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!