Ah! De Havillands Unfolding at North Shore Flyin

At the vintage aircraft area of the North Shore Aero Club/Northern Microlight Club flyin at North Shore last Saturday, Brian Millet had arranged for flights in Stan and Gilly Smiths vintage aircraft. This necessitated unfolding DH 84 Dragon ZK-AXI and DH 83C Fox Moth ZK-APT.

First begin by pulling the folded aircraft out of the hangar, watched by the hangar dog.

ZK-AXI out in the light.

Then manually unfold the wings and connect all the bits up together. It seemed quite low-tech.

ZK-AXI half unfolded.

Specifications and background notes on ZK-AXI

Then it was the turn of ZK-APT to undergo the same procedure

Manually unfolding the wings

And like its sibling, half unfolded

Specifications and background notes on ZK-APT

And finally they are both good to go!

Brian Millet's brother Mike Millet took a video of the procedure that is probably better than my series of photos. have a look at http://youtu.be/4U94R5m-gOkn

De Havilland DH84 Dragon ZK-AXI departs northward.

 Departing northwards this morning from Nelson - having taken part in the 100 years of Nelson Aviation celebration late last week - was ex Qantas De Havilland DH-84 Dragon ZK-AXI c/n DHA 2057.
Photo from Bill Mannix.

Noticed in the latest Classic Wings this aircraft is currently listed  for sale at NZ$390,000.

ZK-AXI has been mentioned many times previously.

Check out -  https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/search?q=axi

De Havilland DH84 Dragon 2 ZK-AXI

Ah ! De Havilland.

De Havilland DH84 Dragon 2 ZK-AXI , c/n 2057 , (sometime seen written as DHA2057) was one of 87 built in Australia for the Royal Australian Air Force during World War Two.

I believe they chose the Dragon instead of the Dominie/Rapide because Holden were already building Gipsy Major engines for the Tiger Moth production line already well under way.

This airframe went on strength with the RAAF on 24-03-1943 with the serial A34-68. Post military service it became VH-AEF on 29-04-1945 for Butler Air Transport Ltd followed by Qantas Empire Airways Ltd in June of 1948. Fawcett Aviation Pty Ltd feature from 14-05-1953. It was cancelled from the Australian civil register on 11-07-1953.

Cliff Rolve had purchased it and it was listed in NZ as ZK-AXI on 14-07-1953 to Rolvin Airways of Palmerston North.

It was delivered to Nelson on 17-05-1954 for the Nelson Aero Club until being sold to Arthur J Bradshaw of Nelson on 01-06-1964 (I believe he actually took delivery of it in July of 1963.

I have a note saying that it had a broken crankshaft at Manakau on 23-05-54 and forced landed.

Somewhere about this time it became our first twin engine air ambulance. It also picked up the name "Puff" (Puff the magic Dragon I imagine).

It was refurbished and re-flew on 01-06-1965 and was used by Aerial Surveys Ltd of Nelson & piloted by Arthur Bradshaw.

It was flown from Nelson to Ardmore on 05-04-1967 for Jim Bergman and Earl Cox who traded as the Auckland Flying School, being registered to the School on 10-04-67. It did not last long as it was damaged on take off at Ardmore on 23-04-1967 (port engine failure due to collapsed fuel line) and was cancelled on 04-05-1967.

I believe it was presented to MoTaT and stored at Ardmore. It was trucked out of Ardmore in May of 1983 -I believe to Stan Smith at Dairy Flat. It became a restoration project and used a wing from Australia and was re-engined with DH Gipsy Major 10-2 engines of 145hp.

It was re-registered to GS & G A Smith, Smiths Tech-Air NZ Ltd of North Shore on 03-03-1997.

It now carries the name "Taniwha".

The pic above shows it at Haast on 18-12-2009.

Can somebody please fill in the gaps ?

Three DH's at NZMS

The De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth ZK-ANQ (c/n 82906) was constructed for the RAF and allocated the R5011 serial number before being sent out to NZ. It became NZ892 with the RNZAF and served between 23-07-1940 and 01-04-1947. It joined the NZ civil register as ZK-ANQ for T E Lawrence of Dargaville until moving to the Kaitaia Aero Club on 03-08-1948. It then had a succession of owners until joining Stuart Tantrum and storage at Pine Park from 14-02-1996. It was rebuilt by Stu's team at Omaka and joined the Omaka Collection on 01-07-2002 and more recently The Vintage Aviator Ltd from 01-07-2007.

 Above. DH83C ZK-APT (c/n FM48) is a Canadian built Fox Moth which was listed to the Marlborough Aero Club on 12-11-1947. As you can imagine it has had a few owners and incidents over the intervening years. I believe it was grounded by the CAA in 1962 with the remains going to Stan Smith of Auckland in 1963. In the mid 1970's a batch of five new fuselages were built, with one going into a rebuild of ZK-APT. The original fuselage went to MoTaT to create a non flying exhibit.

It rejoined the register for G S and GA Smith on 07-04-2009.

It arrived at NZMS in formation with one of Stan's other DH types - the DH84 Dragon ZK-AXI.

 

Below is DH84 Dragon 2 ZK-AXI (c/n DHA2057). This was one of the  examples built for the Royal Australian Air Force in early 1943. After serving with the RAAF as A34-68 it became VH-AEF in April of 1945. It came to NZ and became ZK-AXI on 14-07-1953 with Rolvin Airways of Palmerston North. Some owner later - on 23-04-1967 - it was damaged at Ardmore, was cancelled from the register and presented to MoTaT, and stored at Ardmore. Stan got hold of it and moved it to Dairy Flat and commenced a rebuild using wings obtained from Australia and Gipsy Major 10-2 engines.

All three were returning to their tie downs after the DH line up in front of the masses on 19-01-2013.

2012 - A Vintage Year, North Shore

On looking back at 2012, I am struck by the feast of vintage aircraft that we are blessed to have in New Zealand. So to celebrate a special year, I will start with posting the unique vintage trio of De Havillands operated by Stan and Gilly Smith at North Shore Airfield. They have been out and about during the year, starting with the vintage aircraft section of the North Shore flyin on 11 February 2012.

The trio are: firstly, DH 84 Dragon ZK-AXI named "Taniwha".

The second member of the trio is DH 83C Fox Moth ZK-APT. I did a comprehensive post on ZK-AXI and ZK_APT at the North Shore flyin at www.nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/ah-de-havillands-unfolding-at-north.html

And the third member of the trio is DH 94 Moth Minor ZK-AKM.  I have not seen it flying for a long time, so I was delighted to see it out and to post about a recent session of circuits at North Shore on 16 December 2012, at  www.nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/de-havilland-dh-94-moth-minor-at-north_16.html

These two events neatly book-ended the vintage aircraft year for me, but there were some pretty spectacular events in between!

 

More Folding Wings at North Shore 11/2/2012 - Moth Minor ZK-AKM

The De Havilland DH 94 Moth Minor was designed as a replacement for the biplane Moth series, and was designed to give similar performance on lower power.  The prototype was powered by the Gypsy Minor engine and first flew in the hands of Geoffrey De Havilland at Hatfield on 22/6/37.  Around 100 were built in England prior to WW2, and the production jigs, components and unfinished aircraft were sent to the DH factory at Bankstown, Sydney, Australia, where more than 40 more aircraft were manufactured.  That makes the Moth Minor relatively rare, and with only around 140 built it never approached the success of the biplane Moth series that it replaced.

Two views of ZK-AKM/NZ 597 folded in Stan and Gilly Smith's hangar at North Shore on 11/2/12.

ZK-AKM (c/n 94012) has had a very long and interesting history.  It is shown here squeezed in beside Fox moth ZK-APT.  There are 4 historic aircraft at North Shore that are hangared with wings folded.  Proctor ZK-ARP, DH Dragon ZK-AXI and the above two.  All are associated with Stan and Gilly Smith.

The aircraft was first registered as G-AFON to the London Aeroplane Club on 24/3/39.  It wasn't with them very long as on 26/10/39 it was registered to the De Havilland Aircraft Co (NZ) Ltd, and it was shipped as far as Australia in late 1939.  It was registered in New Zealand on 3/9/41 as ZK-AHK to the New Plymouth Aero Club and was then impressed into the wartime RNZAF as NZ 597 on 13/9/42.  It served in the RNZAF for the Communications Flight and later for 22 Squadron.
It was returned to the New Plymouth Aero Club post-war and was registered ZK-AKM on 12/11/46.  It then had many owners during the 50's, 60's and early 70's including H H Wood, C G Roberts of Tauranga (with whom it was named The Happy Wanderer), B E Smith, the Otaki and Districts Aero Club (1960), J E Moon and B J Farrell of Woodbourne, L Gatehouse, D K Lilico of Auckland and P E Thwaites and H D Kidd and R Stanley of Auckland.  It was then cancelled in 1974.

It was re-registered in 1977 to Myles Robertson of Dairy Flat where it was erroneously marked up as NZ1957 for a time, then it transferred to H W McBair, R Stanley and GS Smith of Auckland on 8/12/83, then to GS and GS Smith (Smiths Tech Air) of North Shore on 11/12/91, and very recently to GS and GA Smith of Albany on 2/7/12 (along with ZK-APT and ZK-AXI).

It is photo'd above at an open day at North Shore Airfield in 2001.

Earlier photos of ZK-AKM can be found in the Ed Coates Collection:  www.edcoatescollection.com/ac2/NZAM/ZK-AKM.html

Thanks again to Blue Bus for the info.

Kaipara Flats Wings and Wheels (1) - DH Dragon ZK-AXI

The Rodney Aero Club and the Waitemata Vintage Car Club held a very successful Wings and Wheels event at Kaipara Flats airfield today.  It was a fantastic Autumn day and the turnout of both aircraft and cars exceeded everyone's expectations.

There were some wonderful aircraft there that deserve a separate post so I will start off with Stan and Gilly Smith's amazing DH 84 Dragon ZK-AXI which is one of only a very few flying worldwide (maybe only three?):

The Dragon flies a flat approach with no flaps - rather like my Jodel D9.

A wheeler touchdown...

and the tailwheel is nearly down.

Taxying back - the airfield was manicured and the backdrop is nice.

De Havilland memories.

G’day to you all.

   I just happened across your ‘blog’ on nzcivair from way back in May 2010, in which you were requesting ‘fill in the gaps material’– I am not sure if the following constitutes expectations as you proposed, but here goes!  

   Re the Dragon; a DH84 was my first steed in a long aviation career which began in the mid 1950s. That stint was to fly the ‘Adelaide Advertiser’ from Pt. Pirie to Whyalla on weekday mornings!

    An interesting aerodyne sans any dual control facility and or brakes, starter motor as I recall; although we tend to regard them in our dotage as having a ‘romantic’ side, they would surely tax the ability of those brought up on a strict diet of FBW and the glass cockpit.

    I used to joke about it as being one of the few aircraft that took off, climbed, cruised and arrived all at the same speed – mind you I recall a story told of a US airline jock who on sighting one asked the ATC person what it was – the retort  “a collection of De Hav. spare parts flying by in close formation”.

   As an aside my father actually worked at the GMH (General Motors Holden) Woodville plant during World War Two, I’m pretty certain that he would not have even dreamed that his eldest son would one day be driving an aircraft that he may have had a part in its conception?

    Other De Hav types on licence:- DH82, DHC1, DHA3, DH114L; I guess the only one that I absolutely ‘loved’ was the Chippie; t’others pretty much conformed to that very shrewd observation by the ATC character!

   I was fortunate enough to strap a Tiger to my arse some 20yrs ago, despite not having then flown a Tiger for nigh on 40 years it was like I’d never been apart from it – so I guess that says more than a little bit about the qualities, from the driver’s aspect any way, of the DeHav. basic design  functions?

Hoping this may be of some value…David Rerecich Orewa.

PS just had a ‘memory moment’ – I recall one of my less sensible innovations was towing my mates on water skis at Whyalla during the summer weekends!

Pic above comes from the Ed Coates collection and shows the De Havilland DH84 Dragon VH-AEF at Mascot in 1945. This became ZK-AXI on 14-07-1953 - one of three Dragons that featured on the NZ civil register.

Check out previous posts on ZK-AXI at :-

http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=dragon

Draggin out the photos of ZK-AXI

The first time I saw the Dragon was at an airshow at the old Fenton Street airfield at Rotorua, 9th March 1963. Owned by the Nelson Aero Club, it was silver with black & red trim. Purchase price paid by the club was £2700.



Shortly after this, in July 1963, the Dragon was laid up at Nelson, awaiting overhaul.
Bradshaw bought ZK-AXI 'as is' and carried out the overhaul work.
Seen here under his ownership at Wanganui 7th February 1967



The aircraft was sold to AFS for sold £1250.
Seen here at Ardmore in April 1967. The signwriting reads 'Mini Liner' and '1932 DH84 Dragon' which is stretching the truth a bit.


In an Ardmore hangar after the April 1967 crash



Overhead Omaka 8th April 2007

Nelson and Motueka 100th anniversary of this aeronautical.

Grant Newman reports

Fox Moth ZK-APT and Dominie ZK-AKY were providing VIP flights on the 10^th, as well as taking bookings for pax flights, ZK-APT on the afternoon of the 10^th, with both on the 12^th in Motueka.       

On the 11^th at Nelson was a brief display of the two de Havillands ZK-APT and ZK-AKY, joined by Stan Smith’s Dragon ZK-AXI that morning.

The Dragon having left North Shore the day before and overnighting in Kapiti with Bill Reid’s Anson ZK-RRA in support outside of the terminal at Nelson for the benefit of the plaque unveiling attendees. None of the aircraft flew during the unveilings on the 11^th owing to inclement weather.

On the 12^th, the aircraft transited to Motueka, which happened to coincide with the 100^th anniversary of aviation in Motueka and there was a plaque unveiling and with aircraft in attendance, aside from the Dragon, the Dominie and the Fox Moth. 

The Weather was too windy for the Nelson based attendees to return to Nelson so they overnighted in Motueka  

On the 13^th was planned an open day for the public to get close to the aircraft at the airport, but until late afternoon, only the Anson and Air New Zealand Dash 8 ZK-NEM were in attendance. 
Once the weather cleared, the Fox Moth Dragon and Dominie returned from Motueka. and by 4pm all had been pushed into the hangar, having made a brief appearance in the static area outside the Nelson maintenance hangars.

Below we have three photos showing the Fox Moth ZK-APT.  

 

Above is the DH89B Dominie ZK-AKY .

Below ZK-AKY flying near Saxton Field. The scene of the original landing is now the Greenmeadow Centre.

Above is the DH84 Dragon ZK-AXI with the Avro Anson ZK-RRA beyond.
 

The Avro Anson ZK-RRA

          Stan Smith and the Dragon left for North Shore on the 18^th, the passengers being Stan’s mechanic and John, editor of NZAvNews.

Kaipara Flats Wings and Wheels (5) - Departures

After an excellent but hugely busy day there were lots of departing aircraft to photograph (these are just the vintage display aircraft - in total we had more than 40 visiting aircraft in addition to the aircraft on display that are based on the airfield):

Cessna Bird Dogs ZK-FYA (which is registered as a Cessna O-1G)

and ZK-DAJ2 (which is registered as a Cessna 305A)

Stearman ZK-RJS2 back to Ardmore

Stan Smith flying his DH Dragon ZK-AXI, back to North Shore

Followed by Michael Bach in the DH Moth Minor ZK-AKM.

Next was David Wilkinson in his Pitts S 1S ZK-MPM, with smoke!

Then Rob Fry in his recently imported Yak 52 ZK-BJK2, still in its Jurgis Kairy's colours.

And last away of this lot was Graeme Woods flying the Beaver ZK-CKH back to Ardmore.

I reckon that is just about all from the Kaipara Flats Wings and Wheels 2024 - a great day!