100 Years of Aviation in Nelson

[nuuumannn]

To round this off I thought I'd post a few pics of the Dragon leaving NSN last week.

Photographing the interior after saying goodbye to the old fella up the front.


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A canny man with a canny plan...

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I had to explain the wing folding mechanism to someone in print so I thought I'd get a snap of the relevant details.

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John getting some last-minute shots before boarding the aircraft.

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Scotty demonstrates the Armstrong Method of starting the engines.

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Departure imminent.

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John putting his headset on and Scotty talking to Stan up the front in the "Telling Bone".

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I was later told that they made good time back to Dairy Flat, arriving at Kapiti an hour after departing NSN. I suspect that's the last time that the old boy will make the trip in the Dragon to Nelson, I can't see him doing it again in a hurry. I hope that wasn't the last departure of the Taniwha from NSN.

[ZacYates]

Lovely shots of a lovely machine Grant, thank you so much for sharing them.

[nuuumannn]

Thanks Zac. Just writing about the demise of Hangar 3 at Nelson right now and 'AXI has a long history at NSN, being a regular in the Nelson Aero Club for years, being stored in the former Cook Strait Airways Hangar (next to Hangar 3)
that the aero club parked its aeroplanes in. Arthur Bradshaw, another Nelson regular restored it and flew it for awhile. I've suggested John write an account of the flight there and back, which is likely to have been the last time the aircraft came to NSN, although I do hope not.

It's worth mentioning that by coincidence, when Stan restored the aircraft, he chose the shades of blue, they represent Oxford (dark) and Cambridge (light), they are the exact same colours applied to Cook Strait Airways' Rapides; blue is the colour of the City of Nelson.