, before it was re-serialled NZ6010 (after it was discovered that the RNZAF had previously allocated NZ6001 to a Gloster Meteor).  If you are interested you can see some great historical photos of the original RNZAF Beaver as NZ6001 and NZ6010 HERE  Enjoy!

Beaver ZK-BXN

Fieldair's thirteenth Beaver was ZK-BXN which was a new aircraft which arrived at Hawker Siddely's in August 1965.  Its registration was out of alphabetical order and seems to be part of the filling in the registrations from ZK-BXJ to ZK-BXO which were not allocated back in 1960/61.

ZK-BXN (c/n 1597) first flew here on 22/10/65 and was registered to Fieldair on 28/10/65.  It is photo'd above outside the Hawker Siddely hangar at Wellington prior to its delivery.  Note the undercarriage to fuselage fairing which usually was taken off in service.  In the background is the packing crate with the next Beaver ready to be unpacked and assembled, probably ZK-COV.

It did not go through the Fieldair management changes in 1980 and 1984 but it did received a yellow colour scheme as in this photo that I think was taken at Te Araraoa.

 

The reason it did not go through the Fieldair management changes was because on 27/4/77 its ownership changed to Rangitikei Air Services Ltd of Taihape with whom it was painted in this distinctive colour scheme.  It was named "Pukeokahu" and also "The Fletcher Eater".  It is photo'd above at Taihape on 16/7/78.

And here it is, in need of a clean, at Feilding on 18/8/92.

On 24/7/96 ownership changed to J S and L F Kerr of Hokitika.  It is photo'd above on take off at Hokitika in a passenger configuration.  It only was based in Hokitika for about a year as it was cancelled from the New Zealand register on 6/6/97.  The photo is from dhc-2.com

It was exported to the US and registered N99NL to Bear Aircraft Sales Inc of Shrevesport, Los Angeles on 22/7/97.  On 27/5/99 ownership changed to No See Um Lodge Inc of Chugiak in Alaska as a floatplane as can be seen in the above photo taken on 26/5/22.  It is still extant.

Turbo Porter ZK-MCT at North Shore Yesterday 16-8-2024

After a ground up rebuild at North Shore taking more than a year, Inflite Ltd's Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter ZK-MCT was having its titling applied when I called into the Inflite maintenance hangar at North Shore yesterday afternoon:

Their Chief Engineer (who follows the blog - nice!) told me that ZK-MCT would be going to Mount Cook for mainly parachute dropping duties, and he also told me that the Inflite Turbo Porters from Motueka and Franz Josef would also be undergoing maintenance and repainting at Timaru.

ZK-MCT was built at the Pilatus factory in Stans, Switzerland as HB-FIO and it was flown to New Zealand for The Mt Cook Group of Christchurch and registered on 4/2/85.  It has stayed in the Mt Cook area over several ownership changes - to Tourism Holdings Ltd of Pleasant Point on 1/7/98, to Aoraki Mt Cook Skiplanes Ltd of Mt Cook on 20/12/02, to Inflite Skiplanes ltd of Mt Cook on 27/10/15 and to Inflite Ltd of Auckland on 12/3/20.  Along the way it had a couple of whoopsies on the Tasman Glacier on 8/3/88 and 6/5/89 but obviously was repaired.

I have a soft spot for ZK-MCT as it was the aircraft that flew me and my wife up to the Tasman Glacier from Mt Cook airport in September 2019:

You can see my post from that memorable day HERE

A couple of stays at Rangiora today 16-08-2024

 I came across two unexpected visitors at Rangiora today.

Cessna 180A ZK-BVG c/n 50056 popped in briefly.

It is not long off a major magnificent rebuild by West Aero Engineering at Mercer.

I fear my photos do not do justice to its finish. 

On the fin is the WestAero motif.

 ZK-BVG was thought to have been allocated N9700B but was test flown as N11B (a well used Cessna test registration) and became a Rural Aviation Ltd of New Plymouth import in late 1957.

 It was granted its NZ CofA on 21-03-1958 and was listed to James Aviation (RO) Ltd from 28-03-1958. It had an altercation with the Ercoupe ZK-AQX at Rotorua on 20-12-1964. It was transferred to the Rotorua Aero Club from 30-08-1966 and was damaged at Rotorua on 30-06-1968. 

After repair it went to Guyserland Airways Ltd on 21-01-1969 and was fitted with floats. 

Title changed to General Acceptance Finance on 03-11-1969 and it was leased back to Guyserland Airways only to be damaged on Lake Rotorua on 12-12-1969.

 It also broke away from its mooring at least twice - on 17-09-1970 and again on 15-05-1973.

It was cancelled on 29-08-1973 and went to L W Sutherland and E S Martin of Pukekohe

who put it back together again for it to be re-registered to them on 19-11-1976.

On 27-07-1987 it was listed to Frank Pike of Auckland and I believe it was set up for night sky advertising.

Its next listed owner was Bill Innes of Coromandel who took it on from 12-11-2015. 

The BVG syndicate of Waiuku took the title from 25-06-2018 and it has been a long term restoration by West Aero Engineering at Mercer.

The R& B Bearhawk ZK-ADZ c/n 1441B was a real surprise.

This was built by Simon Nicholson of Hamilton and was originally registered as ZK-MGO3 on 05-07-2021 to the Nicholson Syndicate and first flew as such at Rotorua on 17-11-2021.

It had a change of registration to ZK-ADZ2 on 15-03-2024 - still listed with the Nicholson Syndicate.

And still carries the name 'Aidan'.

Beavers and Beavers #10 ZK-CMU - Update

Continuing with Fieldair Beavers, their twelfth example was ZK-CMU.  Dave Paull posted about this Beaver back in 2010 HERE but we can now add more photos and subsequent history as it is still extant:

De Haviland Canada DHC-2 Beaver ZK-CMU was c/n 1590. It came to NZ courtesy of Hawker Siddeley of Wellington. It was first flown here on 21/7/65 and delivered to Fieldair Ltd of Gisborne on the 23rd.  It is photo'd above outside the Hawker Siddeley hangar at Wellington prior to delivery.

It is photo'd above at Gisborne on 28/12/73 minus tailwheel.  It followed the Company changes to Fieldair Holdings (Central) Ltd, Palmersaton North on 18/11/80 and then to Fieldair Holdings Ltd, PN from 30/3/84. 

It is photo'd in Napier on 18/2/82.   It was withdrawn from use on 28/10/94 and stored dismantled at Gisborne.

It was restored between 1989 and 1990 and listed to Float Air Picton (1984) Ltd of Picton on 06/8/90 as in this photo taken at Picton on 10/12/90 with Flying Dolphin Service tiles..

Later it had Float Air Picton titles as in this photo at Picton in January 1995.

It then went to Frank Wright at Tauranga on 15/5/96 for rebuild and export and its NZ registration was cancelled on  23/7/97  Before that Bob Kerr photo'd at Napier on 16/3/97.

It was exported to the US where it flew for a time as ZK-CMU as in this photo taken at Smithers in British Columbia in August 1997.

It became N97FW with F E Wright of Gardnerville, Nevada on 28/8/87. On 10/12/97 it was relisted to Barnstormer Classic Aviation of Fairford, Connecticut.  This photo was taken at North Canaan in Connecticut in 2003.  It was cancelled from the US register on 15/5/15

It was then exported to Australia where it became VH-OHD for Whitsunday Air Services at Hamilton Island in Queensland on 12/5/16.  It is photo'd above at Hamilton Island on 26/6/16.

On 28/8/18 ownership changed to Tasmanian Seaplanes Pty Ltd of Meadowbank, Tasmania who fly the aircraft marked as Above and Beyond Flights as in this photo taken at its mooring at Hobart on 8/8/21.

A Low Level Sortie Over the Kaipara Harbour on 14-8-2024

As it was a nice flying day yesterday I flew out to Sandspit on the East Coast and then flew the short distance coast to coast across to the Kaipara Harbour on the West Coast  (in about 15 minutes at my sedate pace), and after calling my intentions on 119.1 I descended into the Low Flying Zone L165:

After descending to about 250 feet I did a circuit of  Moturemu Island in the North of the low flying zone.  There were nice reflections and the seabed was so clear.

Then I headed South towards Gibb's Farm where there are quite a few large sculptures that have been commissioned internationally.

One of these is Red Horn which has now been made a local reporting point by CAA.

As well as the physical sculptures there is also a sculptured wetland.

Then it was back to Kaipara Flats where I tucked Honey Bebe back into the aero club hangar.  A great flying day.  

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.

Beavers and Beavers #8 ZK-CKD - Update

Fieldair's tenth Beaver was ZK-CKD.  Dave Paull posted its history back in 2010 and his post can be found HERE.  I have updated its history and added more photos of it:

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver c/n 1557 came new to NZ via the agents Hawker Siddeley Aviation (NZ) Ltd to be registered to Fieldair Ltd of Gisborne on 28/1/65 as ZK-CKD. It was delivered the following day.  It is photo'd above at Wellington on a maintenance visit.

And here it is in colour at Dannevirke on 24/10/65.  It was damaged on 2/4/74 at Whakatane, but obviously survived.

It went through the company changes to Fieldair Holdings (Central) Ltd of Palmerston North on 8/11/80, as seen in the photo above at Gisborne on 7/1/79. 

And then to Fieldair Holdings Ltd of Palmerston North on 30/3/84 as in this photo at Gisborne on 26/1/86.  It was withdrawn from use in 1986.

During 1991-1992 it was rebuilt by Frank Wright and Gisborne Aero Maintenaince and was re-listed to Frank and Kay Wright on 24/7/92. It went down to Hokitika to Wilderness Wings Ltd as in this photo taken on 22/6/95.  

Here it is in its element over Mt Cook - spectacular!.

It remained with Wilderness Wings until it was ferried across the Tasman from Kerikeri to Bankstown via Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands in May 1996.  Its NZ registration was cancelled on 21/5/96

It became VH-SWB5 on 24/6/96 and was fitted with floats at Bankstown for Krug Agencies Pty Ltd of Darwin. It is still listed to Krug Agencies but trading as Seawing Airways and painted in their titles as in this photo taken at Bankstown on 20/5/04.

More recently it has been repainted into this silver scheme as seen on Sydney Harbour on 2/1/10 and it is still current.