Omaka's Bristol Freighter

[Dave Homewood]

Is anyone planning to go to the Open Day at Omaka on the 22nd, next weekend? The Bristol has been spruced up to mark 25 years of being retired.

Is there going to be any flying at the airfield on the day?

I'd love to see some photos on the forum if anyone makes it along. Cheers.

[xr6turbo1]

I will be there, I live in Blemheim and will be at the event
I didnt get to the working B on the Bristl due to illness but I have seen it since and it looks great.

As for what aircraft are there I am not so sure at this stage but will know in the next few days. I will put some pictures here

[phil82]

Aaaahhhhhh! Sweet nostalgia. In the days when Canberras used to go away to Singapore for a few weeks, a trusty Freighter would be loaded at Ohakea with a spare Avon and what have you, and despatched to Tengah the week before because it took THREE DAYS for it to get there! I once spent the best part of a day in one,without landing, having boarded at Wellington and being thwarted by bad weather at Woodbourne,Wigram, Ohakea then back to Wellington where the weather was much the same as when we left! I recall once a USAF C97 Globemaster en route to NZ got lost due to a compass failure and sent out a Mayday. The result was a Freighter despatched from Whenuapai which found the wayward Globemaster, but not without some confusion by the Americans as to identifying the type. "A" Bristol Fighter???". Then there was the famous approach to Bien Hoa airport at Saigon during the Vietnam days when a controller advised a Freighter to confirm "Gear down and locked" and replied "down and welded". Did you know they once started a recalitrant engine by means of winding a rope around the hub, mower style? They were noisy,[ you could neither hear nor think for about half-an-hour after landing] cold, uncomfortable, ugly, but lovable. I read somewhere very recently that a group in the UK is to rescue one from from Canada and fly it back to the UK for preservation. It may well be ex-RNZAF because some of them ended up in Canada. Isn't that one at Omaka formerly Pakistan Air Force? The Freighter was almost, but not quite, unique in that both the airframe and engines were made by the same manufacturer!

There you go, more useless information!

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Gavin, I look forward to the photos.

And thanks for the memories Colin, great stuff there. As a younger generation, I know so little about the type. I recall one used to sit at Woodbourne, the last Safe Air example, sitting redundant, in 1989 when I was based there. I believe it may have been this one now at Omaka. From memory there was also a fuselage over the back of the fireld, used by firecrews.

The one in Canada that's rumoured to be going to the UK is indeed ex-RNZAF, and I think also ex-SAFE Air.

[corsair67]

Ah, the mighty Bristol Frightener: I used to love watching them come into Christchurch before SAFE retired them from service.

I recall reading somewhere that during Vietnam a USAF serviceman was interested in seeing a B-170 because he thought that if the B-52 was very impressive then a B-170 must be even more so!

[xr6turbo1]

admin said:

Thanks Gavin, I look forward to the photos.

And thanks for the memories Colin, great stuff there. As a younger generation, I know so little about the type. I recall one used to sit at Woodbourne, the last Safe Air example, sitting redundant, in 1989 when I was based there. I believe it may have been this one now at Omaka. From memory there was also a fuselage over the back of the fireld, used by firecrews.

The one in Canada that's rumoured to be going to the UK is indeed ex-RNZAF, and I think also ex-SAFE Air.

Im pretty sure the last Bristol left at Woodbourne is the one that flew to Canada a few months later as it needed a bit of work done before it could fly there.
For your interest there is another Bristol Freighter on display at Founders Park in Nelson.

[Dave Homewood]

Ah yes, I think you're right about that Woody Freighter.

The one at nelson is in great condition too. Unlike the derelict wreck at Ardmore, which is very sad.

[Peter Lewis]

The Omaka B170 - ZK-CPT - spent 13 years in Spain from new, and then came to NZ in 1966.
The Founders Park, Nelson, example - ZK-CLU - is ex Pakistani Air Force, as were 8 others that came to NZ (though a couple of these ex-PAF machines did not operate here, and were used as spares). Apparently the PAF B170 pilot conversion course was quite comprehensive, and Bristol were a little surprised to receive a request from them about the correct spin recovery technique for the Freighter as the Pakistanis had lost a couple of their machines trying to work it out for themselves!

There were quite a few B170 operated in civil markings in NZ, 27 such aircraft in all (three of these were registered under two different markings during their lives).
As well as the aircraft at Omaka and Nelson, others still exist:
ZK-EPA fuselage/wings at Awhitu, Manukau Heads
ZK-EPC motel at Waitomo Caves (I stayed a night in it about a year ago)
ZK-EPG derelict at Ardmore
ZK-CRK cockpit section on display at Ferrymead Museum, Christchurch

Of the four that went to Canada,
ZK-EPH/C-FDFC crashed on t/off Enstone, UK, 18Jul96
ZK-CLT/C-FTPA U/c failed on landing Bronson Creek, BC, 24Apr97
ZK-EPF/C-GYQY DBR in groundloop on landing at Bronson Creek, BC, 21Jun88.
ZK-EPD/C-GYQS (this was ex NZ5907) was WFU.
So if any were going to fly again, it would presumably be that last one. However, I did hear that the reason for the withdrawal was that the last of the propellor sets had run out of hours, and that no replacements were available worldwide. Maybe this problem has been solved?

Liked the story about the B52 and the B170.
My contibution is the story about a British aviation 'expert' who happened to visit Wellington one fine day in the 60s. Towards the end of the day, he happened to enquire from a local about the Bristol that had spent the entire day doing circuits around the airport. He was staggered to be told that it was not just one Freighter circuiting, but a continual stream of such aircraft arriving and departing, such was the frequency of the Cook Strait service.

[Dave Homewood]

Another survivor in NZ is of course the one at Wigram, which still has a hole in the cockpit where a bullet passed through while serving in Vietnam.

And there are two cockpits at Ferrymead. One forms a doorway entrance.

I did not know about the one at Manakau Heads. I recall the days when there were two stored side by side at Ardmore, and i think the one at Waitomo was the second one (am I right).

There's a memorial at Harewood to one that crashed there. Corsair67 posted a photo of the plaque in the memorials thread.

The other classic story is when the first RNZAF example arrived in Vietnam a US officer was heard to remark "Is that the plane of the box it came in?"

[Radialicious]

Pakistan was one of the largest operators of the B170 and it is rumoured that they wrote to Bristol in the early days for advice as they were unhappy about its spin recovery characteristics.....

[Peter Lewis]

I was only listing & discussing the civil aircraft,
The Wigram museum Bristol NZ5903, apart from test flying in the UK before delivery, has no NZ civil history.
I have personally inspected the Awhitu example, which is stacked beside a house in an orchard. It did go there from Ardmore.
I'd certainly be interested to know the ID of the second cockpit at Ferrymead, if anyone can help with that.

[xr6turbo1]

Here is a photo from the Bristols 20th anniverary.

[Dave Homewood]

Great photos Gavin. Wow that Bristol is looking magnificent after its recent tidy up. It's good to see an outdoors-stored aircraft so well looked after.

[xr6turbo1]

Yes its a great example of a classic, is well looked after by a group of people who are very fond of it.
I was there at the ripe old age of 13 when it touched down. Was a good day to see it arrive but not so good being the last flight.

[Dave Homewood]

It had a better last flight than a couple of her sister-ships

[xr6turbo1]

Thats true

[Bruce]

I notice that the engine controls (Throttle, Mixture and Props) are colour coded left and right! that is a unusual practice, Ive never seen that done before...... Was this a Safe Air thing? (Just love this sort of trivia.... - in case you hadnt noticed...)

[yak2]

The B170 story reminds me of the newly qualified pilot chatting up a blonde at the airport. 'What do you fly?" she asks as a Hercules taxi's past. Quick as a flash, the young guy says 'That's a C130, I fly a C152'!

[corsair67]

I notice that the engine controls (Throttle, Mixture and Props) are colour coded left and right! that is a unusual practice, Ive never seen that done before...... Was this a Safe Air thing? (Just love this sort of trivia.... - in case you hadnt noticed...)

Bruce, I think the Bristol Freighter at Wigram also has this colour coding of controls, so maybe it was a like that in all Bristol Freighters?

Surely a British company couldn't have been that clever! ;D

[xr6turbo1]

yak2 said:

The B170 story reminds me of the newly qualified pilot chatting up a blonde at the airport. 'What do you fly?" she asks as a Hercules taxi's past. Quick as a flash, the young guy says 'That's a C130, I fly a C152'!

Nice ;D