Date: Sunday May 28 2006
Come and join us on a flight over the city on a DC3. Cost $60.00 per person for flight only. Limited seats available only 30. First in first served. Flights need to be prepaid please.
Cheques Payable to: Datsun Z Club.
Please post cheques to:
Sheryl Schou,
9 Lane Road
Weymouth
Auckland 1702, Before 22 May 2006
We will also be visiting Pioneer Aero Restoration, 458 Corsair Lane Ardmore Airport, (a hanger which restores vintage aircraft). We will stop for lunch at The Aviation Café.
Meet at the Aviation Café Ardmore Air Base. Time 11.00am
For more information please contact Sheryl Schou Telephone 09 266-5132
The Mini Car Club may also be joining in on this event.
DC3 Flight
DC3 Flight
Last edited by nzeder on Sun May 28, 2006 7:16 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Because it was not setup in the calendar - this has been fixed nowpest wrote:Why doesn't this show up on the events calendar?
Posting photos, see them Here
For full res versions, go Here
Who's writing the event (or is that non-event?) report??
Also, I saw a few other happy-snappers out there, and I'd love to get copies of your photos up here too.
Please either upload them or send me a copy so I can. Private message me for my email address (log in and click "You have ___ new messages" at the top)
For full res versions, go Here
Who's writing the event (or is that non-event?) report??
Also, I saw a few other happy-snappers out there, and I'd love to get copies of your photos up here too.
Please either upload them or send me a copy so I can. Private message me for my email address (log in and click "You have ___ new messages" at the top)
so the DC3 was hor-de-combat, huh?? oh well I suppose you all took turns to sit in the cockpit and make "brmmm, brmm" noises (us S30 types are used to that scenario, anyway!!)
(btw I know that isn't quite a DC3 noise, but i didn't want to get saliva all over my monitor)
(btw I know that isn't quite a DC3 noise, but i didn't want to get saliva all over my monitor)
Haven't seen anyone volunteering to write that report.The day dawned reasonably fine, which was a promising start. The club gathered at the Aviation Cafe at Ardmore Airodrome for breakfast and coffee and spent the better part of 2 hours discussing rust and tripple webbers (you know, the usual) over excellent meals and snacks. There was a good turnout of 8 Z cars of varying vintages and around 25 people.
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Once our appetites were satisfied, we formed a Z car road train for the 500m drive to the Pioneer Aero Restoration hanger which is currently home to 3 Cutiss P40 Kittyhawk WWII firghter aircraft. We were shown around by club member Steve Cox who helps restore these beautiful aircraft.
Each is in different states of restoration, 2 are in the process of having their fusilage built, and a pair of wings are being fabricated in an enormous jig. The third Kittyhawk is nearing completion and will soon be disassembled, packed and shipped overseas to its proud new owner. It provided an excellent backdrop to a lineup of the Z cars that attended.
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Each P40 is powered by a 28 litre (Yes, 28!) Allison V1710 liquid cooled v12 engine producing over 1000BHP. They were designed in the 1920s and saw service through world war II into the late '40s. Their distinctive 'mouth' below the prop is an intake for 3 large radiators, 2 for coolant and 1 for oil.
Several people including myself were like kids in a candy store with Steve fielding dozens of questions about construction techniques and aircraft details.
To top the visit off, Steve invited us to take a turn in the cockpit. This was an extremely rare opportunity and a real highlight and quite a few of us took the chance to climb in and imagine for a moment engaging in a dogfight with a zero or a messerschmitt. I couldn't help grabbing the stick and making little 'Ba Ba Ba' machine gun noises
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An interruption to the festivities was the sound of the control towers mayday alarm, indicating that an aircraft in the air was reporting difficulty. Minutes later several fire appliances and a police car arrived and headed for the windward end of the runway, shortly followed by a low pass over the tower by none other than the DC-3 we were scheduled to fly on later in the day. The aircraft landed without incident although there were a few nervous moments as it gingerly touched down on the secondary runway. Apparently a microswitch which indicated that the landing gear was down and locked had failed.
The result of this was that a replacement switch and some earth-bound testing were required before the DC-3 could return to air, which meant our afternoon flight was cancelled. We did however get the chance to investigate the plane and others in the area including the Harvards, a P51 mustang and the Catalina. Some of us also took the chance to sit in the cockpit of the DC-3.
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Plan B for the afternoon was to head to Allen Lewis' home to check out his current project, the transplantation of a 500+BHP Holden Monaro supercharged V8 into a 240z chassis. Some call it amazing, I prefer the term 'clinically insane'. An excellent peice of engineering, there's nothing left stock on this car, even the bodywork has been modified with flares and an extension to the bonnet hump to accomodate the supercharger. His plans are for the Targa which means this beast will be road legal, so next time you decide to challenge a 240 at the lights, you might want to think twice.
All in all a great day out dispite the dissapointment with the main event. Food, Z cars, fighter planes and good conversation.
Thanks so much to Sheryl Schoe for organising the event with the Mini club, to Steve Cox for allowing us to be tourists in what is normally a commercial business and to Allen Lewis for letting us paw over his mean machine.
[align=center]
[/align]Once our appetites were satisfied, we formed a Z car road train for the 500m drive to the Pioneer Aero Restoration hanger which is currently home to 3 Cutiss P40 Kittyhawk WWII firghter aircraft. We were shown around by club member Steve Cox who helps restore these beautiful aircraft.
Each is in different states of restoration, 2 are in the process of having their fusilage built, and a pair of wings are being fabricated in an enormous jig. The third Kittyhawk is nearing completion and will soon be disassembled, packed and shipped overseas to its proud new owner. It provided an excellent backdrop to a lineup of the Z cars that attended.
[align=center]
[/align]Each P40 is powered by a 28 litre (Yes, 28!) Allison V1710 liquid cooled v12 engine producing over 1000BHP. They were designed in the 1920s and saw service through world war II into the late '40s. Their distinctive 'mouth' below the prop is an intake for 3 large radiators, 2 for coolant and 1 for oil.
Several people including myself were like kids in a candy store with Steve fielding dozens of questions about construction techniques and aircraft details.
To top the visit off, Steve invited us to take a turn in the cockpit. This was an extremely rare opportunity and a real highlight and quite a few of us took the chance to climb in and imagine for a moment engaging in a dogfight with a zero or a messerschmitt. I couldn't help grabbing the stick and making little 'Ba Ba Ba' machine gun noises
[align=center]
[/align]An interruption to the festivities was the sound of the control towers mayday alarm, indicating that an aircraft in the air was reporting difficulty. Minutes later several fire appliances and a police car arrived and headed for the windward end of the runway, shortly followed by a low pass over the tower by none other than the DC-3 we were scheduled to fly on later in the day. The aircraft landed without incident although there were a few nervous moments as it gingerly touched down on the secondary runway. Apparently a microswitch which indicated that the landing gear was down and locked had failed.
The result of this was that a replacement switch and some earth-bound testing were required before the DC-3 could return to air, which meant our afternoon flight was cancelled. We did however get the chance to investigate the plane and others in the area including the Harvards, a P51 mustang and the Catalina. Some of us also took the chance to sit in the cockpit of the DC-3.
[align=center]
[/align]Plan B for the afternoon was to head to Allen Lewis' home to check out his current project, the transplantation of a 500+BHP Holden Monaro supercharged V8 into a 240z chassis. Some call it amazing, I prefer the term 'clinically insane'. An excellent peice of engineering, there's nothing left stock on this car, even the bodywork has been modified with flares and an extension to the bonnet hump to accomodate the supercharger. His plans are for the Targa which means this beast will be road legal, so next time you decide to challenge a 240 at the lights, you might want to think twice.
All in all a great day out dispite the dissapointment with the main event. Food, Z cars, fighter planes and good conversation.
Thanks so much to Sheryl Schoe for organising the event with the Mini club, to Steve Cox for allowing us to be tourists in what is normally a commercial business and to Allen Lewis for letting us paw over his mean machine.