Galatea Airfield

[eieio]

There was to be a celebration of past events Dave but some Axxxxxxx with a large gap where his brain should be burnt the buildings . The armed constabulary huts had been set up as a house long ago.

[Dave Homewood]

Damn idiot!

[eieio]

Back to the flying horse on Avian ACM......The aircraft had a Pegasus engine, that was thanks to Reg Wellington yesterday.

[Peter Lewis]

The only Pegasus aircraft engine I know of was the Bristol Pegasus - a radial.
ZK-ACM obviously had an in-line engine.

Any further info?

flyernzl is currently in Nelson

[Bruce]

... And the Hawker Harrier!

[haughtney1]

For the Prince Phillip fans.......yes I know it's not strictly aviation related...but they are quite funny.

[Peter Lewis]

Avian ZK-ACM was fitted with a Cirrus Hermes II engine.

Source: Whites Air Directory 1947 & 1952.

As far as I can find out, the Greek God Hermes was never associated with a prancing horse image and neither were the ADC, Cirrus or Blackburn manufacturing companies.

[Dave Homewood]

There's a fair bit of info about ZK-ACM on my page on ted Harvie, here
www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Edgar%20Harvie.htm

Sadly the article does not go up to the period it was owned by Mr Harray.

I have looked at the Mobil logos and I'm convinced that pegasus on the aeroplane is the identical design. Is there any chance however of getting a larger crop of that artwork please Peter? (When you get home)

[Peter Lewis]

[chinapilot]

As I mentioned earlier, give Keith Trillo a call.

[Dave Homewood]

This is just in from Reg Wellington:

"Hello Dave,

I have just been looking at the RNZAF in the Solomons episode shown in the Wartime RNZAFpages,
and then I found the Galatea airfield article which finally led to ZK-ACM and Matt Harray.
Matt’s farm was across the Horomanga River from mine in Galatea, and he got his introduction to aviation when the Stratford Aero Club’s Auster landed on my farm.

Bruce MacDonald asked me for Matt’s story a few months ago, but he does not appear to have added it to the questions about who was WM Harray?

Matt was a Returned Serviceman who won a farm ballot on Haumea Road, Galatea in 1950, after serving in the Navy. He had come from the Te Poi area near Matamata and had a liking for vintage articles!

The day the Auster arrived, he, with many other sightseers arrived, but Matt had ridden his bike the length of his farm, carried it across the river, and ridden it up the length of our farm. He made himself and his interest in aviation known, and when Alex Bletchynden, who was instructing at Waharoa brought a Tiger Moth to Kawerau to satisfy the need for flying instruction there, Alex used the Galatea aerodrome as a training ground because of space and runway length.

Matt commenced flying tuition with a number of other younger Galatea young men, and while learning, made a trip to Mangere where he found just what he wanted – an old aircraft. He built a hangar which could accommodate the Avian which had folding wings. There were doors at both ends of the building – pushed in one end and out the other before locking the wings into flying position. He did his required cross country flying for his licence in the Avian, and
used it to fly to company meetings at Matamata quite regularly.

This came to a halt after he had spent too much time refuelling before setting off for home on one occasion. He headed out over the Kaimais and down the coast. By the time he reached Edgecumbe, it looked pretty black over Galatea, as he decided to terminate on what was to be the Whakatane airport. However he was one sand dune away, and put his aircraft down in a
small paddock, going through a fence. Little damage was done, and next morning we emptied out most of the surplus fuel, and he finished the flight back to Galatea.

That year there was an Airshow at Rotorua, and as the Avian had previously in another life been part of Stan Blackmore’s fleet, it was taken from Galatea to the old Rotorua aerodrome by truck for display. After the pageant it remained in the big hangar until sold to (I think) Ian Brodie, who flew it down Wanganui way to have it rebuilt. New parts were obtained,
and just prior to it being flown up to Auckland on delivery, it was involved in a fire which consumed the building and the Avian.

Matt left Galatea and now lives in Coromandel.

I hope this satisfies the enquirers.

Cheers

Reg Wellington"


Thanks Reg. I think rather than Ian Brodie that would have been Keith Trillo? Or was Ian also involved? Keith owned the Avian when the fire destroyed it.

[The Red Baron]

[chinapilot]

Re Dave's post from Reg Wellington; the Avian was actually completely stripped down and rebuilt by Keith Trillo at the back of the Wellington Aero Club hangar around 1963/4 so he must have purchased it around then.

[Peter Lewis]

This may help:

Galatea Airfield published data from Air Pilot dated 1939

[thomarse]

Thanks Peter.

The question is now: does the present field occupy any of the ground depicted here? It certainly bears little resemblance to it shape and dimension-wise.

[eieio]

The present "strip" occupies the N/S parallel and adjacent to the road plus I believe more to the north than is on that plan. I always considered the N/S to be one mile. Interesting to see the phone line marked [for government use only?] There was no "Post & Telegraph" service in the district until 51 or 52

[frazerbriggs]

Hi All

Found this thread online. I'm an RC modeller, been doing it for 30+ years. If you've ever been to the Wanaka Airshow, you might have seen me fly a huge 40% Scale RC Aerobatic model, doing all sorts of things that the full size can't quite do. I also compete overseas flying RC Aerobatics.

As a bunch of modellers that are into RC Scale Aerobatics, we have been looking for a central North Island site for a few years now where we can run a few competitions per year.. something close to halfway between Auckland and Wellington so guys from both ends of the island can meet up. The models we fly are huge these days, so we need lots of room, and full size strip is perfect. Runway running roughly East/West, and we also need it to be clear to the south, so we can setup the aerobatic box and fly facing away from the sun. Plus the main thing we are looking for, is somewhere out of the way from lots of fullsize activity. If we have 20 guys at a contest, then we want to get loads of flying in, not sit around waiting for streams of 172's doing circuits etc.

I found Galatea Airfield thanks to Google maps. Since then one of our committee members was driving past, stopped and had a look, and he says its awesome. It ticks all the boxes. The place looks deserted. It is perfect.

We've contacted the Whakatane District Council, and they've said .. ok, talk to the Aeroclub.

Here in lies the problem. The phone number we have must be well out of date.

This thread was started was an info gathering exercise, and I'm interested to get in touch with the Aeroclub, if in fact it exists. Maybe we just need to figure out a local to talk to. If we can get some modelling happening at Galatea, and we have a few comps per year, that's 20 to 30 modellers in Murapara for the weekend, all needing accom, food, a few cold beers etc. So its good for the local community.

If you can help in anyway with some contact info, please get in touch. [e-mail]

Our website is www.nzrcaa.co.nz

Thanks
Frazer

[scrooge]

Are you using the contact number from the NZAIP Vol.4- 07 366 5668

[scrooge]

I'll alo suggest you contact CAA who should have a contact name and number for the operator (or at least a designated person).

[eieio]

Try Gavin Iles 07 366 4831