cyberpilot Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Today was the 75th anniversary of the first direct flight from England to New Zealand in 1936. It was undertaken by Jean Batten in a Percival Gull 6 and took her 11 days and 45 minutes. To commemorate the occasion a beautifully restored Percival Proctor led a flypast of vintage aircraft around the Auckland waterfront. I was lucky enought to be tail end charlie in my Tecnam Sierra. Here are a few pix I took just before departure from Ardmore airfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Kane Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Great Pictures.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Nice and very interesting, thanks for shaing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotspot Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Thanks Cyberpilot - what an excellent group of photos - beautiful aircraft - when I clicked on your post I had only to raise my eyes above the screen to see the biography of Jean Batten resting on my library shelf - written by Ian Mackersey it is a very poignant portrayal of Jean's life which is reread occasionally. btw - who's the distinguished dude in the Old School Tie?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Great pictures indeed and what a grand aircraft that is. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 That Proctor is one stylish aircraft..looks just right for when it was built straight out of an "Art Nouveau" plan. All that beautiful chrome work. A serious good looking aircraft in my book. What is ZK-APT please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexf Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyberpilot Posted October 16, 2011 Author Share Posted October 16, 2011 Bill...the "distinguished dude" is the owner of the Proctor, Guy Clapshaw, who donned his "number ones" for the occasion. Guy is a retired Air NZ captain who is the author of a very entertaining book called "A Likely Story". It's about his time as a trainee pilot in the RAF where he got his wings on Vampires. Bassman...ZK-APT is a DH Fox Moth, quite a rare bird that was built in the early 1930s. Three passengers can be carried in the tiny cabin just in front of the cockpit. There are only six Fox Moth's still flying worldwide, two in NZ, two in the UK, and one each in Australia and one in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CathyH Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 The first aircraft i sat in was a Fox Moth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockliffe Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 What a fantastic set of pics. Thanks very much for sharing, enjoyed them very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Thanks Cyberpilot..now to go searching on line for both these aircraft..don't like my chances but will let the forum know if I find them and if they are freeware/payware. (ban piracy!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolP Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Very good! What a beauty that Percival Vega Gull is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Got the Proctor and the Foz Moth (took liberty of getting rego on the Proctor changed) Hav'nt posetd images for years so here goes.. told you it had been a while..uploaded two of the same..here's the Proctor..hopefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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