NZFF

Thought I would check out the MOTAT aircraft collection again today, as the only previous time I have visited I was too young to appeciate anything there. The museum doesn't make for the best photos, with limited space and crowded exhibits in the way, but I did my best:

Gate Guardian- not sure if this is a Hurricane or not from below?


NZ's only Lanc- and what I had come here to see. It was very hard to photograph it's front end without a wide angled lens.



A nice mural of the Fairly Swordfish:

And the real thing...


A Curtis Kittyhawk


Another mural


Various parts of ZK-AMO, a TEAL Shorts Solent




ZK-AHS


And look what I found out the back...


I have no idea if this is flyable, but i's painted in NAC colours and only appears to be missing a rudder on the tail fin! (Mind you, I don't know what is lurking underneath that cockpit cover)

The adjacent lake in Western Springs park:

Sunset at home to finish the day:

Wow, quite a find with that DC-3. You did well with the others, she's a tight fit to say the least, great way to spend the day though.

I remember when the lanc use to be parked up at the other part of MOTAT out front, some Sundays would be an 'open day' if I remember rightly, I wont forget the lanc being started up and running on a couple of engines, noisy and Smokey but what a sight and sound.

Trolley brilliant shots .. have internal pics of the Lanc 1985/86 i guess Good to see the planes getting looked after !

AHhhhh she brings a lump to the throat That Dak does.They use to start her up in the old days when they first got her.Looks like they are going to restore her,What with the covers That they have on it.

Trolly wrote: Gate Guardian- not sure if this is a Hurricane or not from below?

It is a Hurricane, interestingly enough, this is the one that was used as Keith Parks' aircraft in the Battle of Britain movie. I have to ask though, why didnt you take any photos of the Ceres?, surely the most interesting aircraft there!!!

chopper_nut wrote: I have to ask though, why didnt you take any photos of the Ceres?, surely the most interesting aircraft there!!!

Amen to that! How long until we have a CA-28 for FS? Wanganui Aero Work colours! Woo! Tell ya what, I'll look for my pics of the MoTaT Ceres and post 'em tomorrow! Owzat?

And I'm not sure that Hurri is ex-BoB - when the original one Sir Keith secured for NZ from Harry Saltzman and gang was removed from MoTaT this one was manufactured in her place. The original BoB film example is now in pristine condition at Omaka after a very thorough restoration by the late Ron Flintoft. She played a role in the Classic Fighters show this past weekend....sure was great to see a Hurricane on a grass airfield, albeit a static replica!

K5054NZ wrote:

chopper_nut wrote: I have to ask though, why didnt you take any photos of the Ceres?, surely the most interesting aircraft there!!!

Amen to that! How long until we have a CA-28 for FS? Wanganui Aero Work colours! Woo! Tell ya what, I'll look for my pics of the MoTaT Ceres and post 'em tomorrow! Owzat?

And I'm not sure that Hurri is ex-BoB - when the original one Sir Keith secured for NZ from Harry Saltzman and gang was removed from MoTaT this one was manufactured in her place. The original BoB film example is now in pristine condition at Omaka after a very thorough restoration by the late Ron Flintoft. She played a role in the Classic Fighters show this past weekend....sure was great to see a Hurricane on a grass airfield, albeit a static replica!

I was under the impression that both the models were used in the film, I might be wrong though.

Coincidentally, I was driving past MOTAT a few days ago and I noticed that DC-3; thought it wasn't there last time I visited.

THe Swordfisdh is only a replica as well - it well be great once they get all the aircraft under in a hanger and properly restored & displyed

Speaking of the Lanc, i have a friend who worked with me that helped restore that a/c he tells me of the time when they had three engings running at one time, said the noise and the smoke was a thing to be seen He told me some great stories about restoring her to her current form and also about all the other a/c they have there rotting away as they don't have the manpower or room to restore them all

THREAD REVIVE! haha

I went out to Motat on the weekend with my father (once you get past a certain age you can no longer refer to your father as Dad ...it was a choice between walking in the park with my Cousins children (which we did for a while anyway) or going to see old machinery

...so off we trotted.

We had a quick look at the various exhibits in Motat 1, including the beautifully restored double beam engine/pump that provided Aucklanders with pressured water for the first time in 1877..and then had another look since we missed the tram to Motat 2 (the aviation part).

When we finally got there, amongst the noise of the radio controlled tanks, was FLIGHT SIMULATOR!!!!

It looked to be running Fs98 and getting about 5 frames per second haha but was still running even after countless hours of abuse by small children (and given the rough treatment I witnessed from the kids when I was there, this is no mean feat)

It did get me thinking though, it wouldnt be too hard to get the hardware updated to run Fs2004? Ive got a gig of RAM and a video card im willing to donate...