RNZAF Historic Flight's Tiger Moth

[Dave Homewood]

In 1992 I was lucky enough to get a flight in the RNZAF Historic Flight Tiger Moth, with a Wing Commander someone in the back seat. I took my camera and have these great memories of that flight. He even let me have a fly and talked me through a few aeros. Looping was pretty scary, I thought I was going to drop my camera!

Wigram in the distance






A magic memory that one. Thanks to Cpl Paddy Flanagan who was forced by work commitments to give up his seat, so he let me go in his place. I later, after making a fabric cover for the Tiger, was offered another flight and so repaid the favour by giving it to Paddy.

[chewy]

I got to go for a fly in it in 1993 just before i got out. I was at wigram when the moth doctors were building the two tiger moths. There is a good story about the wood for the spars, and what happened to it.

[Radialicious]

My old man was NCO i/c Machine Shop when the Moth Doctors were restoring those two Tigers. He got drawn into it quite deeply as an excuse to get out of his office and back into the workshop. They did those first two Tigers in Irish Linen and he used to come home with his fully hands stained with red oxide dope.
Johnny Checketts was one of the Moth Doctors too. Shortly after that project was finished, ZK-TAF turned up in a container at Tech Wing and was assembled there prior to test flying from Wigram. It was very exciting times for a youngster like myself.

[Dave Homewood]

Al, do you or your Dad have any photos from the Tiger restorations, or perhaps of ZK-TAF back then?

Am I right in thinking three Tiger Moths were restored at that time by the Moth Doctors, the Historic Flight example, the Museum's static example, and the one that was owned by Simon Spencer-Bower? Or was the latter rebuilt by a seperate team at Wigram?

As well as Johnny Checketts and your father, other Moth Doctors included Bernie Creedons,
George Kingsbury and Bob Swadel.

[Radialicious]

Yeah there was three in the end. Dad was involved in the restoration of all three but I don't know which Tiger ended up on the civil register. As I understand it, the original owner had two Tigers and donated one to the RNZAF if they would restore the other one to an airworthy condition for himself. I'm not a hundy on that but I think that was the deal.

[Dave Homewood]

I was told that too when I was at Wigram.

The Historic Flight example, NZ662, has had an interesting career. This comes from adf.serials

Previously T5763. Built at Cowley, UK and assembled in NZ.
Shipped to New Zealand on 05 July 1940 on "Rangitikei".
BOC Unit 18 Rongotai 04 October 1940.
With No.4 EFTS Whenuapai 1941-1942.
With No.2 EFTS New Plymouth/Ashburton 1942-1943.
Issued free to New Plymouth Aero Club from No.42 Squadron on 29 January 1946
and entered the New Zealand Civil Aircraft Register as ZK-AIE on 18 January 1946.
To Aircraft Services NZ Ltd., Auckland on 04 September 1951 for use as topdresser named "Doh Doh".
To D. Freeth 27 August 1956 and restored to normal configuration.
To R. Simpson 22 September 1958. To S. Askew 11 April 1960.
To A. Bell 08 April 1961.
To W. Christofferson 25 August 1965.
Registration cancelled 10 September 1965 as exported to Fiji.
Registered as VQ-FAG on 24 August 1965 and first flown in Fiji during early October 1966.
Grounded in October 1970 and stored at Nausori until 1973.
To G. Kingsbury, Mid Canterbury in 1973 and imported into New Zealand but not restored to register.
To RNZAF in early 1985 for restoration to NZ662 as part of RNZAF Historic Flight. First flight after restoration was at Wigram on 08 January 1987.
Currently airworthy in that role with RNZAF Historic Flight.

NZ1481 that hangs in the RNZAF Museum's Atrium seems to have gone to the Museum from Aerospace Industries. Why did they have a Tiger Moth? This from adf.serials

Built at Rongotai.
BOC Unit 39 Rongotai 25 January 1944.
With No.2 EFTS, Ashburton by January 1944.
With No.1 EFTS, Taieri 1944.
Arrived at TTS Hobsonville from Taieri in September 1946 and operated as a serviceable aircraft until being converted to instructional airframe INST150 with TTS Hobsonville on 11 November 1951.
To Invercargill ATC in 1956 where it was converted to a Link Training aid.
To Woodbourne TTS until 1969.
Believed to have been stored at Aerospace Industries in Hamilton for some time before making it's way to the RNZAF Museum in March 1987 where it is now displayed as NZ825.

Has anyone got a photo of a Tiger Moth beng used as a Link Trainer? That's cool!

Simon Spencer-Bower's Tiger Moth was the first aircrat in NZ to get permission from CAA to fly without ZK registration showing, to keep its wartime yellow paint scheme authentic, apparently. It was this aircraft that appeared in the film Bad Blood, playing the part of the No. 2 (GR) Squadron Vincent search aircraft. I cannot recall what its rego was though.

[Radialicious]

ZK-BUO from memory

[skyhawkdon]

NZ1481 that came from No 12 Squadron ATC in Invercargill was still there during the 1970s (but it was disassembled). Tiger Moth ZK-BGP was being restored at Invercargill airport by the late Dave Graves at the time (with some help from my father) and NZ1481 was a donor for some of the parts BGP was missing! I joined the Invercargill ATC in 1979 but it was gone by then.

I thought the ATC's Tiger went straight from Invercargill to Wigram for the Museum. I wasn't aware it went to Woodbourne or PAC??

No 12 Squadron also had an original Link Trainer which was still there and working when I left in 1983.

I also have photos of ZK-TAF being assembled at Wigram in 1985. Will dig them out and scan them.

[shorty]

NZ 1481 was not at 4TTS when I started there in Jan 68.
I posted some shots of TAF in my Stash thread

[Peter Lewis]

The Tiger ZK-AIE / NZ662 shown while with Aircraft Service as a topdresser, Fleet #5.
Taken at Mangere prior to its sale to Doug Freeth.

Apparently the 'Doh-Doh' name came from its reluctance to fly properly and the resultant frequent crashes.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks for that Peter. What were the colours, red and silver?

[Toko]

I have only just come across this thread & got quite a surprise to find that the Historic Flight's Tiger was AIE in a former life.
I had the pleasure of a flight in it when it was owned by my old mate Stan Askew who operated it out of Stratford.At that time it was in an all white colour scheme with black trim.I have a slide of it which I will post when I figure out how to digitise it ,along with my dozens of other slides!

[skyhawkdon]

As promised here are the photos I have of ZK-TAF being assembled at Wigram in late 1984 or early 1985 (I can't remember which year they were taken now!). All I know was I was on my Mechs Course at 2TTS at the time.





This would be before or after one of the early test flights

[Dave Homewood]

Great shots! Historic not only for the Mustang's assembly but also for the Tech Squadron Hangar there, now long gone. I never saw it that empty, there was almost always an Airtrainer in there getting all pulled apart whenever I went in there, but even when there were not any aeroplanes there were benches and folding machines and English wheels and such.

[chewy]

I was in the skin bay when it was in Tech Wing HQ. The power plant bay, the instrument bay and the paint shop were also in there. TCPC was upstairs if i remember right. Donald Dust was the Sqn Ldr at the time. I can't remember his real name. The moth doctors were in bottom where you can see the Mustang. There was a pot belly stove in the corner to heat the place and to burn sensitive documents.

[Dave Homewood]

When I was at Tech Squadron it was much the same as you describe. The people I recall working there either throughout or at various times between May 1991 and August 1993 when the squadron was no more, the people I recall there were:

The Commanding Officer
- I cannot recall the original Sqn Ldr, I didn't ever see him too much. Might have been called MacDonald or something like that?
- His replacement was Sqn Ldr Ian Ronalds who'd previously been my boss at No. 1TTS

Maintenace Flight Commander
Flt Lt Tony 'TC' Webster - an excellent boss, replaced in 1993 by
Flt Lt Teresa Cunnigham

The Squadron Warrant Officer
W/O John 'Harry' Hare - a great guy
- F/Sgt Gary Curtiss was always there but he later took over from Harry as the Sqn wound down

Safety and Surface Section
Flight Sgt Keith Scott
Sgt Dennis Gibbons (Paint Shop)
Sgt 'Barty' Bartholomew (for just two weeks after I arrived, then replaced by:
Sgt Bill Nicol
Cpl Brendan 'Paddy' Flanagan
Cpl Steve Leach
Cpl Andrew 'Max' Maxwell (at PTS S&S section)
LAC Vaughn McAllister
LAC Bob 'Scorch' Stenson
LAC Simon Williamson
LAC Dave Homewood (me)
LAC Aaron Lyttle
AC Max Cawley
AC ? Parry (u/t)

TCPC
Sgt Perry ? (hmm, was his name Porter?)
Cpl Mihi ? (she and Perry were married I think, but had different last names)

Avionics, which was out of the right hand side of the hangar in Don's shots:
F/Sgt Gordon ??
Cpl Dave Scott
Cpl Marty Bell
Cpl "Toots" Tuenter
LAC Corey Ratahi
LAC Nigel Hulse
LAC Virgil Clair

Airframes/Skin Bay
Sgt John "JC" Evans
Sgt Gus Pagett
Sgt Steve Holtum
Cpl Glenn Hughes (who's on the forum here)
Cpl Dean Lye
Cpl Kerry Hibberd
Cpl Brent Sommerville
LAC Alistair Pilditch
LAC Lionel "Len" ?? (Enlish chap, later died tragically)
LAC Christine Norton
LAC Mitch Button (later killed cycling apparently)
LAC Sean Eccles
LAC Blair 'Hoppy' Hopkins
LAC Mark Bain
LAC Phil Stoddart

Planewright Section (The Chippies)
Sgt Steve Hall
Cpl P.J. Smith (who's now at the RNZAF Museum)
LAC Gary Barnes

Metal Shop
Cpl Alan 'Evil' Crabbe

Machine Shop
Cpl Sean 'Nardo' Kitchen
LAC Todd ??

Armourers
Sgt Geoff Pope
Cpl Steve 'Pinetree' Renton
LAC Mike Karsten (who used to be on the forum, is he still here?)

There were many others too of course but these are the ones that the old memory recalls (although even some of these names are blurry in the memory). There was at least one whole section who's member I totally forget, the drawings office out the back of the hangar.

[11SQNLDR]

Thanks for the neat pics of 662 Dave, fond memories of a short flight in the old girl in the early 90's as well, Rangiora to Wigram when I was staffing a ATC flying camp at Rangiora airfield.