Here's a press report on the event:
Bristol Freighter may fire up for airshow Blair Ensor - The Marlborough Express | Friday, 13 June 2008
LOVING CARE: Alistair Marshall is restoring the Bristol Freighter Merchant Courier which as been parked up at Omaka since 1986. He plans to fire up the engines soon and give the old bird a starring, if earth-bound, role at the 2009 Classic Fighters airshow.
A unique piece of aviation history is being given a new lease of life in the lead up to the 2009 Classic Fighters airshow.
The Bristol Type 170 Freighter Merchant Courier was last flown in 1986 after the Marlborough Aero Club rescued it from the scrap heap and brought it to Omaka.
Pilot Al Marshall has been a driving force behind the restoration of the plane, which is one of the few remaining in the world.
Getting it airborne for next year's airshow was probably too much to hope for, but he wanted it to at least have a starring role on the runway.
He's been spending hours fixing the engines and hopes to fire them up in the next fortnight.
"I'm a self proclaimed piston airline engineer enthusiast and I noticed that the aircraft wasn't being preserved as it should be," the former RNZAF engine technician said.
Mr Marshall said he was attracted by the character and rarity of the plane.
"There are no more flying in the world and it's a piece of Marlborough history.
"I want to make it more of a living aeroplane and create some interest," he said.
Mr Marshall said birds had made the job of repairing the engines particularly difficult.
"They have been nesting in the engines and they drag moisture in with them. We have pulled the equivalent of a full hay bale from it."
Screens that would cover the engines would fix the problem, he said.
It would cost too much to get the aircraft airborne again for the fifth Classic Fighters airshow, but it will still be part of the event.
"We want to have the plane taxi down the runway, shut down in front of the crowd and then drive a car into it."
Former pilot of the aircraft and now manager of flight operations for Air Nelson, Bob Guard, was pleased to hear his old wings were being revived.
"It will be quite a sight and something the public won't have heard for a long time."
Mr Guard said the experience he had flying the plane was invaluable.
"They were some of the last piston engine aircraft in the world and while they could be a handful, they were really nice to fly.
"Pilots are more system managers nowadays with a lot of reliance placed on the autopilot, but with something like the Bristol Freighter you were actually hand flying," he said.
Mr Marshall said he wanted to make the start-up of the aeroplane a public event.
"A lot of the town probably don't even know it's here.
"It is quite a thirsty machine, so if we get some donations, hopefully we can fire it up regularly. The ultimate goal is to create enough interest that someone may want to spend the money and get it flying," he said
The Bristol B170 Freighter ZK-CPT Merchant Courier is a twin engined aircraft which was designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company at the end of World War 2. Its huge bulbous nose opens to allow cargo access.
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