Who's going to Ardmore 28/29th Sept.

[27/09]

It should be a good day out. I'm planning on going, who else on here is planning to go?

As well as the first and only public display of Mosquito KA114 I read some where that the Anson will be there as well. What other aircraft of this vintage can we expect to see on the day?

[mattyj]

Good post 27/09 :D
Apparently the Anson has gone U/S in Ohakea..sorry to disappoint..

[27/09]

Any news on whats wrong with the Anson? Anything minor that might allows it the be fixed in time?

[flyinkiwi]

I'll be there, not sure if you can call a 172M vintage but that's what I'm bringing. :E

[mattyj]

Just driving through drury right now (and typing) and she's up!!! Circling AR with wheels down

[Aerozepplin]

Fantastic! I hope the weather plays nice for everyone this weekend.

Nothing firm but so far the news I've heard about the Anson suggest it shouldn't stop it making the rest of the trip.

[mattyj]

Happy birthday 27/09 by the way!?

[Bravohotel]

Good timing I'am out of PNG today on my way home to Auckland and looking foward for this weekends event at Ardmore

[Viliamu]

Hello all,

Just relocated to NZ, currently an FAA ATP that just lost my gig in Malaysia. I'm planning on coming out to Ardmore to see the Mosquito and meet some people, so let me know if you're interested in chatting. Would be nice to get to know folks down here!

Thanks

V

[mattyj]

Not convinced about relocating it to NZAA..it was straight down the runway at AR and a steady 10-15kt. I doubt it was that nice over at Auckland Intl..but great work everyone!!

[NZFlyingKiwi]

I'll be there, technically working but I suspect I'll be spending most of the day on the aero club deck watching the air displays! :ok:

[27/09]

Just driving through drury right now (and typing) and she's up!!! Circling AR with wheels down

Hopefully some footage will appear shortly on You Tube.

Oh it's not my birthday, I'm getting old fast enough without having two per year. Thanks for the nice words though.

[27/09]

Hmmm, was going to post some pics I just received of the Mossie at Mangere today but for some reason I cannot upload them to PPrune.

If anyone can help let me know. Perhaps I'm missing something obvious.

[Aerozepplin]

The Mosquito Flys - KA114 first flights - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YEyDlgJYIF8)

Although someone needs to tell the Lear to shut up.

[India Four Two]

27/09,

You cannot upload pictures directly to PPRuNe. The pictures must already be on another website.

This will help you:
http://www.pprune.org/spectators-balcony-spotters-corner/203481-image-posting-pprune-guide.html

I recommend Photobucket for image hosting.

[Weekend_Warrior]

Thanks for that AZ. Can't make Ardmore but will be great to see some more photos / movies posted of events tomorrow.

[NZFlyingKiwi]

It was a great day - the Anson did make it and was very nice to see. The highlight was absolutely the Mosquito, P-51, P-40, Spitfire formation - just amazing!

[27/09]

India Four Two

Thanks for that info. I remember now from times past. It's too much bother right now to upload to another site in order to post on here.

[27/09]

It was a great day out got sunburnt and some good shots, though some are on film that hasn't been developed yet.

Got there early in the day, before the crowd really built up, pleased we got a feed early as there were major queues later at the food stalls and the crowd around the Mossie was at least ten deep making it hard to get any good pics.

The first display on it's own was worth the $25 admission. The sound of those two Merlins was really something. Though you do have to wonder that they weren't really pushing them too hard.

The four ship Spitfire, Mustang, Kittyhawk, Mosquito formation with 5 V12's in unison sounded great. There was a great selection of other DH aircraft, there was a very fine example of the Fox Moth, plenty of Tigers, a Moth Minor, a couple of models I can't recall the model of as I sit here typing away, and of course the Vampire and Venom plus the DHC Chipmunks and the venerable Beaver.

It was interesting to hear some of Jerry Yagens comments about why he's had two aircraft restored here in New Zealand. Also Glynns comments on the wood thats used and the lead times to get it. He paid for one lot two years ago and only received it recently.

It looks like AvSpecs have a few more projects on the go. Also it appears that there will be at least two more Mossies to be built.

One thing that impressed me was that for an aircraft that had flown first the first time only two days before hand and had done only two or three hours, it performed flawlessly during the day doing three sorties with no need for any tinkering in between. Well done to the crew that prepared her.

Where else in the world could we have been treated to such a rare collection of airworthy aircraft?........No where. We were very privileged to see such a display yesterday.

P.S.

I shouldn't forget the beautifully restored Avro Anson, it was a work of art also.

[remoak]

Where else in the world could we have been treated to such a rare collection of airworthy aircraft?........No where.

Errr... Duxford... Old Warden... pretty much any of the 70-odd CAF wings...

[27/09]

Errr... Duxford... Old Warden... pretty much any of the 70-odd CAF wings...

How many of theses places have a flying Mosquito? None, so I don't see your point as I was talking about airworthy aircraft not static aircraft.

[Aerozepplin]

The CAF can put on some breath-taking and unique displays. A B-29 in formation with two B-17s and 5 B-25s for example (followed by a Wildcat sounding and looking like it’s about to fall out of the sky).

However, there can’t have been many better gatherings of de Havilland aircraft in living memory than at Ardmore this weekend.

[flyinkiwi]

All I want to say is the day was bloody brilliant! A highlight of the year.

[remoak]

How many of theses places have a flying Mosquito? None, so I don't see your point as I was talking about airworthy aircraft not static aircraft.

There are heaps of airworthy aircraft at the locations I mentioned, not a Mosquito but many others that are equally unique, many single flying examples such as the B29 mentioned above. The CAF has about 150 aircraft, with around 100 airworthy at any one time - hardly a static collection. The Shuttleworth Collection has some unique airworthy aircraft, such as the Bleriot, as does the IWM at Duxford. Then there is the BoBMF's Lancaster... the list goes on.

The point is that there are plenty of places elsewhere in the world that have equally rare collections of airworthy aircraft...

[flyinkiwi]

How many of theses places have a flying Mosquito? None, so I don't see your point as I was talking about airworthy aircraft not static aircraft.

We got a two for one deal with the Anson as well. Lest we forget it is the only airworthy example of type in the world. It was as immaculately presented as the Mossie.

[prospector]

The point is that there are plenty of places elsewhere in the world that have equally rare collections of airworthy aircraft...

I would suggest in the interests of accuracy, which would appear to be your point, your statement should read "That have collections of equally rare airworthy aircraft."

As you say yourself the collections themselves are not rare.

[frangatang]

Wonder what will happen with all the jigs. Bet the poms couldnt make one, or should l say the Campaign Against Aviation (CAA) +EASA would prevent it with stiffling regulation.

[flyinkiwi]

Wonder what will happen with all the jigs. Bet the poms couldnt make one, or should l say the Campaign Against Aviation (CAA) +EASA would prevent it with stiffling regulation.

Those jigs are not going anywhere soon, as 27/09 said earlier, there are other Mossie projects to work on.

[Engineer_aus]

There is another 3 airworthy projects in the pipeline. The boys at Avspecs said the next one will take them 3 years to make now they know all the tricks, have the molds for everything etc

[Sqwark2000]

Engineer_Aus,

Glyn's machine is next cab off the rank and it is well advanced in construction. I saw it in his Drury workshop in April 12 and the fuse was complete and wings were complete and mated to fuse. He said at the Mosquito dinner it'll take another 3 yrs to finish.

Not sure how long to produce another Mosquito from scratch with the jigs & moulds all available now but guess it'll depend on cashflow and manpower avail.

[Engineer_aus]

I was aware of Glyn's being well advanced. They said the next one is for a guy in Seattle, then Glyns.

[Wingnuts]

Here is the story behind the Mosquito’s first flight and visit to our hangars last month, plus a few more pictures of this lovely, brand-spanking-new, old aeroplane!

Tech Ops' Auckland base saw a world first, welcoming the world’s only flying Mosquito on its maiden flight from Ardmore aerodrome. Most of Tech Ops Auckland personnel popped out to see the Mosquito land, escorted in by a Trojan and taxi onto the Tech Ops hardstand for a quick checkover.

The pilot, Cathay pilot David Phillips, is one of New Zealand’s most experienced pilots in vintage and classic aircraft. He owns and flies his own Hawker Hunter jet. He said the Mosquito was quite unlike anything he’s flown before.

“Kind of heavy and light and the same time. It’s hard to describe. The controls are light; it’s responsive but you are conscious of the inertia. You can feel the rudder is a long way back. It flies like a very well designed, 15,000lb twin-engined strike aircraft.”

He says he wasn’t really nervous, just concentrating hard, “conscious of what you would be remembered for if anything went wrong.”

“It was lovely. They did a fantastic job of building it.”

His observer on this historic first flight was Warren Denholm who runs Avspecs, the Ardmore-based restoration company that has been rebuilding the aircraft since its American owner since 2005.

He was also concentrating hard on the gauges. “It’s my first time in a Mosquito; it’s the pilot’s first flight in a Mosquito, it’s the first time the plane has flown; it’s the first time anyone has flown a Mosquito anywhere in the world for decades so you don’t have much time to smell the roses. But when you finally stop gritting your teeth and look out the window over South Auckland and realise no-one else can do this, in the only flying Mosquito anywhere in the world, life is pretty good.”

They picked a couple of items they wanted their engineers to look at before the flight back but Warren was well satisfied with the first flight. “It went very, very well.”

KA 114 was built in Canada and saw brief service in 1945 before going into reserve storage. It was sold to a farmer and it lay in a field for 30 years before it was moved to the Canadian Museum of Flight awaiting a proper restoration. Jerry Yagen of the Fighter Factory Collection in Virginia bought it and sent it to Warren’s team to restore. What makes the Mosquito so special and so rare is its wooden balsa-core sandwich construction. It was the world’s first composite construction aircraft. Like almost every other Mosquito, KA114’s body had rotted – it broke in two when being rescued from a farmer’s field. So this and several other Mosquito projects around the world owe their existence to Kiwi Glyn Powell and his Mosquito Aircraft Restoration team who undertook the task of building the two 11m moulds needed to lay up the new fuselage halves, with the precision needed to get the bulkheads and pick-up points in exactly the right place. They also built the 16.5m wing.

The first Mosquito was delivered in 1941 and was used in many different roles, as a low-level daytime bomber, as a reconnaissance aircraft, as a bomber escort and was particularly successful as a U-boat hunter.

BB

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr223/Wingnutsbucket/Untitled-1.jpg
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr223/Wingnutsbucket/cid_A2C8DBBB13824D358A74AB625ABA1CCE.jpg
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr223/Wingnutsbucket/cid_D7413FCFFE544E91B5137B0F15B0BE31.jpg

[Volumex]

This is a tremendous result for the hard work of many people over a long period of time. Congratulations to all involved. :D:D

A question for those who know about these things.
When was the last time a FB Mosquito flew?
When was the last time a Canadian built Mosquito flew?

RR299 was a T-III and the 633 Squadron movie did not use any FB variants.

[Oakape]

KA 114 was out flying again today. It did two sorties out to the training area & back this afternoon. It was a real pleasure to watch it fly. :D

It was a busy day for warbirds at Ardmore with two Harvards, a Spitfire, a CT4 & the Strikemaster all flying as well, with some in the circuit for a while.

[Wingnuts]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxi9qPtw2I4&feature=player_detailpage

AIR DISPLAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GBSVyrT3XQ&feature=player_detailpage

ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwK8_6rVlws&feature=player_detailpage

[27/09]

Let's hope there's going to be a more complete video on the rebuild. There's some fantastic workmanship involved and it would be great to see much more detail.

[OZBUSDRIVER]

Now, that was something special!

After seeing this and seeing what the RAAF Museum has got with a pretty solid fuse and all the essential metalwork. Only a dream but.... A lottery in aide of buying a new wing to get the RAAF Mossie flying again....

[scroogee]

A chat to a man who worked the RAAF Mosquito produced the information that as it was the last one of that model and had actual combat history it had been deemed too historically valuable to fly. The restoration is to an airworthy standard but it will remain on static display.

From the RAAF Museum website: 'The restoration of the RAAF Museum's de Havilland Mosquito PR Mk XVI, A52-600, is now underway. The aircraft is the only surviving RAAF-operated Mosquito with a wartime operational history, and the only PR Mk XVI left anywhere in the world.'

[scroogee]

Apparently there is a DVD in production which should be available in about 6 months (maybe 5 now as I heard that a month ago).

[OZBUSDRIVER]

Appreciate that particular view, Scroogee. Still, there are plenty of examples of the last of the breed, airworthy, and still flying:ok:

Should add...with combat history...

On the NZ restoration, it shows that it is still possible to resurrect the jigs required to complete a full construction of a "new" old aeroplane. All those bits and pieces of Mossies hidden in farm sheds all over the place have a new value to someone with enough funds.

[Volumex]

A52-600 had its fuselage cut with a chainsaw just in front of the fin. That would have required a serious repair to regain the original strength back.
However when CASA inspected it in ~1983 they said that it could only fly if all the wood was replaced.