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Post by classicman on Mar 9, 2021 20:54:14 GMT 12
This 1963 Retrolens photo shows Asplin’s garage on the Ohaupo Rd just NW of Hamilton airport. From reading back through the forum it seems they had a Corsair which you can make out beside the main building. The garage is the largest building in the photo and the aircraft is at the bottom of the curved access way leading into the garage forecourt. As a child in the 70s I clearly remember a large fuselage out the front visible from the road. I now know they had a Hudson or two there as well.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 8, 2022 23:40:07 GMT 12
The Marton Aircraft were at Production Engineerings site on the corner of Wellington Street and Station Road. Marton Firm Making Road Signs From Old Aircraft MetalShortly to be seen by the travelling motorists will be a new type of road sign, a sign which Is unbreakable and non-rusting, made from an aluminium alloy taken from old aircraft. These signs are at present being manufactured for the Transport Department by the Marton Production Engineering Company, a firm which, during the war, supplied dozens of ploughs to U.N.N.R.A. and various articles for the defence forces. Because of the shortage of steel in the country, the two main New Zealand suppliers of road signs have been unable to supply the market for some considerable time and the Transport Department has been seeking other avenues. The Marton firm was approached and during the last three weeks some 40 to 50 road classification and "no parking" signs have come off the assembly lines. Samples of the signs, which have received the endorsement of the Transport Department, have already been inspected by the Ministers in Wellington. The signs will be strong enough to withstand the assaults of vandals, and are expected to be an improvement on the steel type. The Marton firm now anticipates entering the manufacturing field of all standardised road signs which are cast in aluminium alloy in raised letters. They are painted with aviation chromate primer and three coats of aviation enamel. Sufficient supplies of aluminium alloy are available to supply- New Zealand's needs for many years to come. WANGANUI CHRONICLE, 2 APRIL 1949
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 30, 2022 1:05:39 GMT 12
The Marton Aircraft were at Production Engineerings site on the corner of Wellington Street and Station Road. Rare aircraft being rebuilt
The only parts known to be left in the world of a Vickers Vildebeest aircraft are being dug up from the grounds of a Marton engineering works for one of the aircraft which is being reconstructed at the Auckland Museum of Transport and Technology. Members of the aviation section of the museum spent much of the weekend reclaiming the parts, which were buried in the grounds of Production Engineering, Ltd, in Marton during World War II. Mr R. Williams, the managing-director of Production Engineering, said that the firm was involved in arms work during the war when the Vildebeest aircraft were scrapped, the Press Association reports. Because of the shortage of aluminium at the time, Mr Williams’s firm bought three large piles of parts and scrap metal from the Vildebeests and other aircraft. Some of the parts were melted down, some were sold to farmers and local businessmen, and the rest were used as fill in the factory’s yard and covered with spoil. Almost all the parts necessary to reconstruct a complete Vildebeest aircraft have been recovered by the museum, which hopes to build the only airworthy Vildebeest in the world. The only part still missing is the self-starter, but three of these were sold to farmers in the district when the parts were acquired by Production Engineering, and Mr Williams thinks it is likely that even this part will eventually be recovered. The photograph above shows Mr D. Robinson working on the new heatshield on the Vildebeests aircraft at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland yesterday. Below is one of the aircraft in its hey-day in 1938. PRESS, 11 MAY 1972
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Post by planewriting on Jul 30, 2022 12:05:07 GMT 12
This is not so much about a scrapyard but an unidentified Harvard section that has "escaped" from one and eventually been presented by Hamish Affleck to Classic Flyers. In an email reply to Hamish and included Camtech and David Duxbury on Thursday I typed the following: "What do we know: It was a Mark II with yellow wartime paint. It bears a number on the port side of the fuselage by the rear seat position. Based on ADF serials www.adf-serials.com.au/nz-serials/nzharvard.htm : From an analysis of those Harvards which went to Te Kuiti but did not go elsewhere, predominantly the smelters at Bexley in Christchurch, I have identified the following 27: NZ903, 906, 908, 910, 912, 922, 924, 935, 937, 938, 945, 947, 953, 956, 960, 963, 965, 966, 974, 978, 981, 983, 984, 985, 986, 992, 996. Some of these are discernable in the photo. Your (Hamish) suggested NZ937 is a real possibility. Hamish, from who did you obtain this frame and approximately when? Do any of the others still exist? David, I have included you in this email with your sound knowledge of Government tenders. Can you make sense of the numbers on the fuselage? Does it tie up with anything on GSB 416/58 or Bennett Aviations tender 7078? Do you know of any "escapees" from Te Kuiti? I know that NZ918 is at Pahiatua, NZ919 was broken up at Te Kuiti as per ADF serials and NZ948 escaped from Bexley. Do you know of any other hiding places, particularly around Auckland? Greg Ryan comes to mind". Can any one provide more details?
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