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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 2, 2014 23:34:33 GMT 12
Does anyone have the full details of what occurred here?  "Tiger Moth Aircraft crash, Ardmore Teachers' College, Auckland 12 Feb 1965 Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22740300" |
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Post by baronbeeza on Oct 3, 2014 0:06:37 GMT 12
Interesting pic Dave. It was glider towing and crashed sometime in late Jan 1965. Sunday 24th was when Winston Churchill died and many would remember where they were when news filtered through. I think I heard about 8am Monday morning on 25th. I now see it was in the morning in the UK, I would have woken to the news in that case. Going by the casual attire, and the glider ops, I reckon this may have been a weekend event. I am thinking it was that same day. Sunday afternoon in the case of the Tiger accident. *** EDIT*** Just thinking this was the school holidays and the gliding operations may have continued weekdays also. I think Peter or someone will recall the date. Interested to know when the photo of ZK-AQA "looking very smart in black and cream" was taken. The aircraft crashed at Ardmore on 27th Jan 1965 while operated by the Auckland Gliding Club and appeared to have been written off when I last saw it several days later. |
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Post by kevsmith on Oct 3, 2014 1:57:55 GMT 12
At risk of relying totally on memory, the AQA story is this.
The aircraft was taking off from the grass left side of RWY 03 at Ardmore, on Wednesday the 27th of January 1965 and towing a Glider (Memory says the glider was the T31 ZK-GAD) How do I know the date?
I had flown the Tiger the previous day on Glider towing and on the Wednesday I flew Whites Aviation on a photographic Mission for some 2 hours south of Ardmore in C150 ZK-CHM. On my return to Ardmore, the duty ATC controller in Ardmore Tower informed me just before I landed that "the tiger was in the college" A day or two later when I did my log book for the previous few days, I made a note re the crash of AQA against my last entry of personally flying AQA that "AQA crashed into college on take-off next day"
Apparently there was a northerly blowing and I recall my return to Ardmore on that day had me landing on the grass strip in front of the Control Tower (was it RWY 31?).
During the take-off of the tiger towing the glider the initial part of the take-off run was effectively behind a hedge that used to be adjacent to the first part of RWY 03. The pilot subsequently told me that when he became clear of the hedge, the northerly “took over the tracking” of the combination and somehow forced the tiger into initially right drift which became a right turn crossing the sealed RWY. The T31 was airborne and the pilot instructor in the T31 released the tow and landed straight ahead as the tiger continued its right turn – somehow not gaining height and crossing a playing field until it hit the edge of the roof of the college with the right wing which cartwheeled the tiger into the ceiling of the Principals Office. Injuries were extremely minor to the pilot and none to the occupants of the office.
I should not mention that the pilot was issued his towing rating by me on the preceding 23rd of December.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 3, 2014 8:52:03 GMT 12
The date is in my original post, 12 Feb 1965.
Thanks for the details.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 3, 2014 8:53:07 GMT 12
So is this two different Kevin Smiths posting on this page or multiple personalities?
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Post by starr on Oct 3, 2014 9:09:39 GMT 12
I can remember this happening but cannot recall the date. I was not around Ardmore at that particular time, as we worked the Waikato/Bay of Plenty areas at that time of the year. Not the only time a Tiger had an accident towing gliders at Ardmore. Another one happened when the Tiger hocked the Auto tow wire in the tail skid which was lying on the grass adjacent to runway 07.
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Post by delticman on Oct 3, 2014 10:01:00 GMT 12
ZK-AQA, 27th January 1965.
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Post by FlyingKiwi on Oct 3, 2014 16:48:41 GMT 12
Incidentally that is the current Auckland Aero Club building it is embedded in, the cafe is the extreme right part of the building in the photo.
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Post by Peter Lewis on Oct 3, 2014 18:07:40 GMT 12
Confirm date of ZK-AQA demise as 27Jan65, which was a Wednesday.
Copy-cat of ZK-BBB, Auckland Gliding Club, cr Ardmore 22Apr56?
Adding to the story, Stan Smith is currently building up a DH60 Metal Moth, folding wing, which he reckons is the predecessor of the DH82a.
I have seen the airframe, currently on wheels at North Shore.
He has the logbooks of ZK-AQA, so that will eventually be the identitiy of the completed Moth.
Risen from the dead!
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Post by thomarse on Oct 3, 2014 18:16:33 GMT 12
Love the Holden police car!  HD I think. |
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Post by angelsonefive on Oct 4, 2014 8:35:28 GMT 12
Deja-vu all over again.
Didn't a Pawnee glider tug crash in a very similar location just a few years later ?
I remember seeing a picture of a badly bent Pawnee snuggled up to the side of a building at Ardmore.
Probably early 1970's ?
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Post by Peter Lewis on Oct 4, 2014 12:18:47 GMT 12
Pawnee ZK-CNC had engine failure on take-off at Ardmore while glider towing and crashed into an Auckland Teacher's College building 6Oct79.
I think this a/c was on hire from Drake Aviation at the time? Possibly a replacement for ZK-CIW
Auckland Gliding Club's Pawnee ZK-CIW crashed 1km from Ardmore on 24Feb79.
The aircraft had refuelled at Ardmore, and was transiting back to the Drury strip.
The analysis was that the cockpit side door, previously damaged and taped up, came loose and hit the pilot on the head.
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Post by angelsonefive on Oct 4, 2014 16:06:43 GMT 12
Thanks Flyernzl, CNC's will be the accident I am thinking of.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 9, 2024 16:16:46 GMT 12
From The Press, dated 28th of January 1965:
Plane Crashes Into Principal’s Office
(New Zealand Press Association)
AUCKLAND, January 27.
The principal of Ardmore Teachers’ College, Mr K. J. Hayr, and three of his colleagues dived for cover when a small plane dived through the roof of the administration building of the college this afternoon.
On the roof, the pilot of the aircraft, George Leonard Hill, of Robertson avenue, Avondale, climbed groggily, but only scratched, from the rear cockpit.
His aircraft, the Auckland Gliding Club’s Tiger Moth, almost wrecked, was buried up to the front cockpit in the roof of Mr Hayr’s office. With a glider in tow, Mr Hill, a club pilot for the club, was lifting off in a cross-wind from the southern end of the runway. Observers heard his engine stuttering as he climbed to about 50 feet.
Mr H. Nicholson, of Adelaide, holidaying with relatives near the airfield, said: “They were both off the ground when I took my eyes off them. The next thing, there he was, on the roof.
“A fellow in a car said he saw the wing dip. It must have been the cross-wind.”
In the glider, Mr M. Watkins, a club instructor, took control from his pupil, Mr R. Evans, and “hit the panic button,” dropping the towline. The glider landed safely.
In the principal’s office Mr Hayr, his vice-principal. Mr P. M. Barclay, the registrar, Mr S. Mueller, and the student president, Mr D. Tunstall, were grouped around a desk examining plans. “There was a terrific crash,” said Mr Barclay, “and the plane came through the roof. We all dived for cover.”
He estimated that the engine and propeller of the plane came within a foot of Mr Mueller.
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Post by McFly on May 9, 2024 18:00:49 GMT 12
"Tiger Moth Aircraft crash, Ardmore Teachers' College, Auckland" (WA-63489-F) Previous thread here ( link)  ASN Wikibase Occurrence #62962 ( link)
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 9, 2024 18:04:13 GMT 12
Thanks Marty, I have merged the two threads now. Ten years ago, I'd forgotten about this thread.
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Post by Antonio on May 9, 2024 18:25:47 GMT 12
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Post by kevsmith on May 10, 2024 2:40:16 GMT 12
The ASN report still says engine failure. And in the next line it says what really happened - loss of control when clear of the hedge on the left side of the RWY 03 grass.
Any further info required, let me know. I have photos of the wreck being dismantled by Keith Wright of the Glider Club.
And for interest I returned to Ardmore in C150 CHM after several hours of Whites Aviation photography and landing on RWY 31, the grass in front of the Control Tower, the duty Tower Controller, Howard Monk, told me on tower frequency just before I landed "the Tiger's in the College". In those days the Controllers knew everyones connections!
And the police car is an EH Holden.
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