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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Sept 27, 2009 21:23:51 GMT 12
That ZK-CQY in Reply #9 brings back a few memories.
In 1974 I did my first parachute jump (static line) from a Cessna 185 Ag-Carryall just like that one. ZK-DPH was owned by Astro Air based at Napier and flown by Dick Beattie (long since deceased). I did many jumps from DPH at Bridge Pa aerodrome, mostly flown by Marty Herbert, but occasonally by Dick Beattie. We used to remove the spray booms, the right-hand door and all the seats apart from the pilot's seat, but we always left the belly-tank in place while skydiving.
Other Cessnas I have jumped out of included ZK-CHS from Taupo flown by Graeme Stratton (he used to ferry it over to Bridge Pa late on a Friday or early Saturday morning, then ferry it back home again on Sunday evening). The jumpers used to refer to Charlie Hotel Sierra as "Charlie Horse Shit" and I'll never forget the day Graeme used that unofficial callsign as he climbed into the Napier control zone while lifting a load of us jumpers to exit altitude. There was a stunned silence from the air traffic controller for a few seconds, followed by a bit of laughter, then after that the Charlie Horse Shit callsign used to get used on the airwaves in Hawke's Bay quite a bit.
We also used to jump out of ZK-CGH, owned by John Plank and based at Palmerston North. It was one of the Manawatu Skydiving Club jumpships, but whenever the weather crapped out in Palmerston North (which was quite often in winter), they'd head for Bridge Pa to jump with the Hawke's Bay Skydiving Club and bring CGH with them. It was often flown by Dave Ashworth (who later tragically died while piloting one of those big Russian choppers in a logging operation in Westland many years ago); then after we twisted Dave's arm to do a jump and he decided jumping was more fun than flying jumpers, Ross Lockwood used to regularly pilot CGH for us. There was also a Cessna 180 based at Palmerston North that was a regular visitor to Bridge Pa for jumping during weekends, but I'd have to go and dig out my old skydiving logbooks to find out the registration.
We also used to get the occasional Cessna 206 turn up at Bridge Pa for the weekend carrying Auckland skydivers and on one occasion a group of Auckland skydivers turned up with a Cessna 207.
I've also jumped out of DC-3 ZK-BEU when it was operated by Mount Cook Airlines (we chartered it for a weekend of jumping at Woodbourne during Labour Weekend 1975), plus I did a few jumps out of one of Fieldair's DC-3s as well, but I can't recall which DC-3 it was.
But back to Dick Beattie's Cessna 185 Ag-Carryall ZK-DPH. It used to occasionally be sighted in the carpark at the Te Aute Hotel south of Hastings. Dick used to actually land it on SH2 (between the power lines on one side of the road and the telephone lines on the other (before they were removed) and taxi into the pub car park. They were different times back then and pilots like Dick (who was ex-wartime-RNZAF, but who was a pilot prior to WWII) were definitely a different breed! ;D
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Post by 185skywagon on Nov 23, 2009 19:01:47 GMT 12
just trying to figure out how we got the hut from there Wish I still had those 'Instamatic' photos.... It is does look like a fair hike. The Current hut location is different to the old one, perhaps that was closer ? Google Earth is brilliant for finding strips and places, I could spend all day on here looking for spots to land
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Post by chinapilot on Nov 23, 2009 19:28:09 GMT 12
Isn't it great...also just put the co-ords in your GPS straight away.
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Post by isc on Dec 23, 2014 21:37:11 GMT 12
It is a nice aircraft, I imagine it has not got the old O-470A that it started with in 1953(if it's an A walk away seems to be the saying), Continental in the USA won't take one for a rebuild. Before WGT the oldest serial number in NZ was BKG sn 30376, and it's looking good these days. I remember it when Brian Hore had it back in the mid 1960s, we used to get it in once a year for its annual inspection, think it had an O-470J in those days. isc
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Post by patrickpower on Mar 8, 2015 18:43:03 GMT 12
W.B Easton was a bridge building and general engineer in Dannevirke.His grandsons still run it as Metalform. I was told in 1968 that Easton had just rebuilt the aircraft.It was pristine,new paint with new Cessna decals and placards everywhere. I had my first lessons on Supercub BPA the 6.7th and 14th January 1968.On one of these days Easton who had a gammy leg,asked me to help push BGI out of the hangar.He positioned it with the tail politely away from the hangar mouth,chocked it firmly,started it where it was and then went in to phone in a flight plan and ring a farmer he was off to see. The two young blokes who had come across from Ohakea with my instructor FtLt Newton catcalled."Hey old cowboy,be careful that beautiful horse doesnt gallop off without you!".Easton's neck reddened but he did say a word. Phone calls over he clambered back in, did an engine run up and control checks. More jeering " Hey you dont need to do a full run up before taxi-ing mate!" Easton peered out all around,made a quick traffic call,flicked the chock away and into the cabin by its cord,opened the throttle,turning the tail and prop blast onto the three young airforce types,picking the tail up on the brakes and took off ACROSS the width of the East West at Dannevirke. Some 500 ft or so. Leaped the fence and seemingly moments later pulled straight up into a wing over at probably 150ft before making a run straight back at the hangar at grass height.It seemed he would go through the hangar and the boys were scattering.Last minute pull up and an arse wiggling departure towards the coast. "Who does that old bastard think he is?" exclaimed one of the jet jocks. Ian Bright who had just arrived laconically replied,"Probably thinks he's Easton, W.B. Royal Flying Corp ww1 ace."The Air force guys then realised his photo was on the wall at Ohakea. As I remember he lied about his age to get into the forces and had some 7 kills to his name.50 years later He used to fly bridge site inspections at low levels over creeks and down valleys. Apparently farmers signed his contracts without quibbling to avoid the joy of another inspection flight. If anyone knnows more about W.B.Easton's war history I'd love to know it.Patrick Power
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Post by errolmartyn on Mar 9, 2015 9:10:55 GMT 12
W.B Easton was a bridge building and general engineer in Dannevirke.His grandsons still run it as Metalform. I was told in 1968 that Easton had just rebuilt the aircraft.It was pristine,new paint with new Cessna decals and placards everywhere. I had my first lessons on Supercub BPA the 6.7th and 14th January 1968.On one of these days Easton who had a gammy leg,asked me to help push BGI out of the hangar.He positioned it with the tail politely away from the hangar mouth,chocked it firmly,started it where it was and then went in to phone in a flight plan and ring a farmer he was off to see. The two young blokes who had come across from Ohakea with my instructor FtLt Newton catcalled."Hey old cowboy,be careful that beautiful horse doesnt gallop off without you!".Easton's neck reddened but he did say a word. Phone calls over he clambered back in, did an engine run up and control checks. More jeering " Hey you dont need to do a full run up before taxi-ing mate!" Easton peered out all around,made a quick traffic call,flicked the chock away and into the cabin by its cord,opened the throttle,turning the tail and prop blast onto the three young airforce types,picking the tail up on the brakes and took off ACROSS the width of the East West at Dannevirke. Some 500 ft or so. Leaped the fence and seemingly moments later pulled straight up into a wing over at probably 150ft before making a run straight back at the hangar at grass height.It seemed he would go through the hangar and the boys were scattering.Last minute pull up and an arse wiggling departure towards the coast. "Who does that old bastard think he is?" exclaimed one of the jet jocks. Ian Bright who had just arrived laconically replied,"Probably thinks he's Easton, W.B. Royal Flying Corp ww1 ace."The Air force guys then realised his photo was on the wall at Ohakea. As I remember he lied about his age to get into the forces and had some 7 kills to his name.50 years later He used to fly bridge site inspections at low levels over creeks and down valleys. Apparently farmers signed his contracts without quibbling to avoid the joy of another inspection flight. If anyone knnows more about W.B.Easton's war history I'd love to know it.Patrick Power William Bowie Easton died in 1992 and was born 14 Feb 1901, according to NZ BDM records online. He does not appear to have been born in New Zealand nor to have ever served in any of the military air services to the best of my knowledge. Errol
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Post by patrickpower on Mar 10, 2015 0:10:27 GMT 12
Thanks. Errol. I might check up with the Easton's in Dannevirke to find out if they know any more.BGI was with Rex Air in 1967,damaged I think. Easton seems to have registered it next but didnt hold it for many years.He must have owned other aircraft as he was actively flying and fitting hoppers for more years than he seems to have owned BGI.You say he was a registered owner of BDM as well? I wonder where he did his engineering education...he built girder bridges,designed and fitted top dressing hoppers.Must have either had LAME tickets or had a tame on on hand.Much later his sons or grandsons got experimenting with using such set ups for dropping fire retardant mixtures.I watched one of those being done sometime in the 90's. Not with a 180 then of course.And Bill would have been dead by then. I see the grandsons filing US patents for clever things.
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Post by kiwiduster1 on Apr 2, 2015 16:13:53 GMT 12
Anybody know anything about this photo? This from way back on page 6 of this thread!!! I think the guy may be Brian Snell. If i'm correct he flew for Aerial Farming/Manawatu ATD. Killed Australia in a c180 at Cosgrove 24 Sept 65
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nobody
Pilot Officer
Posts: 46
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Post by nobody on Dec 20, 2015 7:56:23 GMT 12
I see BFT is in the last batch. We rebuilt BFT at Gulf Aeronautics in the early 1990s for Jim Pavitt. However its identity is not all that straight forward at this point! BFT was damaged in an accident at some stage in its past, and was rebuilt as CZW. CZW came to grief somewhere down south, Stewart Island I think, in the 1970s. This 1990s rebuild is actually using the BFT / CZW data plate, but a substantial portion of an early C182 Airframe (I dont know the rego) from an aircraft that was damaged beyond repair at Ardmore at some stage. Significant new components were also added, as were A188 bits (They are all the same part numbers!) to produce this aircraft which is somewhat of a hybrid! After BFT we repainted BJV, which at the time was owned by Tom McCready, in an identical colour scheme but with metallic Maroon and silver trim as opposed to the charcoal and silver of BFT. BJU and BUG also came through our shop from time to time. The donor 182 was ZK-BRI. It did not crash at Ardmore as stated but on a farm strip. BRI was a runaway aeroplane accident while being hand-propped. We were there about a week after the accident. The guy described the accident sequence and the most graphic detail was how the plane "took his thumb off" as it went past. It took a while for my young brain to process this, he was so casual and off-hand about this little detail, but I looked down at his bandaged hand to see indeed there was no bulge in bandage where his thumb should've been! All I could think was how close he must've been to having the plane chew up a bit more of him than that. BRI had been recently rebuilt or repainted or something and it looked really nice to my young eyes beyond the damage and beneath the splattered mud. It seemed a real shame to see it so badly bent. No doubt Peter Lewis will be able to tell us the year that this accident happened.
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Post by Peter Lewis on Dec 20, 2015 8:08:44 GMT 12
ZK-CZW Hit by wave Ruggedy Beach, Stewart Island, 22Dec69.
ZK-BRI crashed on unpiloted run-away Waipaipai 10Feb79.
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