September 1980
Flying amid the peaks and valleys of New Zealand's alpine scenery can be a near spiritual experience. However it can also quickly provide situations when gut-felt prayers and awesome terror vividly create respect for the changing moods associated with the mountainous terrain. In the accompanying article veteran alpine pilot Paul Beauchamp Legg examines the characteristics and variables of mountain flying.
IT'S 10.44 a.m. on Thursday August 14, a knot of spectators gather outside the Airwork hangar at Timaru Airport, their attention fixed on a small silver and yellow aeroplane powering down the grass runway several hundred metres away. The unmistakable song of a Pratt and Whitney engine rushes across the grass and as the aircraft lifts off the runway the spectators break into applause while cameras record the moment — North American Harvard NZ1025 is back in the air for the first time in 14 years.
New Zealand has a rich and varied collection of aircraft more than 25 years old — in part a reflection of the country's isolation but also a tribute to the skills of ground engineers in servicing and rebuilding the veteran aircraft over the years. WINGS intends featuring these aircraft types in a series of three Directories. This, the first of the series, emcompasses the aircraft constructed prior to and including December 1939 as an Antique listing.
 October 1980 |
 August 1980 |
 December 2017 |