NZFF

As some of you know I also belong to the Wings over Cambridge. Recently we had a forum meet in Hamilton and Cambridge on a sweltering hot Waikato day. Heres some pics from that meet:

Some of the members flew in, in their aircraft:

Andrew's Citabria - nice - 2002 model I think - Trolly knows all about this one.




Simon and Chris dropped in, in their Thunder Mustang (after a highish speed pass down the runway) - fantastic aircraft and got to hear a lot more how the thing ticks




Another member bought his Yak


We also inspected a Ryan STM being restored at Hamilton Airport - Neal the guy that owns it also owns a Pitts. Neal (an ex RAAF Sabre/Caribou pilot & Alpha test pilot) also owns a Pitts which is also in his hanger - the Pitts is still Aussie registered - VH-PIG (an Australian Aerobatic Champion Aircraft)- sorry I didnt get any pics of these two aircraft.

We then made our way to a farm shed where another member (Bruce) is building his own design"Avian Adventurer". A side by side two seat tail dragger about the same size as a Cub - powered by a 150hp Subaru engine - it is very nicely done and due to fly soon.



The wing - which wll be covered soon





The converted Subaru aero engine


Apologies if some of the photos appear on their side!

Looks like a nice gathering of aircraft there. Get-togethers are always pretty neat.

Alex

Looks like you guys had a great time, and it would have been nice to have been there.

I remember reading about this meeting on their forum a while ago, and I thought Andrew was going to bring the DC3 down?

DC-3 was booked out in the end so it was the Citabria and Thunder Mustang - maybe the DC-3 for another time.

I also met Colin Hunter of airliners.net fame - interesting meeting people you read about on the net quite a bit.

Naki wrote:

QUOTE (Naki @ Feb 3 2008, 09:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

DC-3 was booked out in the end so it was the Citabria and Thunder Mustang - maybe the DC-3 for another time.

I also met Colin Hunter of airliners.net fame - interesting meeting people you read about on the net quite a bit.

Would've been great to go! Unfortunately circumstances worked against me, but hopefully will catch up with some of the boys come Whitianga and Wanaka. Looks like it was great fun, and hopefully Dave organises another one - be good to do it semi-annually - maybe every six months would be cool .

I'm very jealous - it's been the better part of five years, maybe more, since I was fortunate enough to see an inline Ryan. Would be great to see her and 'STM airborne together! Any ideas as to what scheme Neal's will wear?

And I do notice a distinct lack of group shots!

Re Colin, too right - imagine how I felt having Gavin as my boss! Hi Gav!

K5054NZ wrote:

QUOTE (K5054NZ @ Feb 4 2008, 11:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm very jealous - it's been the better part of five years, maybe more, since I was fortunate enough to see an inline Ryan. Would be great to see her and 'STM airborne together! Any ideas as to what scheme Neal's will wear?

Polished metal (mm nice) with a RAAF scheme I think if I remember correctly. I have just read that Alpha has gone bust so not sure if Neal will stay here in NZ. Sorry didn't get shot of everyone as I dont think we were all together at the same time - we retired to a pub in Cambridge later that day.

Whoops I got Neals name wrong (who has the Ryan STM under restoration)! His name is NOEL Kruse - he also formed the Sydney Aerobatic School (since sold). See here for their site.

Now that name rings a bell from exhaustive rereading of Classic Wings/CWD mags! Wow, cool! But yeah, in light of the Alpha collapse, who knows...

Yeah, polished aluminium is really the ONLY way to go with a low-wing Ryan!