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Post by Dave Homewood on May 7, 2005 21:47:44 GMT 12
What became of the RNZAF's fleet of CT-4B Airtrainers when they were retired? Were they sold off to civilians? If so, are any on the NZ Civil Register?
I know the four Airtour T6's we had went to civil hands, and were snapped up.
I have seen an ex-RAAF Airtrainer at Ardmore, along with ZK-DGY which was the prototype. But never any ex-RNZAF examples. Did they get scrapped? Did they go overseas as a fleet to another Air Force? Were any retained as instructional airframes?
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 7, 2005 21:52:22 GMT 12
Ah, I just posted this and then remembered to check Ivan's adf serials page - which revealed the answer.
It seems most have gone to the British Aerospace school in Aussie. One is in Tauranga it seems, and only one retained in the RNZAF for the museum. What a shame that one wasn't presented to Hamilton, where they were designed and built. The museum at Hamilton has the prototype Turbo-Fletcher and I think they have or are getting Ozzie James' Tiger Moth too. An Airtrainer should have gone there as well.
A pity, I think Aussie got most of the Strikemasters too, and we haven't any here on the civil register, which is a great shame.
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Post by Bruce on May 7, 2005 22:06:58 GMT 12
During my time at Aeromotive we were engaged in the civilianisation of the CT-4s to bring them up to standard for operation at Tamworth. It was a serious exercise, far more than just slapping a coat of paint on them. Each machine was totally stripped down, paintstripped, the works, The entire military wiring loom came out and brand new looms went in. Completely new instrument panels were installed with some really nice new avionics and shiny new instruments. Everything was returned to "as new" condition, incorporating a number of CT4E refinements. The overturn roll cages were removed and the engines were fully overhauled, as were the props. They looked great and were really in excellent condition. When I left to join CityJet there were 3 remaining after the BAe order was filled. One went to Tauranga as noted, another is in service with Massey university school of aviation, and I think the remaining aircraft is still sitting around Hamilton somewhere. The removed avionics and instruments went to a Paul Page (owner of Tim Wallis' Griffon Spitfire) in Texas. BTW Dave, were you responsible for the RNZAF paint finishEs on any of them - Our paintstripping "lackeys" reported the stuff (especially the few in the old orange and grey) was really difficult to remove!  I have also seen several of the bluntys when I was in Aussie in December 2003 - There were 2 each at Bathurst, Camden and a number at Bankstown - they all looked like they were in good condition. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 7, 2005 22:22:26 GMT 12
Cheers Bruce, that was interesting to hear of the upgrades made. I guess they'll all have many years service ahead of them, despite being over 30 years old.
I didn't paint any CT-4B's. In fact we seldom had to paint anything on them unless panels, etc were replaced. If I remember right, the aircraft got a new paint job each time they had a major servicing at "Pacific Waste-a-space" as it was known in the Air Force.
I did however work on the job of demiliarizing the Airtourer paint shemes before they left Wigram. They had to have the roundels and serials removed, so I got the job of sanding, masking and some painting on that one. In my trade, Safety and Surface, there were several trades as such. I was fully trained and qualified in Safety Equipment and Upholstery, but I did not do the Aircraft Finishing, or painting, trade course before I left the RNZAF. So though I gained some experience in masking, stripping, sanding and painting, I didn't do a lot because I wasn't qualified. I just got these extra jobs, like this one, and being part of the teams painting warbirds, which I loved.
This Airtourer job was a waste of time and money by the way. Despite the aircraft legally not being able to fly with roundels and serials once decommissioned, within about two weeks of my demarking them, I saw a photo in Wings magazine of one of them with the Kiwis re-applied - and very bloody crudely I might add. I think they all got the Kiwis back once on the Civil Register. Stupid how things work out, eh?
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