Auckland environs update. War Memorial, Avspecs, MOTAT.

Further update, with a complete temporary covering over the Sunderland to allow work to continue under shelter, there are no uncovered aircraft at MOTAT – first time in 50 years!

I was on a recent FlyDC3 flight that swung by on a regular scenic, so got a good view from above.

No uncovered aircraft at MOTAT by Errol Cavit, on Flickr

From top to bottom, the older display hall (which includes the Lancaster) connects to the new display hall (Solent and more), the Sunderland, and the restoration hangar. Various storage shed to the right, with railway sheds at the far right.

Commentary from MOTAT volunteer emron:
http://rnzaf.proboards.com/post/250120/thread

… Yes and it’s taken well over 50 years to get them all under cover. But there’s still a way to go before everything is permanently housed. No.3 down the row of sheds behind the Sunderland tail is the old Aviation Workshop, one of the first buildings on the site and constructed about 1980. That was first occupied by the Hudson project that Barrie East started restoring before he passed away in 1984. Many other jobs went through that shop before the present workshop was opened. Recently it has been used for storage and over summer was cleared out to prepare for stowing both the Lodestar and the Ventura. The Lodestar has already been disassembled, sprayed with preservative and moved in. Today the left wing of the Ventura was detached. This revealed the creative lengths Barrie East and others had gone to so a Lodestar wing could fit a Ventura centre section. That was all done back in earlier times, out in the open paddock before any buildings were on site. Anyway the wing was removed without too much drama and the right wing should follow by next weekend. The new tyres have been fitted to the wheels and are back from the shop. So they can be swapped onto the Ventura once both wings are off. Then it will be mobile again and be towed over to join the Lodestar.
This will then leave space in the main workshop for the DC3 to be moved in so that a long deferred restoration program can be completed.

The DC-3 is currently in the new display hall, and has been pushed outside a number of times to enable events under the Solent.

I wonder which Spitfire will finish its protracted rebuild first, TB252 or AR501? Oh sorry I forgot, AR501 was a flying aeroplane, it’s just an overhaul…:rolleyes:

The helicopter is a BK117

Thanx for sharing Peter. I think the cabin is a bell product…..Huey, 412, 212

Great stuff 🙂

What’s the helicopter carcass? Lyncx?

A fascinating look around thank you. I have a copy of the Leslie Hunt book Veteran and Vintage Aircraft and the entry for this location shows just how much progress has been made.

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The Subritzky collection images scheduled for Feb 2017 AEROPLANE.

Mark