Jean Batten's Percival Gull 6
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Jean Batten's Percival Gull 6
My flight to Auckland arrived earlier than scheduled this morning and the car rental company that I booked with, was not yet open. So I sat down with a flat-white coffee (what else in NZ?) to wait until I could call them.
While sitting there, I realized I had walked under Jean Batten's Pertcival Gull 6 G-ADPR, that is suspended over the International Arrivals concourse:
I went upstairs to have a better look:
Beneath the NZ flag on the rudder are the roundels of the Brazilian and Uruguayan Air Forces. The Percival logo on the fin says GULL VI:
I hadn't realized that she had flown this aircraft to South America before she undertook her England to New Zealand flight. A fascinating history, summarized on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Batten
While sitting there, I realized I had walked under Jean Batten's Pertcival Gull 6 G-ADPR, that is suspended over the International Arrivals concourse:
I went upstairs to have a better look:
Beneath the NZ flag on the rudder are the roundels of the Brazilian and Uruguayan Air Forces. The Percival logo on the fin says GULL VI:
I hadn't realized that she had flown this aircraft to South America before she undertook her England to New Zealand flight. A fascinating history, summarized on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Batten
Last edited by India Four Two; 20th Nov 2023 at 04:03.
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Good to see the Gull being looked after, although I join in the thoughts that it should be flying.
My father served his toolmaker apprenticeship at Percival in the late 1930's. He talked of the day that Jean Batten, on her return to England, visited the works at Luton to thank the workers, and the massive turnout. He had a photo of the event.
My father served his toolmaker apprenticeship at Percival in the late 1930's. He talked of the day that Jean Batten, on her return to England, visited the works at Luton to thank the workers, and the massive turnout. He had a photo of the event.
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Interesting to see how it's the "real" flag on the starboard side. Nowadays, that would be the reverse as if it was flying from a flagpole at the front of the aircraft. I've got so used to that hat this almost seems odd now
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Gull VI.
The Gull hasn't ended-up in a bad place. It's valued and looked-after - in a historic context. However - it should never have been sold-off by the Shuttleworth Collection. It was gifted to the Shuttleworth Collection by - as I recall, the Hunting Group - and totally refurbished back to flying condition at considerable cost. Hunting Group must have been pretty hacked-off.....
Hope that sucker is well hung...considering the EQ's down thataway...
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I recall Shuttleworth needed to sell several airframes to bridge a funding shortfall, pretty sure the Gull was one of those.
