Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 30, 2024 21:16:42 GMT 12
Just how many Bleriot replicas have been built in NZ?
I am aware of:
Have there been any others that are known about that might be under the radar?
Because while writing an article for the next issue of Sport Flying on the incredible story of a homemade Curtiss Triad replica built here in Cambridge in 1976 by Chris Henry and Warwick Vaile and flown by them both many times through the summer of 1977 (they were not trained pilots! You'll need to grab a copy when it comes out to find out more about this great story!), I have also discovered that Chris was building a Bleriot too. The following photos show it while under construction. Chris is dead now, and Warwick moved to Aussie shortly after the photos were taken so he has no idea what happened to it, or to his own partially built microlight that you also see hanging up her. So we have no idea where either the Bleriot ended up or if he finished it. Warwick says he was planning to add a 650cc engine from his race bike to it, and it was planned to have wing warping. This is all I know. The photos probably date from 1977-ish too. That is Chris in the photos, while he was carving out the six-foot prop. Warwick, Chris's daughter Talia, and myself would all love to know more about where this project went.
I am aware of:
- The Air Force Museum of New Zealand's replica Bleriot XI "BRITANNIA" built by Dave Comrie and Colin Hay in Dunedin, which has been at Wigram since 1987.
- The flying Bleriot XI replica built by Gert van Kruiningen, now owned by a syndicate at Omaka
- The taxiing Bleriot XI replica that breaks in half for fun at Omaka, which was built there in the 1960s/70s
- A partially-built example that is/was at Pioneer Aero in 2013, and it was suggested it may have been built by Bob Keith at Ardmore before Pioneer bought it
- The replica Vickers 22 (Bleriot Type) from the film Those magnificent Men And Their Flying Machines, at the Southward Car Museum
Have there been any others that are known about that might be under the radar?
Because while writing an article for the next issue of Sport Flying on the incredible story of a homemade Curtiss Triad replica built here in Cambridge in 1976 by Chris Henry and Warwick Vaile and flown by them both many times through the summer of 1977 (they were not trained pilots! You'll need to grab a copy when it comes out to find out more about this great story!), I have also discovered that Chris was building a Bleriot too. The following photos show it while under construction. Chris is dead now, and Warwick moved to Aussie shortly after the photos were taken so he has no idea what happened to it, or to his own partially built microlight that you also see hanging up her. So we have no idea where either the Bleriot ended up or if he finished it. Warwick says he was planning to add a 650cc engine from his race bike to it, and it was planned to have wing warping. This is all I know. The photos probably date from 1977-ish too. That is Chris in the photos, while he was carving out the six-foot prop. Warwick, Chris's daughter Talia, and myself would all love to know more about where this project went.
