Auster J4 Archer ZK-AXC

During World War Two Taylorcraft produced many military Auster 3, 4's and 5's.
For civilian purposes the military Auster 5 was referred to as the Model J from which came the very well known J1, J5's and their many sub variants, eg J5B, J5F, J5G etc.
One of the lesser known post war derivatives was the Auster J4. In 1946 Auster Aircraft (which had been renamed from Taylorcraft) build a lower powered aircraft similar to the pre war Taylorcraft Plus C. This became the Auster J-2 Arrow using either the Continental or Lycoming flat four engines from the States. But with import restriction in force post war, Auster fitted a 90hp Blackburn Cirrus Minor engine to one of these airframes and created the Auster J4 Archer.
One of these came to NZ in 1950.
It had been built as G-AIPK with c/n 2080 and registered with Auster Aircraft Ltd of Rearsby on 17-12-1946 and was delivered to the Cecil Kay Aircraft Ltd for onward sale to the Birmingham Flying Club at Elmdon 28-08-1947. Ownership transferred to the Warwickshire Aero Club Ltd, also at Elmdon, on 26-04-1948 and then to W S Shackleton Ltd of London on 14-08-1950 for sale to New Zealand.

ZK-AXC was registered on 22-09-1950 to W G Bradshaw of Chistchurch with its CofA being issued on 06-10-1950. Twenty years later (28-09-1970) ownership moved to Bruce Bonner of Christchurch.

This top view shows ZK-AXC in its original Cirrus Minor engine powered state. This was taken in   the back of the Canterbury Aero Club hangar on 24-12-1963.

Below we see it outside the Canterbury Aero Club hangar on 26-04-1973. I suspect this was during its engine conversion.

Above - ZK-AXC as seen at Hastings 26-01-1974. From the Allan Wooller collection.

As seen at Queenstown - in magnificent monochrome - on 13-03-1974
It struck a fence whilst taxying at Ohoka on 03-04-1983 and I seem to recall Bruce having difficulty finding replacement wings struts for it at that time.

Next move was in mid March of 1997 to Peter Turvey on 16-03-1997 with whom it became "Clayton" because it had been re-engined with a Lycoming O-320, giving it a complete new front end.
Check out the Claytons meaning at :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claytons

Below we see it at Cust 19-05-1999 taxying out. Note the flaps,( at what stage did it gain these flaps ?), the clear lower door panels and the top of cabin window layout.

Below it is refuelling at Rangiora on 19-01-2000.

It was sold to Byron J Kelly, initially of Kaiapoi on 08-08-2006, and later of Springs Junction.
Below - It was captured departing Rangiora on 27-07-2012 by Allan Bowman.

Half a century ago.

From the depth of the shoe box I have extracted some more pics from around the 1963 period.

Some have already been posted.

 In the big open hangar at Queenstown (Frankton it was in those days) was parked the Miles M-38 Messenger 2A ZK-AUM (c/n 6705). The date was April 1963.

Built in the UK in 1947 it came to - and first flew in NZ on 29-08-1950 and was used by the well known West Coast W D Nolan and Sons Ltd until sold to L D Lamb of Balcairn, North Canterbury.

It failed a glue inspection at Queenstown and was certified for one flight only from Queenstown to Balcairn where it was withdrawn in April of 1967 and cancelled the following month.

 This Auster 5 was a "war bird" with the RAF in West Germany before coming to NZ to be registered to the Waikato Aero Club on 25-09-1950 as ZK-AVH (c/n 1412).

 It is seen here at Harewood on 24-12-1963.

It is still currently registered to Alastair Chaffey of Rakaia. More pics at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2010/08/more-pics-of-auster-zk-avh.html

Above is the Auster J4 Archer ZK-AXC (c/n 2080). We covered this one previously at :-

 http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/auste-j4-archer-zk-axc.html

Auster 5 ZK-AXP (c/n1586) also wore military marks from 1945 through to 1948 and after a couple of years on the UK civil register came to NZ for listing with the Auckland Aero Club.

It is seen above at Frankton in April of 1963; and below, in a different scheme and minus the venturi, at Harewood on 19-08-1964.

Below is Auster J1B ZK-AYU at Frankton in April of 1963. 

Auster J1B ZK-AYU (c/n 2730) has been covered pretty well previously at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2008/12/welcome-back-to-auster-j1b-zk-ayu.html

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2011/08/auster-zk-ayu-update.html

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2010/12/welcome-back-to-auster-j1b-zk-ayu-2.html

Rangiora surprises today.

 A very nice addition to the Rangiora based aircraft fleet is the ex Omaka based Trevor Collins Fairchild 24 C8C ZK-ABE3 c/n 2605.

This arrived in from the States in late 2007 and following a lengthy major rebuild flew from Omaka on 01-05-2017.
It arrived from Omaka on the 10th.

Also dropping in was the Auster J4 Archer ZK-AXC c/n 2080 as listed with Byron Kelly from up Springs Junction way.
See previous posts here  https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/search?q=axc

The Fairchild is of 1934 vintage whilst the Auster is from 1946.

Beaver ZK-CMV

In mid 1965 Air Contracts imported two Beavers from Australia and registered them ZK-CMV and ZK-CMW.  I have posted about ZK-CMW previously as it was later owned by Feildair and you can see that post HERE

Beaver c/n 1048 was manufactured in Canada in 1957 and shipped to Australia where it became VH-AAI for Aerial Agriculture Pty Ltd of Bankstown, NSW on 29/7/57.  It was cancelled from the Australian register on 22/6/65 and shipped to New Zealand, arriving at Wellington on 29/7/65.

ZK-CMV (c/n 1048) was registered to Air Contracts Ltd of Masterton on 16/8/65 and it was delivered on 18/8/65.  I took the above photo outside the Hawker Siddeley hangar prior to its delivery. 

It is photo'd above at Masterton in 1966.  On 18/5/67 it undershot on landing at Weber and ended up down a bank badly damaged.  It was rebuilt as a venison hauler and was leased to Graham Stewart & Co Ltd of Christchurch.  It crashed in the Arawhata River on 4/12/67 but was again rebuilt and continued hauling venison until 27/7/68 when it returned to Masterton.

The above photo was taken at Ardmore in November 1968.  

It was operated by Aviation Contracts of Invercargill for a period i 1969-70 as in this photo taken at Invercargill on 27/4/69.  It was cancelled from the New Zealand register on 26/1/70 and shipped back to Canada.

Where it became CF-AXC for Bannock Aerospace Ltd of Vancouver BC in May 1970 and then in 27/570 to J F Midgett and G Clark trading as C & M Airways of Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.  The above photo is from dhc-2.com and is noted as CF-AXC but I can't see a registration.  No matter, it is a pretty neat photo. 

As with all Canadian aircraft its CF registration was changed to C- and it became C-FAXC in October 1990.  On 23/10/90 it went to Jackson Air Services Ltd of Sandy Bay in Saskatchewan then to Ross Air Services of Sandy Bay on 1/8/01.  The above photo is at Flin Flon (!), Manitoba on 8/2/06.

On 23/10/07 ownership changed to MHA Enterprises of Sainte Theresa Point, Manitoba and it is photo'd above at Selkirk, Manitoba on 25/5/22.

And again quite recently, on 4/4/24.  Another long term Beaver survivor.

Beaver & Beavers # 11 ZK-CMV

De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver , c/n 1048 , was built in a 1957 and deliveered to DH Australia to become VH-AAI with Aerial Agriculture Pty Ltd from 29-07-1957.
Imported into NZ it first flew here on 29-07-1965, was cancelled from the Australian register on 01-08-1965 and listed as ZK-CMV to Air Contracts Ltd of Masterton on 18-08-1965.

ZK-CMV at Wellington 1966.

It was damaged at Weber on 18-05-1967. Then hired to Graham Stewart & Co Ltd only to suffer more damage. This time on 04-12-1967 in the Arawhata River area of the West Coast, South Island.
It then spent a while with Aviation Contracts Ltd of Invercargill during 1969 before returning to Air Contracts for cancellation on 26-01-1970 for export to Canada.

ZK-CMV with Aviation Contracts Ltd at Invercargill on 27-04-1969.

It became CF-AXC with Bannock Aerospace Ltd at Vancouver in May of 1970 and then moved to J Midgett and CC Clark who traded as C & M Airways of Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan from 27-05-1982. Its registration was amended to C-FAXC at some unknow date with Jacksons Air Service Ltd featuring. For some years now Canada has adopted a Company numbers system which makes it hard to know who actually owns what. In this case C-FAXC it was listed to 101014196 Saskatchewan on 01-08-2001 - which I believe translates to use by Ross Air Services of Sandy Bay. The latest change was on 23-10-2007 when MHA Enterprises Ltd of Theresa Point, Manibota became the registered owners.

More views of ZK-CMV can be found on :-

http://www.kiwibeavers.com/CMV.html

and

http://www.dhc-2.com/id613.htm

Breaking the cabin fever at Rangiora today.

After nearly two weeks of horridible weather in the Christchurch area we got a lovely cool sunny day today. I dropped into Rangiora for a while this afternoon and the place was really buzzing. Aircraft and people pleased to get airborne.
Murphy Rebel ZK-VAL2 [c/n 408R] with Neville Sommerville dashing off.

Rans S6ES TD Coyote 11 ZK-DYM [c/n 4051657] (Delta Yankee Kermit) about to commit aviation.

Ed Langston thrashing the circuit in his Vans RV-4 ZK-SIM2 [c/n 2826]

The Clayton Auster J4 ZK-AXC [c/n 2080] just off it annual.

Jodel D.11 ZK-EDG [c/n AACA/17/2] locally based just in from checking the curvature of the earth.

Heli CD Contractors Hughes 369E ZK-HCD3 [c/n 0021E] departing after refueling.

Ruth departing in the Tecnam P2002 Siera RG ZK-SRG2 [c/n 364]. It has been based on the nearby Vallance airstrip for a while.

ZK-DDL2 the Tecnam P2004 Bravo [c/n 051] of Diamond Plant and Equipment Hire was out for a breath of air fresh.

The Small's Cessna 172L Skyhawk ZK-DAW [c/n 59737] from the Haka Valley dropped in briefly. They have had this for nearly 35 years now.

Cessna A185F Skywagon ZK-DSO [c/n A185F-02282] about to venture forth on a local flight.

And happiness is:- Terry Salmon back after a 45 minute blat in Corby CJ-1 Starlet ZK-EEZ [c/n AACA/130/1].

AXC Hokitika

Tundra Tires (Tyres)

When I first spotted the Avid Magnum ZK-CLC/2 at Rangiora on 02-11-07 it did have a comic book look about it.

Even more jolly was the site of PA22/20 ZK-BSH at Wellington on 08-02-07.


And as for the "Claytons Auster" ZK-AXC. Well ; It has'n't even got a real engine.

Additional Rangiora visitors on Sunday 09-10-2016 # 1.

Also flying in for the ZK-BNL occasion were the two De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunks ZK-ARL (c/c 61) of Jim Chapman and ZK-XUK (c/n C1-0087) of Lou McAllister.

 Two distant cousins to the Piper Cub came out of the North North West and West.

Auster J4 Archer ZK-AXC (c/n 2080) is Byron Kelly's from Springs Junction.

 And the Auster 5D ZK-BGU (c/n 1757) of Greg McDonald was in from Forest Field.

Surprise visitor for the weekend was the Cessna 180K ZK-DKP2 (c/n 18052966) of D and K Properties Ltd of Tauranga.