Aero Commander Snow S2D-600

[Peter Lewis]

Adastra Ltd. ( later Adastra Aviation Ltd.) was formed by Garry Toulson in mid-1952 and carried out aerial work operations from their base at Tauranga using Tiger Moths and Fu-24s.

By 1965 the company was looking for an aircraft with a bigger lifting capacity than the the 260hp Fletchers, and therefore obtained the New Zealand agency for the 600hp one-ton capacity Aero Commander Snow S2D aircraft.

The first two aircraft of this type to arrive were c/n 600-1312D which had been built on the 18 October 1965 and which took its first flight in New Zealand on 24 January 1966 as ZK-CPG, and c/n 600-1313D built 21 October 1965 and first flown in New Zealand on 28 January 1966 as ZK-CPH.

The first public appearance of the new aircraft was at the official opening of the new Auckland International Airport at Mangere on 30 January 1966. The two brand new Snows were flown in and parked on display, together with Adastra's latest Bedford TK rear mounted loader.

Snow S2D-600 ZK-CPG at Mangere 30 January 1966, white with dark blue details (the keen-eyed will note the PL-11 Airtruck ZK-CKE visible in the background just past the nose of the Snow).



Sister Snow ZK-CPH also at Mangere 30 January 1966, in front of ZK-CPG and the Adastra loader.



Following this stage appearance, the two aircraft were put into productive service.

ZK-CPG was eventually based at Taupo with Russell Nairn flying. On 10 December 1968 it was reported that Russell executed a low-level barrel roll over an airstrip and had the misfortune to hit the only pine tree for miles around. It was a tribute to the strength of the S2D that Russell only suffered some harness bruising, but ZK-CPG was not so fortunate and was written off.
The registration was cancelled 17 January 1969.

ZK-CPG at rest at Rukuhia



and gainfully employed



Sister Snow ZK-CPH operated from bases at Hamilton, Mt Maungahui and Rotorua over the next few years until it carried out its last flight on 7 May 1974.
Adastra had been sold to James Aviation in September 1971, and the Snow Commanders did not fit with the James fleet policy, so over time the surviving S2Ds were withdrawn and stored at James' Hamilton base until sold.
ZK-CPH was among the aircraft sold into Israel, and became 4X-AWN with Marom Air Services Ltd., Tel Aviv on 14 May 1980. Later this aircraft moved to Greece in 1990 as SX-AOE with Skyfox EPE, Marathon and eventually back to the USA in 2003 where it reappeared as N7802B.

Snow ZK-CPH at Rukuhia 26 March 1966



In 'rotten row' at Rukuhia 2 July 1978



more to follow

[Peter Lewis]

Soon after the first two Snows arrived, two more followed.
These were c/n 600-1319D and c/n 600-1320D which became ZK-CPK and ZK-CPL respectively.

Although ZK-CPK was registered to Adastra Aviation Ltd on 24 January 1966, the first flight of this aircraft did not take place until the 12th August.
This aircraft then operated with Adasatra in both ATD and spray configurations mostly while based at Tauranga and flown by Derek Williams who clocked up 5000hrs in ZK-CPK. Out of the ordinary operations carried out by this aircraft included water-bombing and also carting harvested barley from Matakana Island to the mainland. It suffered an 'incident' at Waimana on 23 January 1973. (Details, anyone?).

Last flight local flight of ZK-CPK took place on 4Apr74, and then the aircraft was stored Hamilton. Registration was cancelled 20 June 1978, and this was one of the batch sold into Israel where it became 4X-AWU of Marom Air Services Ltd., Tel Aviv on 14 Mau 1980. Later it went to Greece as SX-AMT with Sky Fox EPE from 23 May 1989.

Snow ZK-CPK in topdressing configuration at Tauranga airport 21 October 1967 in standard Adastra colours





and a short time later, at Rotokawa 25 November 1967 with spray equipment fitted



Adastra Aviation, having the agency for the S2D, were keen to obtain sales to other operators. Christchurch-based Aerial Sowing (Canterbury) Ltd. were interested in the Snow, so after its initial flight at Tauranga on 31 March 1966 ZK-CPL was transferred into their ownership and travelled south.

ZK-CPL also appears to have operated as a topdresser and as a sprayer, and had an 'incident' at Moana on 4 August 1971.
It flew on after this event, apparently until as late as March 1978, when the registration was cancelled on the 7th.

This aircraft was one of the Israel exports, becoming 4X-AWF with Marom as from 8 June 1979.

ZK-CPL at Harewood outside the Aerial Sowing hangar 22 May 1967



As a spray rig, Amberley 19 March 1978, presumably after its last local flight. Colours logged were white with red trim.



more to come

[agile]

Interesting stuff Peter. I hadn't heard of this type, so I looked it up on Wikipedia - always a dangerous thing to do.

There is a picture on WP of the Ayres Thrush S2R-T, the turbine version. Even by Ag aircraft standards it is a curious looking beast! It looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie. ;D

[The Red Baron]

Always intrigued me the Snow Commander had no flaps,this must have made it interesting to land on some topdressing strips?.

[dakman]

Re the flapless wing the aeroplane was demonstrated at Masterton to local
operator s on its tour .Sorry can not confirm the exact one but the general
comments suggested the operating conditions in the Wairarapa made
flaps essential . Pilots not happy to take small loads of the strips used
and then hang of prop /power to get back on the ground
but dare I say better than the BI

[Dinga]

Here is a Snow that under went a major overhaul by Bay Aircraft Services around 1976 ,sorry I can not be sure of the year or registration .Perhaps somebody can fill in the gaps.This aircraft was operated by Rowley Aviation.

Bay Aircraft probably tendered for this job as the owner Tom Havill, pictured below had a bit of experience on type, having worked on Adastra's Snow's.

The pictures show's the aircraft after its completion.Tom Havill my Father Wally Bell, Jack Sands and another bloke whose name was Byron did the overhaul,which took several weeks.

Thanks to Furyfb11 for scanning these photo's.




IMG_0002 by DingaB, on Flickr


IMG by DingaB, on Flickr


IMG_0001 by DingaB, on Flickr

[thomarse]

I have a photo of DQI taken at Molesworth in 1982 by my mate the late Tim Frederikson when he was flying it, and it's in that same scheme, so maybe......

[Dinga]

Thanks Thomarse.I will tell Dad in the morning,He might be able to remember if I mention the Rgistration DQI.

[The Red Baron]

Could also be an Aussie visitor,I'm pretty sure Gary Toulson retained the Snow agency after Adastra was sold to James,and I'm pretty sure he was the Australiasan agent for them.

[Peter Lewis]

ZK-DQI was a Rockwell S2R Thrush Commander, and yes it was operated by Rowley Aviation Ltd., Amberley from 1978 until it went to Australia in 1985.
They had four of them - ZK-DQA DQB DQI DQJ.

9 Rockwell/Ayres S2Rs have flown here, including at least one turbo. Two more reserved but did not arrive.

[Dinga]

Well it's not DQI

[Deane B]

Aug 21, 2010 20:16:04 GMT 12 Dinga said:

Here is a Snow that under went a major overhaul by Bay Aircraft Services around 1976 ,sorry I can not be sure of the year or registration .Perhaps somebody can fill in the gaps.This aircraft was operated by Rowley Aviation.

Great pics of this unique and mysterious aircraft. If this was 1976, then its too early to be Rowley Aviation as that company was formed in 1978, so a more likely contender is Aerial Sowing (who then became Rowley Aviation). The only S-2D they owned as far as I am aware was CPL. So if not CPL, then I guess this still leaves it open to an overseas visitor.

Always liked the S-2D and Thrushes but have never seen one. They were all gone by the time I made it to the south island. Bet they sounded great though.

[The Red Baron]

If you go back up to the CPL photos its there in Aerial Sowing colours in 1978.

If you have look here nzcivair.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-remember-when-correction.html it shows CPV in yellow in '74.CPV had a whoopsie in '74 and was possibly spruced up before shipping back to Aust,and as it was owned by Toulsons most likely rebuilt at Tauranga?.
Unless it was Professor Plumb in the kitchen with the lead pipe..

[Peter Lewis]

The next two Snows to arrive for Adastra were c/ns 600-1358D (which was intended to become ZK-CTK) and 600-1359D (intended to become ZK-CTL).

In actuality these two registrations were (as far as I know) not taken up, and these aircraft became ZK-CPQ and ZK-CPV respectively, both being registered to Adastra Aviation on 25 October 1966. However, the assembly of these two aircraft did not occur until a later date, with the first NZ flight of ZK-CPQ taking place on 12 August, and the aircraft entering operational service on 1 November.

ZK-CPQ operated usually in the spray role, and was badly damaged when John Phillips was spraying pine trees at low level near Mamaku 27 December 1972 and suffered engine failure during a spray run. I think it was not restored to airworthy condition after this incident, (can anybody confirm?) and was stored damaged among the Adastra aircraft when the company became a James Aviation subsidiary in 1971.

After storage at Rukuhia, ZK-CPQ went to Marom Air Services Ltd., Tel Aviv who rebuilt it and registered it as 4X-AWW from 14 May 1980 and then to Greece with Skyfox EPE from 24 October 1990 as SX-AOB

ZK-CPQ at Tauranga 21 October 1967





The second aircraft of this pair, although registered as ZK-CPV, remained in store as a reserve aircraft.
In 1968 Adastra entered into a contract to spray Palm tree plantations in New Guinea, and the unassembled aircraft was shipped to Mt Hagen, assembled, and flown there as VH-AGT with Kiwi Eric (Scotty) Adam as the pilot. The NZ registration of this aircraft was cancelled 6 November 1968.

After a successful trial period, this spraying contract lasted two seasons but the volume of business available did not justify continuing beyond this period. VH-AGT was flown from New Guinea back to Australia and then, on reaching Sydney, was dismantled and shipped back to New Zealand.

The Snow was restored as ZK-CPV on 30 June 1972 under the private ownership of Garry and Margaret Toulson, as by this time Adastra Aviation Ltd. had passed to the James Aviation group. It was leased to Wanganui Aero Work from March 1973 until terminated by an landing accident near Raetihi on 20 June 1973.
Eventually ZK-CPV was sold to an Australian operator where it again became VH-AGT. The New Zealand registration was cancelled on 9 May 1974.

ZK-CPV in the 'big hangar' at Mt Maunganui 31 December 1972. Colours where yellow and black.



The final S2D to arrive was imported from Australia as a replacement for ZK-CPG. This was a second-hand machine that had served with Snow Commander (Aust) Pty. Ltd. as VH-SNA from 23 February 1967 as a sprayer, and then with TASCO (Ord River) Pty. Ltd. from 29 August 1968.

This aircraft, c/n 600-1362D, took up the ZK-CTK registration that had initially been allotted to the Snow that became ZK-CPQ, and was registered to Adastra Aviation on 11 March 1970.

ZK-CTK was initially based at Rotorua, and suffered only minimal damage when pilot Dick Currin carried out a forced landing on to a forestry road while tree spraying. Strangely, this aircraft is also recorded as involved in an incident at Cashmere on 3 August 1972.
Now Cashmere is near Christchurch . . . ?

The last flight of ZK-CTK was on 19 July 1974, and it was then stored at Hamilton until sold into Israel with Marom Air Services Ltd. where it became 4X-AWM from 1 July 1979.

I never caught up with ZK-CTK during its few active years here, but 'alias' posted a photo of it from the Russ Garlick collection on the forum here a while ago. I take the liberty of displaying that photo also here for the sake of completeness.



Finally, I acknowledge the work of Lou Forhecz in his researched history of Adastra. Some of the details above are, with his permission, from that work.

[furyfb11]

Peter thank you this thread has been very interesting.The only Snow I seem to have photographed is the one you did'nt CTK.Unfortunately I have not put anything on the back of the photo so not sure when I took it but would think it was early 1974.

[Dave Homewood]

Here is a message emailed tonight to me from Ray Deerness for the forum:

"Hi Dave, your mystery aircraft at Tauranga is ZK-CPL. I have a shot at Rangiora in January 1975 in the Yellow Thrush scheme, so it must have been done late 1974. It had large ZK-CPL on fuselage side.

CPL had three schemes, one similar to the Adastra aircraft with red stripe and then another in red which was like a huge Pawnee 235B.

CPV was yellow with Wanganui Aero Work, with reg on fin. After the mishap it was repaired at Aero Engine Services and was more or less the same as before. It had no fuselage stripe.

Regards,

Ray"

[Peter Lewis]

Thanks for the photo of ZK-CTK and your comments David.

Judging by the two photos of it, CTK seems to be in the running for the 'dirtiest agricultural aircraft' award.

[Dave.K]

Hey Peter, don't forget DQC & DQD that Central Aviation had, or are they a different designation as these had flaps, a bit hard to see in this photo but the one near the back of the Topdressers shows the flap.

[Peter Lewis]

They were both Rockwell S2R Thrush Commander, not S2D. Different beast.

[kiwibeavers]

"Dinga" can you please reply to my PM or e-mail me at [e-mail]
Cheers, Graeme