Woodbourne's Bristol Freighters, 1989

[Dave Homewood]

All the recent talk of Bristol Freighters has got me thinking and wondering...

I first moved to Woodbourne on the 9th of january 1989 when i joined the RNZAF. I was there till late July 1989.

During that time I recall there were some decommissioned Bristol Freighters sitting stored somewhere near the apron sort of between the tower and the airport terminal. I think there were three there. I also have a vague faint memory that there might have been another over the back of the airfield used by the RNZAF Fire Service as a crash trainer.

Are these memories right? And which Bristols were still there then. Where did they all end up? I think one was flown out to Canada but I can't recall if it was while i was there or afterwards - I never saw it fly.

[Gavin Conroy]

Yes Dave you are right not sure about the date though as I really cant remember and was only a young fella when I took this photo with my trusty old instamatic.

This aircraft is ZK-CLT shortly before if flew off to Canada.
I also remember biking out to Omaka when CPT flew into Omaka on its last flight.


Below is the four ship flypast over town before the aircraft were retired, sorry about the quality, the photo is better than the scan

[Dave Homewood]

Cheers, neat photos. So am I right about there being one used for fore training? Or was that something else. The only times I ever got that side of the airfield I was running (sometimes with a powerpole on my shoulder) so I had tunnel vision and didn't see too much detail. ;D