NZFF

Ashburton about an hour south of Christchurch has a small remote airport. And inside (and out) is an incredible collection of aircraft. I was very fortunate to spend two hours with two of the guys working on the aircraft, I was given amazing access to the displays, hopefully these photos reflect that.

Inside the first hangar (amongst many others) we have the Harvard, still in flying condition (note the silver fern in the second photo)




In the second hangar the front end of a Canberra bomber, everything still works. I was very lucky to be allowed inside and they fired it up. Amazing! The cockpit comes to life, the gyro's whir and your off...




Alongside this was the aircraft I really came to see...





This ship was was built in the 70's and was active in the Falklands war.

Outside was the Freindship, ZK-BXG. I love the shape of these aircraft. I was also fortunate enough to be allowed to get inside..





Back in Christchurch, activity was great..







Once again, heaps more photos of all of these if your interested.

What's the name of the aircraft that you really came to see?

The Harrier.

The Harrier.

Those are the most unbelivable airshow display aircraft! I love 'em Had no idea there were any in NZ!

Jon, is there any aviation establishments that you have not visted in the country??

Nice shots of the Harrier Jon, when did they say they will have the Harrier up and running again?

Trolly wrote: Had no idea there were any in NZ!

neither did I, be cool to see that up and running
That 777 looks sharp, and if I'm not mistaken, that's my good friend "Pacific Pearl" at the bottom

There's something about Ashburton...they build world-class high-tech buses there, too.

Alongside this was the aircraft I really came to see...

I may just make a detour next time I travel south, Jon you do come up with the most astonishing finds!
Why that thing flies still boggles the mind.
The Pegasus engine must be one of the engineering masterpieces of the 20th century.
I think the Harrier taps airflow from it in eight different ways, and it just delivers.
Simply amazing.
I would not expect those guys to make it fly, though.
It's complicated, very expensive to maintain, and only a handful of pilots get it right. (They also tend to be fully employed in combat roles.)
I understand the skill required to fly it, is to chopper flying, what chopper flying is to fixed-wing.

Great little Museum , looks like another Harvard paint required .
The last time i saw the Harrier was in 1982 Naval paint and in pieces on the floor the guys have done well , the Canberra also notice how small it is to crawl through to the bomb site . Great pics Jon

Wow- I too didnt realise that there was one in the country....very interesting.
My brother was considering moving to the RAF and onto choppers after 75 Sqn was disbanded (the RAF and RAAF were licking their lips at all these well trained kiwi pilots looking for jobs!) but went to the RAAF instead. As part of the conversion to the Harrier, the pilots actually do some training in a chopper to learn the various relevant principles of vertical take off aircraft/thrust vectoring etc

Thanks for the pics

Great photos Jon. Thanks for posting them. How did you find getting in and out of the canberra cockpit??? Didn't injure your self I hope!!!!

Ian Warren wrote: Great little Museum , looks like another Harvard paint required 

Oh yes, you still have a little unfinished business there, yes?
Was the silver fern used as per Jon's photo?
It seems kinda faint.

Trolly wrote:

The Harrier.

Those are the most unbelivable airshow display aircraft! I love 'em Had no idea there were any in NZ!

Jon, is there any aviation establishments that you have not visted in the country??

I certainly hope not, but you never know.

ZK-TJL wrote: Great photos Jon. Thanks for posting them. How did you find getting in and out of the canberra cockpit??? Didn't injure your self I hope!!!!

Umm, tight but all my skin was intact.

h290master wrote: Nice shots of the Harrier Jon, when did they say they will have the Harrier up and running again?

Sadly it will never fly again but she is a beautiful aircraft, *sigh*. They hope to have the avionics all going so they can start the engine and then get air flowing through the nozzles to demonstrate the power.

That Harrier is awesome, I wasn't aware that there was one in NZ until a photo of that one cropped up on Jetphotos.net a few weeks ago.

Yes, the silver fern was used like that originally Charl. It was a decal that was placed over the standard roundel. Unfortunately, as you can see, it wasn't very visible, and was replaced by a solid white fern shape in fairly quick order.

But then it was pointed out that having a white 'feather' (ferns and feathers are pretty much the same shape) was not a good idea, particularly on a military aircraft... the white feather being the internationally recognised symbol for cowardice

Hence, shortly after that, the Kiwi came along. Canada had introduced the Maple Leaf and Australia had introduced the Kangaroo, so we followed suit with a suitable symbol - the Kiwi. The original design for the Kiwi came from the 1 Shilling(?) coin, but was refined to the Kiwi that is still in use today. A good example of a timeless design... it's still one of the better graphic representations of a kiwi in use today.

As a footnote, I note that some factions are now wanting to make the white 'feather' our national flag... Unfortunately some people like to make the same mistakes over and over rather than letting history be their teacher...

Do you have any more photos from inside the camberra ? i.e up the front and the radio/navigator behind... I have been in it, very cool nose section. That aircraft was flying untill reciently (last couple of years) and it still has the modern avionics in the back..