Nanchangs and Yak 52's in NZ

[Dave Homewood]

Purely out of curiosity, when did the first Nanchang arrive in New Zealand? Who brought it into the country, when was the first NZ flight, and where was it based?

And the same questions for Yak 52's?

The first memory I have of ever seeing a Nanchang was at the Easter 1995 Hamilton airshow where Sir Kenneth Hayr had one there, and he flew a magnificent display of aerobatics in it with Sir Tim Wallis in his Spitfire, in a display called Knights of the Air. I would love to see a film of that if anyone videoed it. Was Ken Hayr's the first one in NZ?

Also the population of both types seemed to boom for a while but they seem to have plateaued now. How many of each are in NZ now, flying?

[scrooge]

Sir Kenneth had a Yak (this I do know). Was he flying ZK-YAX or his own one or a Nanchang? and were the Yak's flown on their Lithuanian registrations initially?

I also think a Yak arrived first then a Nanchang (but turns out I am wrong about this bit based on the first registrations below).

The CAA website has 17 Yak-52's (ZK-YAX first registered 12/4/1995): www.caa.govt.nz/Script/Air_Mod.asp
and 6 Nanchang CJ-6's (ZK-OII first at 23/12/1994).

[Dave Homewood]

Huh, I seriously thought he flew a Nanchang in that display, funny how the memory plays tricks. Thanks!

[scrooge]

He could have per my revised comments.

[ZacYates]

One further Nanchang is under restoration at Omaka, and the former ZK-WOK is available for sale (also at Omaka).

[johnnyfalcon]

The first time I saw Sir Ken's display in his Yak 52 (not ZK-YAX) around 1995 he began with a high speed low-level run down the display line with a vertical climb to a stop, tail-slide, pitch forward to inverted, then pendulum to the vertical down before pulling out level at the height he began with (not high). I had my heart in my mouth... Absolutely breath-taking to watch. We should have a thread on Sir Ken. He contributed much to the skill base in the display scene

[Dave Homewood]

Feel free to start one. I think I only ever saw him display that once. Next I heard about him was when he was killed in the Vampire.

[DragonflyDH90]

I worked on a Nanchang (CVI?) in Nelson back 1996-97 ish and Frank Frost had a Yak 52 that was fairly newly imported.
It was about the same time that the Stearman XAF came to Nelson, I remember Tom Middleton doing a bit of flying in it and rating the owner (Jon Anda).

This from Kiwi Aircraft Images;

New Zealand's first Yak-52, a 1991 model, was purchased by Sir Kenneth Hayr in 1993, and imported after his retirement from the RAF. Initially operated under its Lithuanian registration LY-ANH (c/n 9111602), after a brief period as ZK-YAQ it is now ZK-ZAY and is based at North shore aerodrome. ZK-YAX was the first on the New Zealand register in April, 1995. The other Yak-52s illustrated below are ZK-LIZ (formerly LY-AIS) -a 1984 model (c/n 844413), now based at Hawera, and ZK- TYS (formerly LY-AFD c/n 822809), based at Thames.

[Bruce]

TYS is now at Te Kowhai in the hangar next to mine. Shes been out of the air for a while with a severely ruptured engine, however This week a nice remanufactured Ivchenko has appeared ready to go on. Hopefully JP, Evan and the rest of the syndicate will be back flying again this summer.

[scrooge]

Thanks DH90, answered my questions and cleared that up.

Sir Kenneth in his own yak while it was on the Lituanian registration is most likely.

[Dave Homewood]

Someone must have at least a photo of the Yak/Nanchang and Spitfire from that 1995 airshow? I took photos there but not of that great act, as i was just watching in wonderment.

[hardyakka]

Bruce, the M14P is actually a Vedeneyev design based on the old Ivchenko AI14. The current manufacturer is Motostar in Romania (who did our zero-time rebuild). I've learned a metric cr@p load about what it takes to ship a Yak engine to Romania and back. We hope to add TYS back to the list of airworthy NZ Yaks as soon as possible.
I also remember Sir Kenneth flying at the 1995 airshow, but don't think I have any photos or video either.