94 FLYPAST December 2018
MUSEUMS MOTAT NEW ZEALAND
Cliff Tait – the 115hp trainer flying
40 legs over 79 days, completing
the 30,500nm (56,490km) trip in
284 hours.
Another gem in the collection is
Grumman TBF-1C Avenger NZ2527,
the only one of the RNZAF’s original
48-strong fleet to end up on the
civil register. Sold to Bennett
Aviation in May 1959 and later to
Barr Brothers for use as an aerial
spray platform, the torpedo bomber
instead found its way to Kuirau
Park, Rotorua, where it was used
Aircraft on displayAdams Ornithopter ZK-MPF
Aermacchi MB-339 NZ6466
AESL CT-4A Airtrainer ZK-CXU
Auster J/1B Aiglet ZK-BWH Ex NZ1708
Avro Lancaster B.VII NX665 Painted as NE181 ‘JN-M’
Beech AT-11 Kansan ZK-AHO
Cessna AGwagon ZK-COO
CAC CA-28 Ceres ZK-BPU
Curtiss P-40E-1 Kittyhawk NZ3039 Composite airframe
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth NZ775 Composite airframe
De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth ZK-ANN Composite airframe
De Havilland DH.83C Fox Moth ZK-APT
De Havilland DH.89A ZK-AHS
De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito T.43 NZ2305
De Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB.9 WR202
De Havilland DH.104 Devon NZ1813 Returned to Ohakea,
Aug 2018
Douglas C-47 Dakota ZK-BQK
Everson Brothers Gyrocopter
Fairey Swordfi sh Replica
Flaglor Scooter ZK-EYL
Fletcher FU 24 ZK-CTZ
Gere Sports Biplane
Grumman TBF-1C Avenger NZ2527
Grunau Baby ZK-GDG
Handley Page HP 95 Hastings C.3 NZ5801 Nose only
Hawker Hind K6717 NZ1518
Hawker Hurricane P3854 Replica
Lockheed Model 10E Electra ZK-BUT Painted as ZK-AFD
Lockheed Hudson GR.III NZ2031
Lockheed 18 Lodestar ZK-BVE
Lockheed RB-34-VE Lexington Mk.2 NZ4600
McDonnell Douglas A-4K Skyhawk NZ6206
Mignet HM-14 ‘Flying Flea’ ZM-AAA
Miles M14A Magister ZK-AYW
Miles M65 Gemini Mk.1a ZK-ANT
North American AT-6 Harvard II NZ944
Ryan PT-21 ZK-BEM
Short S25 Sunderland MR.V NZ4115 ‘Q’
Short S45A Solent Mk.4 ZK-AMO
Transavia PL-12 Airtruk ZK-CVB
Transavia PL-11 Airtruk ZK-DMX
Tui Sports ZK-ADVThe museum also houses a variety of
interactive displays including themed
enclosures, airfi eld dioramas and this
recreation of a World War Two Bomber
Command operations room.The collection’s Grumman TBF-1C Avenger,
NZ2527, was originally sold off as an aerial
crop-spraying platform before fi nding its way
into a playground in Kuirau Park, Rotorua.
It’s now one of the Auckland attraction’s most
popular exhibits.
“Another gem in the collection is
Grumman TBF-1C Avenger NZ2527,
the only one of the RNZAF’s original
48-strong fl eet to end up on the
civil register.”