Post by rossbrodie on Jan 23, 2020 18:30:00 GMT 12
A couple of months ago a friend up in Auckland sent Dad (Russell Brodie) a message asking if he would be interested in buying a Moth Minor that had just popped up out of the wood work up that way. Being a De Havilland fanatic he couldn't resist the opportunity to get his hands on one of the rarest specimens of the Moth stable. The Moth Minor, ZK-AKL last flew in the late 60's and had been in storage ever since. It was originally an open cockpit version however, post-war it was converted with a De Havilland supplied kit to become the coupé version. Contact was made with the owner, an offer was made and accepted, so with that we set about planning a trip to Auckland to go and pick her up.
We arrived in Auckland via Air New Zealand on the 8th of January to see what we'd got and arranged for a container to arrive on the 10th. We were told it was in the roof so allowed plenty of time to clear space and get it down.
When we arrived we found the Main wheels were on barrels and the tail tied to the roof with the wings sitting on the wing stubs beside the fuselage. The surfaces were all stacked in the roof however, they wouldn't be too difficult to shift because they were light.
After accessing that it wouldn't be too big a job to get it down off the barrels we employed the help of fellow old aeroplane enthusiasts and aircraft engineers Dylan Stace and Ryan Daum that evening after work to lend a bit of extra muscle. After about an hour or so we had the aeroplane back on the floor and stacked back in the shed until the container arrived in two days. Then down to the local pub for a beer or two.
Because we now had a free day before the container arrived we thought we'd head up to North Shore to see Stan Smith and his flying Moth Minor ZK-AKM for some inspiration.
The next morning the container arrived and we set to loading everything in.
The wings, cowlings and surfcaes unloaded out of the shed.
The Instrument panel was stored in the house so had been preserved in very good condition.
Fin and Rudder.
Fuselage out of the shed and ready to roll into the container. Dad and David (the previous owner) standing in front.
Ryan arrived to help us with the packing and securing of the precious cargo, after a few short hours we had it all packed in.
The container being picked up to begin its journey south.
A week later the container arrived at Rangitata Island and we opened up the container to see if our packing had done the trick. Luckily the strops all held and nothing shifted.
Because we were on a mission to get her stacked in the container when we were up in Auckland we decided it would be a good idea to unpack enough that we could get into the cockpit and do some pretend flying.
We intend to eventually get her back to flying condition, there are a couple of other projects higher up the priority list so it will be a while before we make a start on it but at least she is secured and can be preserved in the meantime.
We arrived in Auckland via Air New Zealand on the 8th of January to see what we'd got and arranged for a container to arrive on the 10th. We were told it was in the roof so allowed plenty of time to clear space and get it down.
When we arrived we found the Main wheels were on barrels and the tail tied to the roof with the wings sitting on the wing stubs beside the fuselage. The surfaces were all stacked in the roof however, they wouldn't be too difficult to shift because they were light.
After accessing that it wouldn't be too big a job to get it down off the barrels we employed the help of fellow old aeroplane enthusiasts and aircraft engineers Dylan Stace and Ryan Daum that evening after work to lend a bit of extra muscle. After about an hour or so we had the aeroplane back on the floor and stacked back in the shed until the container arrived in two days. Then down to the local pub for a beer or two.
Because we now had a free day before the container arrived we thought we'd head up to North Shore to see Stan Smith and his flying Moth Minor ZK-AKM for some inspiration.
The next morning the container arrived and we set to loading everything in.
The wings, cowlings and surfcaes unloaded out of the shed.
The Instrument panel was stored in the house so had been preserved in very good condition.
Fin and Rudder.
Fuselage out of the shed and ready to roll into the container. Dad and David (the previous owner) standing in front.
Ryan arrived to help us with the packing and securing of the precious cargo, after a few short hours we had it all packed in.
The container being picked up to begin its journey south.
A week later the container arrived at Rangitata Island and we opened up the container to see if our packing had done the trick. Luckily the strops all held and nothing shifted.
Because we were on a mission to get her stacked in the container when we were up in Auckland we decided it would be a good idea to unpack enough that we could get into the cockpit and do some pretend flying.
We intend to eventually get her back to flying condition, there are a couple of other projects higher up the priority list so it will be a while before we make a start on it but at least she is secured and can be preserved in the meantime.
