Originally Posted by Savoia
Silvercraft SH-4 ZS-HDR taken at Grand Central Airport, South Africa, on 31st August 1973 (Photo: Steve Aubury)
Steve Aubury has kindly contributed the above photograph and asked me to do a little write-up on it and which of course I am pleased to do.
Quite how Steve's specific Silvercraft (cn. 20) got to South Africa I don't actually know. What I can say is that according to Italian records, cn. 20 was sold in 1972 to Slot Aviation of South Africa. As Steve informed me in his mail, this craft crashed on 27th June 1974 and the record states that she was at that time owned by Astra Helicopters with the accident occurring at a place called 'Marble Hall' in the Transvaal. Beyond that I don't have much more .. so those with any further awareness of ZS-HDR and her history are welcome to supplement this meagre offering.
I happened to come across another photo of ZS-HDR taken at the Aviation Africa Airshow held in October 1977 at Lanseria Airport:
Originally Posted by Gabriel le Roux - Aviation Pics
To see the photograph, click
here and scroll down.
ZS-HDR is a Silvercraft SH-4 and is seen in the main static area as part of the STOL Aviation display on 6 or 7 October. The machine has the construction number 020 and was registered in May 1972. It apparently crashed on 27 June 1974; therefore it has been rebuilt since then. The helicopter in the background is Alouette III ZS-HBL.
According to the list of aircraft that participated at the airshow, ZS-HDR also performed a flying display on the 7th of October 1977 (see
here).