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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 10, 2009 0:05:58 GMT 12
This 1970's photo of CT/4 Airtrainer prototype ZK-DGY shows that it was fitted with wingtip tanks. Were such tanks used when they delivered CT/4's overseas to Australia and Asia? And were they ever used in service? Or did they never get any further than the prototype?  |
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Post by mstokes on Oct 10, 2009 11:55:30 GMT 12
I don't believe that any airforce did have these tanks fitted to their CT4s.
As far as I know, this might be a COIN version targetting the SF260 and SAAB market given the tanks would add range or compensate for extra fuel burn when the weapons hardpoints were loaded.
I think they look kind of nice on the airtrainer personally, if any civil job had these tanks, it would definitely be great to have the longer range when touring.
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Post by baz62 on Oct 10, 2009 12:17:43 GMT 12
My wife Teresa works at the Papanui RSA here is Christchurch. One of the members is Ian Ritchie.
Apart from flying Mosquitos in WW2 he was also the test pilot for the Airtrainer and I have a copy of his memoirs (not published per se) and it has a few photos of Ian and the Airtrainer with the tip tanks.
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Post by Brett on Oct 10, 2009 13:48:54 GMT 12
In Cliff Tait's book "Water under My Wings" there is a photo of ZK-DGY with two Strikemasters, and a load of underwing stores it could potentially carry. It looks like only DGY had these mods.
Cheers,
Brett
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Post by Bruce on Oct 11, 2009 20:09:44 GMT 12
I have seen the tanks - I was moving stuff between PAC and Aeromotive back in 1998 and found them stowed away in a pile of junk in the PAC hangar....
The story I heard is that there was a bit of a fright during spin testing with the tanks full - aparently the CT4 wouldnt recover and the Anti - spin chute had to be deployed at very low altitude. I think there was an article on that in "Sport Flying" magazine a few years back....
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Post by ZacYates on Oct 11, 2009 20:32:59 GMT 12
I think the tanks look quite smart! Thanks for posting, Dave! And Bruce, it can be very interesting to see what engineering/manufacturing firms hold on to - in our store the other week I found a CA-28 Ceres tailwheel bearing!
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Post by oj on Oct 13, 2009 20:34:53 GMT 12
The tip tanks were only fitted to DGY, more for marketing purposes than real use (though they may have been semi-functional at some time).
The wing hard-points were fitted to DGY and to the 14 "Swiss" (Rhodesian-destined) aircraft.
That sale was subsequently stymied by the NZ Govt and the 14 were purchased by the RAAF. After being in storage for many months in their shipping crates, they were quite extensively reworked and re-wired to suit the RAAF CT4A spec. The hard-points and associated wiring remained in the structure but were never used to my knowledge.
OJ
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Post by oj on Oct 13, 2009 20:43:10 GMT 12
Incidentally, I have a pdf (only 644kb) of the original 8 page CT4 brochure from circa 1972, from which the above illustration was taken. If any member would like a copy please email me by direct request and I will flick it to you.
OJ
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 13, 2009 21:08:49 GMT 12
I've got the actual brochure, and I scanned it and posted it on the forum.... somewhere,,, ages ago.
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Post by 43willys on Oct 16, 2009 17:54:26 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 16, 2009 19:01:56 GMT 12
Neat. Is that DGY with the rockets or an RNZAF one lended back to them? I knew they had trialled the hard points, Pat Monk once showed me his original drawings for weapon attachments.
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Post by FlyingKiwi on Oct 20, 2009 18:53:11 GMT 12
Earlier in the year I happened to be walking past the Warbirds hangar on the Southeast apron at Ardmore just as DGY was arriving back at the hangar, there wasn't anyone else around and since the pilot was by himself he asked if I'd help him push it back into the hangar. We had a quick chat about the aircraft and he pointed out the small holes on the undersides of the wings where the rocket pods were fitted, so that would have been DGY in those photos I suppose.
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Post by ZacYates on Oct 20, 2009 19:06:10 GMT 12
I have seen photos of a Cresco with tiptanks, very strange they were too - mounted on pylons out of the wing, not direct to the tip.
DGY with rocket pods looks very cool - may have to get a Kiwi Resins CT-4 and make a "what-if?" armed RNZAF Airtrainer!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 12, 2016 11:24:52 GMT 12
Here's a shot of Airtrainer ZK-DGY wearing rocket pods in trials for the Forward Air Controller role. Note the wording on the cowl seems to have a different HP rating to the 210HP in the photo above, it seems to say 150HP (or is it 250HP? It's not 180HP I don't think). Did the prototype go through a few different configurations?  |
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Post by isc on Dec 12, 2016 20:10:47 GMT 12
Looks more like 250 hp to me. isc
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