A delayed report on my trip to land of Kiwi- Beautiful country, very hilly, very green & friendly people.
A big shout of thanks out to Ryan (DragonflyDH90). On short notice he was able to get me up in a Stearman for a fun flight, and then I took much of his time with hangar tours & questions. He is based at a club owned grass aerodrome in Blenheim on the North end of the South Island. The Stearman flight was through Omaka Aviation Heritage Center (Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre) which Ryan flies for and has a great museum. The repair station there is the goto place in NZ for any Eastern bloc airplane service: there were a bunch of Yaks/CJs in for repair, rebuild, modification. In addition there was a beautiful Waco a Fairchild 24, a couple of P-40 carcasses, some WWI replicas, In addition to the Stearman the museum has available a Yak 3 (ride only, 2nd controls) and a museum quality Avro bomber. The workmanship on all the aircraft I saw there was truly impressive. Poking in the other hangars I spied a Bristol BF2 replica, Pitts 12, Glastar and a number of other fun planes.
The museum was very impressive in that most all of the planes were staged in authentic looking settings with lifelike mannequins, thanks to the involvement of film industry ties. Many of the planes are not just static, they do fly them for special events.
On the way out of the aerodrome I happened on a company that machines (crafts) replica Gnome rotary engines.
I stopped in several other aerodromes & airports but due to timing and /or weather most were buttoned up.
A big shout of thanks out to Ryan (DragonflyDH90). On short notice he was able to get me up in a Stearman for a fun flight, and then I took much of his time with hangar tours & questions. He is based at a club owned grass aerodrome in Blenheim on the North end of the South Island. The Stearman flight was through Omaka Aviation Heritage Center (Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre) which Ryan flies for and has a great museum. The repair station there is the goto place in NZ for any Eastern bloc airplane service: there were a bunch of Yaks/CJs in for repair, rebuild, modification. In addition there was a beautiful Waco a Fairchild 24, a couple of P-40 carcasses, some WWI replicas, In addition to the Stearman the museum has available a Yak 3 (ride only, 2nd controls) and a museum quality Avro bomber. The workmanship on all the aircraft I saw there was truly impressive. Poking in the other hangars I spied a Bristol BF2 replica, Pitts 12, Glastar and a number of other fun planes.
The museum was very impressive in that most all of the planes were staged in authentic looking settings with lifelike mannequins, thanks to the involvement of film industry ties. Many of the planes are not just static, they do fly them for special events.
On the way out of the aerodrome I happened on a company that machines (crafts) replica Gnome rotary engines.
I stopped in several other aerodromes & airports but due to timing and /or weather most were buttoned up.
