Ashburton visit

yes you are correct but someone not as savvy as us might be confused!

Right heres a wee teaser and a puzzle for all you aviation geeks(and geekettes?) out there.
I'm pretty tired after looking at aircraft, taking pictures of them and talking about them! Including approx 2 hours traveling time we spent 8 hours on this trip!
Firstly I would like to extend my thanks to the Ashburton Aviation Museum for their hospitality. I know I'm going to forget names here but Noel was one I spent time talking with. (He recalls seeing the Southern Cross parked at Ashburton (he was 5!!) as well as 50 or 60 Tiger Moths operating from there during the war. And of course our very own aeromedia (Pete McQuarters and his wife) for showing us round his aircraft collection (wait to you see this!!!!! Watch this space!!!)
Ken(Obiwan27) and myself even got to have a pie and a cuppa at lunchtime with the Museum staff and I even knew one of them from my Auster owning days! (Owner of Auster MK 5 ZK-AVH one Alistair Chaffy..........I think the last name is right!)

Ok I hear cries of "where's the photos!!" so here are a couple to whet your appetites:
Firstly the reason I took my log book down:
Pa28 140 Cherokee ZK-CUA


Yours truly holding logbook in front of CUA:


And the proof! My slender digit pointing at the logbook entry all cleverly lined up with the aircraft in question. (Peter Jackson and Weta workshops have nothing on me folks!)


This next shot is a replica of an Oxford cockpit. And a very convincing one.


Next we have a MK25 Rolls Royce Merlin out of a DH Mosquito.



The next shot shows a Merlin Supercharger showing the impellor which pumps the fuel air charge to the intake manifold.


There is a lot to see in the Museum and not just aircraft.
I found a board showing the Harvards flown in the retirement flypast in 1977.




And for now I will leave you with this shot of the Museum's Harvard NZ1012. This Harvard actually has very low flight time on it being approx 3000+ hours. It was mentioned that the RNZAF's Harvard NZ1015 has quite a large number of hours on the airframe (even before the retirement) and a possibly tongue in cheek comment was made by certain personnel that they would wheel NZ1015 into the Museum and take NZ1012 back for the historic flight! ;D
The paint is I think mostly original RNZAF and although showing some wear is looking really good.



Oh and the Mystery! Nearly forgot. This is in Pete's "hangar" and is one of several cockpit goodies from one particular aircraft. Who can tell me what this centre console is out of?


Oh and before I go, Peter wanted to thank Dave and the Forum as at a previous forum meeting a raffle(is that right Peter?) was held and at least some of the proceeds were donated to the Ashburton Museum. It was much appreciated.
I shall sign off for now as my eyes are tired from gazing at aircraft pron and this PC screen isn't helping.
Cheerio!
Baz ;D

PS: Peter has acquired a Corsair and a Mustang! (Heh heh heh won't say more til tomorrow, that will get you lot scratching your heads ;D)

Give him the prize Baz !

Breaking news, with a Cherokee in a museum we are ALL now feeling a little elderly.

Awww Vs how the hell did you know that? Talk about getting it on the first try! I've got a few things to do round home then I shall post some more photos and an offer to get involved in a bit of RNZAF history! Stay tuned!

Its the same Hangar Corsair with a lot of creative use of space!
Along side CUA is a couple of information boards. Check out the hourly rate back in the day!!


Plus a board detailing the history of CUA.


Just for you Zac!! A Yeoman Cropmaster in first-class condition.




And a close up of the hopper release.


These shots give you an idea how everything has been carefully slotted in, with the wing tip of the Yeoman close to the Harvard's wind and the glider doing a low pass over the Harvard's canopy.




And another shot of NZ1012. (Anyone would think I liked Harvards!)


Looming behind the Yeoman is a world first for an aircraft Museum in New Zealand . A Hawker Harrier "Jump jet".
Apart from a couple of missing instruments this aircraft is complete, including the Pegasus engine. This aircraft was last used as a Instructional airframe by the Royal Navy and when it came up for auction the Ashburton lads put in a bid and won it. The bid?
5525.0 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Interestingly Squadron Leader Sean Perrett current CO of the Historic flight (the lucky lucky b*****d) used to fly Harriers with the RAF and gave a talk at Ashburton about flying them.




















Now for you Canberra fans. Here is the Cockpit of a B2 which is from an ex RAF aircraft. Sadly this aircraft was very low houred and was quite historic being involved with the first jet air to air refueling!! But the Poms scrapped it..and then moaned because we snapped up the cockpit. (Bet I get hate mail now!!) ;D
The aircraft was in a trials paint scheme and hasn't been repainted. Looks like brand new.






Here are some interior shots.








An aircraft with strong ties with Ashburton is this Tiger Moth viewed behind the Harrier. This aircraft will be put back into a wartime colour scheme as one of the 50 that operated at Ashburton during the war She flew into retirement in 2003(Hope thats right Pete!!)


This is a Porterfield 35W and was the only aircraft to be impressed into the RNZAF twice!! Both Ken and myself know the aircraft well as we helped with the initial restoration when this aircraft was at the RNZAF Museum at Wigram.



In some of the other shots you may have seen glimpses of a smart looking Devon. This is NZ1829 and must surely be the most low houred Devon in the world having flown only 17 and a half hours!!
I always wondered why she was never used given that they lost a couple in accidents. Turns out that on a Devon if it is on jacks and the main fuel bay tanks under the wings are removed you must NOT lower the aircraft onto its wheels without first replacing the aforementioned tank covers!! Someone did this to NZ1829 and damaged the wing structure as a result! She is looking in first class condition as I know she was looking very "tired" when the Museum got her.




Parked out side is a sight familiar to most of us (at least those who remember NAC!)
Friendship ZK-BXG looking fantastic in NAC colours. Currently missing engines, props and the correct undercarriage she will one day look as she did while flying us round the country.






Not owned by the Museum but stored in the building where the restorations are carried out is T11 Vampire NZ5707. Again this aircraft was once on loan with the RNZAF Museum. In fact they got the aircraft running again and was even given a blast down the main runway at Wigram at a Wings and Wheels (1981?)
Plans by her current owner to put her back in the air came to a sad end when the Engineer who was organised to do the work crashed with Sir Kenneth Ayr (hope thats spelt correctly) in another T11 Vampire at an airshow in the UK. Lets hope one day he decides to get her flying!






Damn it theres one of those topdressing things in the shot. Dont worry I'll photoshop it out. ;D




Interesting that the nose wheel on Vampires is almost the same as a Mosquito tailwheel. Ahhh DeHavilland!




Finally (probably should have put this at the beginning) here is the outside of the treasure trove within!


Now with great fanfare we arrive at another place full of goodies. None other than Pete McQuarters. Now Pete loves his aircraft. So when he moved to Ashburton he had this to look at over the road.


Yep. Thats Ashburton Airfield. Now this next shot may cause a few raised eyebrows as there is a familair object parked towards the back.........


Yes Pete has a Devon. NZ1804 (sister to the RNZAF Museum's example NZ1803) was donated by the RNZAF to the ATC squadron at Nelson and was able to be groundrun.
For whatever reason the aircraft ended up with Mr Rhodes collection at Wanaka. I remember seeing her parked there and was unhappy seeing torn and loose fabric hanging off the control surfaces.
Along comes Pete and bought the Devon. Sadly the engines had been removed as spares for an airworthy Devon but the ever resourceful Pete got the Devon with engines (less cylinders, etc) and props and a complete spare engine.
Now I mentioned in my previous post about an offer to get involved with a piece of RNZAF History.
Pete has syndicated the Devon ownership which now includes myself. There will be 10 owners who each front up $1000 and then pay $5 a week.
The money will go towards restoring the aircraft to (possibly) ground-running and taxiing status
A hangar has been secured and the Devon will be towed across the airfield in the next few weeks.
I think we now have 7 owners including myself but I'll let Pete clarify that and talk about the Devon himself.
Here are some pictures of "my" Devon ;D
The person in shot IS Pete no matter how much he denies it's him. Got his best side in the last shot ha ha ha.


The 14 on the nose wheel relates to the INST number 214










Most of the gear in the back and cockpit is still there from her Nav trainers days at Wigram.




Thats about all for now. Tomorrow we will check out whats in this shed. Gee whats that in the window........................


Over to you Pete!

Ahh thanks for the correction Pete I'll shall modify my post toot sweet.

Why would you want to? Neither aircraft will fly so as the damage is internal and not detrimental to the aircraft's survival they can stay on.

Sorry, baz, can ya say that to me in simple english.
I thought the wing on 214 could be made fully serviciable as 1829's arn't so as to be swapped then 1829 maybe could be made to fly again, esp with little hours.

Ok folks here we go with some real interesting photos. Peter warned me that his Harvard is not in the condition of a (in his words an "Oshkosh Golden Wrench Award winner"!! So I set my expectations low. However I feel I set them a tad too low as what Pete has achieved over the years is impressive. So here is NZ948. NZ948 is actually the cockpit frame only. Pete told me in a PM that the data-plate in the cockpit is from NZ914, the port side panel (with 14 on it) is from NZ1038, the centre section(the bit the fuse sits on and the wings bolt onto) is from Greg Ryan in Auckland and the rear fuse is a a later model T6C or D (Harvard MK11a or MKIII equivalent) from Californian Texans in the USA.
He also mentioned that the Harvard in the Air Force Museum is painted as NZ948 (really MKIII NZ1087).
I noticed something else for you people interested in numbers. NZ1087 was INST 213 and "our" Devon is INST 214! (I'm getting a headache now!! ;D)




Visible in this close up is the stainless steel shroud which sits directly behind the exhaust collector ring on a T6/Harvard. Towards the bottom at the bottom edge of the white side cowl you can see the cutout for the exhaust as it exits into the open air.


A view looking forward into the front cockpit with the British spade grip (complete with firing button!!! I wonder if Pete has sat holding that making machine gun noises as he shoots down a 109!!) as fitted to the MK2 Harvard




Here we have the starter foot pedal. Push down with the heel to energize the starter flywheel for around 15-20 seconds then push down with your toes to engage the starter. If the engine doesn't fire after the few revolutions you get, then its start all over again.


Is that 14 for NZ914 Pete?


The centre section needs some TLC but is in generally good shape with a bit of corrosion to sort out. Pete plans to remove the wing attachment angles and replace them. he has a set of wings which also need some work and of course the aircraft will need space to actually have them fitted. So at this stage the goal is to complete the Harvard sans wings at this point.


The undercarriage castings will be removed shortly to enable the shafts the legs attach and swing on, to be removed for removal of pitting and re-chroming.

In this shot you can tell the rear fuselage is a later mark by the shape of the baggage door and the pivoting rear canopy(to enable a rear gun position to be used.)
I'm not sure if Pete intends to replace this or not. It should be a straightforward job to fit the MK2 or 2B rear fixed section if one can be found.


The eagle eyed among us will note that is NOT a P&W R1340 engine in the shot. I think its an Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah as used by the Anson and Oxford. However the propeller underneath it is a Harvard one and he has an engine as well (which I forgot to take a picture of!)


And for the Devon parked outside a fairly complete Gypsy Queen.


And this shot taken by my cheeky brother shows me winging my way home (complete with Bristol Freighter on my hat!) wondering how to break the news to Teresa that we now own a part share in a Devon!!


Well I hoped you enjoyed the photos people. I will be armed with camera when we move the Devon. I want to try and document what we do on the project so all I can say is watch this space!
Baz(Devon Owner ;D)