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Post by Antonio on Sept 20, 2023 22:29:05 GMT 12
Another of my interests is NZ Railways and one of the magazines I subscribe to is The Linesider. With the AFM’s permission I have forwarded a collection of photos showing Harvard hulks in railway wagons to the magazine and Darryl, the editor, has asked me to scribe a few words to go with the photos.  My understanding is that following WW.II, the Mk.II Harvards were surplus to requirements but were retained in storage as a strategic reserve until declared surplus and subsequently sold.  The Harvards pictured were all sold to Bennett Aviation of Te Kuiti (some along with their engines) in 1958/59 and were photographed at the Lyttleton rail yards in 1959. These were later observed at a scrap yard at Bexley up to about 1962 when they were all melted down. Questions: Would these have been loaded onto wagons at Hornby? Was the intention to ship these to the North Island? How long did they stay in the wagons? Was cost a factor in them staying in the South Island Who owned the Bexley scrap yard. Any help would be appreciated in the interests of accuracy |
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Post by Mustang51 on Sept 21, 2023 10:01:01 GMT 12
Very nice pics there....wish I could help
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 21, 2023 10:07:27 GMT 12
Who owned the Bexley scrap yard. "The large billy goat which caused an upset in Ferry road on July 14, was purchased yesterday by Mr Ben Cunningham, of a scrap metal firm, and will be used as a “watchman” in the firm’s yard at Bexley." From paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19590716.2.153 |
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Post by tbf2504 on Sept 21, 2023 10:15:58 GMT 12
The bulk of the surplus Harvards were sold by tender to Bennett Aviation (Te Kuiti) and were shipped from storage largely from Weedons and Wigram (six Hangar) in 1958. They were loaded onto railway wagons either at Weedons or Hornby for on shipment to the North Island. Tender 7078, acceptance of tender No.6953.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 21, 2023 10:50:01 GMT 12
When Bennetts Aviation bought those 63 ex-Air Force Harvards in 1959 they paid just £16,000. The is $870,945 in today's money.
That is £254 each. Today that would be $13,826.26 per aircraft.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 21, 2023 15:03:00 GMT 12
I assume you have seen this from NZ Wings, April 1995?  |
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Post by Mustang51 on Sept 21, 2023 15:35:55 GMT 12
That last one just makes me weep
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Post by Antonio on Sept 21, 2023 19:41:42 GMT 12
Hey guys, thanks for your replies. Dave, I had seen that photo ages ago but had forgotten about it. Great goat story too  What interests me is the cost of shipping the hulks over Cook Strait then once again railing them to Te Kuiti. No RoRo Aramoana in those days. Maybe it became too expensive and that is how the hulks in the photographs ended up at Bexley - cutting his losses? Only two hulks identifiable in the Wings photo that I can see: NZ923 & NZ945. The natural metal one has an interesting roundel placement. |
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Post by camtech on Sept 21, 2023 19:55:43 GMT 12
Remember that a lot of tail fuselages finished up at Bexley, and not necessarily all off the hulks that went to Te Kuiti.
Somewhere, I have a copy of an AHSNZ Journal article talking about this detail.
I have a list somewhere, based on the AF380, balanced with other sources of the Harvard Tender 7078 sale.
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Post by camtech on Sept 21, 2023 20:08:21 GMT 12
When Bennetts Aviation bought those 63 ex-Air Force Harvards in 1959 they paid just £16,000. The is $870,945 in today's money. That is £254 each. Today that would be $13,826.26 per aircraft. Dave, just went thru the AF380 and the prices paid listed there indicates the cost for the actual aircraft was less than £6,000. Prices ranged from £40 to £200. A couple of instructional frames didn't have a price quoted and there was also the two extra Harvards, NZ913 and 931 that were sold to Mr G C Bennett, as opposed to Bennett Aviation. |
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Post by denysjones on Sept 21, 2023 20:16:06 GMT 12
Correct the scrapyard in Bexley was owned by the Cunningham family and the address was Anthony Road. This was an offshoot of the main road, unsealed, and ran for perhaps a couple of hundred metres or yards (the difference doesn't matter) before doing a right angle turn into the actual scrapyard whose gate was some 4, or perhaps a few more, Harvard centre section panel lengths further off ...that's because the fence to the left of the drive was made of said panels :-) As above it was initially Ben Cunningham who owned it but when I was fossicking it in the 1970's I think I met him once but had dealings with his son Denis. We got aircraft stuff from them and the Ferrymead Tramway also got tram parts. This is the yard where, among other things, the T55 Vampire fuselage pods ended up. There is no rail connection there so if the stuff that ended up there came by rail it would have been off-loaded at either Addington or, more likely, Waltham yards. I do have this shot, courtesy of John Pierre or more specifically his son Robbie, which is clearly at Lyttelton  and this which I can't recall where I came by it but I'd say is possibly Sockburn and may or may not be anything to do with this.  hth |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 21, 2023 20:17:15 GMT 12
That is interesting regarding the prices paid. I got the figure of £16,000 from a newspaper report when I was searching for clues last night. So perhaps the £16,000 is the total cost including loading, rail freight, ferry costs and paying people to disassemble them?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 21, 2023 20:20:51 GMT 12
That cannot be Harvards going to Bennetts in that last shot Denys, because that is NZ1033, which is still at Masterton.
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Post by camtech on Sept 21, 2023 21:09:20 GMT 12
That cannot be Harvards going to Bennetts in that last shot Denys, because that is NZ1033, which is still at Masterton. Harvards being moved by rail was undertaken several times, with aircraft moving from Woodbourne to Wigram and vice versa, |
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Post by camtech on Sept 21, 2023 21:12:35 GMT 12
That is interesting regarding the prices paid. I got the figure of £16,000 from a newspaper report when I was searching for clues last night. So perhaps the £16,000 is the total cost including loading, rail freight, ferry costs and paying people to disassemble them? That's why I went to check the figures I had as it was nowhere near £16,000. I think you are correct in your assumption that it was an all up cost. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 21, 2023 22:25:27 GMT 12
Regarding the amount invested into the Harvards, an article I saw said the initial prototype Airtruck cost £32,000 and he was expecting to sell production aircraft for £12,000 each. So if he'd been successful the outlay would soon be recouped. Sadly they only built two, though.
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