Things at Ardmore today

[Bruce]

I had to go up to Northland this weekend for a funeral, but on my way back I stopped off at Ardmore for a bit of a look around (like you do...) The Warbirds Harvards were out of the Hangar, having carried out a display over the V8 Racing at Pukekohe, the DC3 was doing Joyrides and a flock of Aerobatic machines were launching for Pukekohe as I arrived. The Catalina got my attention because it no longer wears RNZAF markings. as seen in the photo below it now wears Aeronavale Postwar markings - very spectacular too... even Magnifique! With the common use of adhesive Vinyl markings, I think we will see a regular variation in the schemes worn by some Warbirds - as is common in Europe.




I found the Thunder Mustang outside AvSpecs, with some fellow North American Company - I can also report that I have seen (and Heard) it fly - I want one too!




Avspecs are currently working through a large batch of ex-ethiopian F86 Sabres, several are being restored to Static condition and at least one will eventually fly. In addition to the "Kitset" Sabre outside the Hangar (Just painted) another was sitting on the grass nearby recently completed, despite being only a static resoration, the quality is superb, as is normal for Avspecs.



I'm not sure where all the Sabres are going to be displayed, but I think most are heading off shore - would be nice to keep some locally though. A while ago one was up for sale on TradeMe, unfortunately my own little aircraft is keeping me broke enough without a classic jet to support!

Just thought these pics may be of interest.

[Dave Homewood]

Nice photos, thanks Bruce.

So the temporary Omaka airshow scheme is still on.

I think I prefer the RNZAF scheme, but I agree it is quite striking. I love the nose art.

Personally I'd really like to see the Catalina do a season with the green scheme our RNZAF Catalinas apparently wore. But that would be getting costly for a temp scheme, and the blue is more universal for swapping markings like this.

One of the Sabres is apparently going to a Russian museum. Ths one I believe: (photgraphed in February 05)



Whatever became of the Sabre that a syndicate got totally ripped off on back in about 1990. They were sent a different airframe from the one they thought they'd bought as I understand it, and it was trash. Was that the one on Trademe?

[Dave Homewood]

I forgot to add - have you any more photos? Please?

That Thunder Mustang looks soooo good.

[Bruce]

Sorry I didnt get many other photos - the wind was absolutely freezing there and I was trying to keep warm!
The Sabre on Trademe was one of the Ethiopian batch so would be the sister ship to the ones above. There was a set of Ethiopian Sabre wings and a number of other shipping containers behind me when I took the pictures.
The previous Sabre in NZ was an ex Philipine airforce machine. As far as I know it is in storage somewhere in South Auckland. I have seen it at several airshows and the condition of it is much worse than the newer arrivals, I guess the difference is in the operating climate - dry desert vs tropical humidity.

[turboNZ]

Nice pics Bruce.

Yes, that Thunder Mustang is truly an awesome beast !!

I got a stack of pics of it at Omaka.


Cheers
TNZ

[Bruce]

The Catalina colour scheme issue is an interesting one. ZK-PBY previously wore the codes XX-T and Serial NZ4017. This aircraft was finished in Sea Blue and Neutral Grey for all its wartime life. Very few RNZAF Cats wore the 3 tone blue scheme. I think the "Green scheme" Dave refers to is the Sea Blue scheme which I did some research on for my model of a Catalina (Which is NZ4017!) . The exact colour of "Sea Blue" is really difficult to determine, as it faded very rapidly in the pacific and doesnt photograph very well. As far as I could determine it was quite dark, with a greenish tint to it. It looks like a dark green in some lights. It was used on Corsairs as well. I used colour photos of the RNZAF Corsair restored at Rukuhia in the 1960s which was finished in sea blue. I'm not entirely sure I got it right as subsequently I found the International Plastic model society NZ Chapter pages had colour artwork showing sea blue as a Greenish blue grey - I accept that my model may be too dark,and I'm not going to change it - it can serve as an example of the difficulties of determining actual colour tones! I would like to see ZK-PBY in a more authentic scheme in the future, but in my opinion, seeing a Cat in an inaccurate scheme is better than not seeing it at all. ... wouldnt you agree?