Confederate Air Force Mitsubishi Zero in New Zealand

Zero

Wanaka today..

Zero was flying perfectly at practice today.Quite a nimble beast in the sky.

Many ex-WWII aircraft were transferred over to civilian flying in New Zealand after the war, especially the likes of Tiger Moths into topdressing and Aero Club flying, as well as many transport types into airline and freight usage, and even some Mosquitoes and Walrus made it into civil hands postwar. So the skills were not entirely lost when these aircraft left RNZAF service. But the first proper “warbird” to enter the display scene was P-51D Mustang ZK-CCG which was kept flying by two farmers simply for the sake of keeping it flying and having fun. There was also an unregistered Mustang that did sneaky flights from Omaka, I’m told, but CCG appeared at airshows and events for a few seasons in the 1960’s. Sadly costs meant it was sold in the 1970’s and is now with Kermit Weeks.

In 1978 the New Zealand Warbirds Association was formed to try to stop all the Harvards being sold offshore by the RNZAF as they retired them, and this lead to other aircraft also being saved, plus other groups such as the SVAS at Masterton were also born around this time. So the whole idea of preserving and flying warbirds and old aircraft in New Zealand has been around a long time and though it came from perhaps small and slow beginnings, the scene is now vibrant and world renowned.

So it was not just Sir Tim and Sir Peter who set the ball rolling, but they have certainly been major catalysts in putting the scene on the map, with Tim building up from 1988 the first major privately-owned fighter collection in NZ (there are now several others…) and Peter re-establishing the WWI aviation era firmly back in the public gaze. There are many world leaders here in New Zealand, both in the world of restoration and in display flying too, plus we have a very good CAA which encourages such activities rather than trying to shut it down. many of the CAA guys are actually involved in old aeroplanes themselves. New Zealanders are generally interested in and proud of our wartime accomplishments too, so the warbird airshows are usually well patronised by not just the specialist enthusiasts but also the wider general public.

As Dave rightly says, New Zealand as a nation has a massive background in all forms of aviation, the country was largely built on it, specifically in the rural sector. And a fair amount of innovative technology in aviation has actually been born in this country. I suggest you could learn a lot more about the heritage and the current scene here by joining the Wings Over New Zealand Forum at http://rnzaf.proboards.com

Sir Peter Jackson

JDK I must correct you, by Pater Jackson I assume you are referring to Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM

Now if only we could convince it to make a detour here on it’s way home. 😀

Those pictures really do portray the meaning of ‘trust’!!

LOL, my thoughts too.
Great pics of it airborne too 😀

Good thing the JNAF thought to add those folding wingtips back in ’42, knowing how convenient they would be in 2010.

Those pictures really do portray the meaning of ‘trust’!!
Thanks for your answer James that makes sense, the scenery and weather must be a bonus aswel.

Interesting question, Pagen. NZ has always had a strong civil aviation industry and some major ag air innovations.

For warbirds, a good deal of airmindedness has helped, but the input of two very rich men – Sir Tim Wallis and Pater Jackson subsequently and the many who worked with them drove Wanaka and Omaka to become world destinations. I’d say that my impression that the NZ civil aviation body is relatively more viable to work with than the UK’s CAA or Australia’s CASA. The US is a different case.

Numbers of pilots isn’t much of a measure – like flies, they’ll always turn up when tempted, and are always with us… 😉 The interesting (and a more important) measure thing is the number of restoration facilities, and global innovative ones like Pioneer for P-40s, Glynn Powell for a Mosquito renaissance, and The Vintage Aviator Ltd, plus Croydon for inter-war wonders, as well as places like the Subritsky’s.

Nevertheless in terms of vintage aviation activity, the southern UK has the greatest proportion of aircraft preservation organisations and flying vintage aircraft of anywhere in the world.

Well done to the organisers at WoW for bagging such a beauty for the show- perhaps she can be sneaked into a container marked ‘Duxford’ in time for July?? 😀

You’ll need a bigger boat:

From here: http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34377&start=15

Not traditionally known for its aviation background?? Due to its remoteness and rugged terrain aviation has been at the forefront of our development and history since Richard Pearse left the ground in 1903, and in modern times has been the home of some of the best warbird restoration shops and air shows in the world -is that reason enough?

I wasn’t being antagonistic, just a straight forward question from someone not really into the warbird scene.
Places such as Canada and Argentina could claim the same thing, what I’m getting at (perhaps badly) is that NZ seems to attract a very strong nucleus of fantastic warbirds and very rare visitors, more so than say the UK for example.
Is there a simple reason for this?
For the record I’m glad that they do, some stunning pictures come back from there.

Not traditionally known for its aviation background?? Due to its remoteness and rugged terrain aviation has been at the forefront of our development and history since Richard Pearse left the ground in 1903, and in modern times has been the home of some of the best warbird restoration shops and air shows in the world -is that reason enough?

I’m going to have to agree with that, having trained in NZ, Aviation is massive out there and I seem to recall it has the highest ratio of pilots to population of any country

It looks a bit of a tight fit so I’m guessing that the original pilots were a little smaller 😀

A couple of restored Zero’s, and I think this is one of them, have been restored with the seat mounted a frame further back than originally intended so as to give extra leg room for the larger pilot. It looks as though the extra space comes in handy!

Well done to the organisers at WoW for bagging such a beauty for the show- perhaps she can be sneaked into a container marked ‘Duxford’ in time for July?? 😀

It looks a bit of a tight fit so I’m guessing that the original pilots were a little smaller 😀

Nice info and cracking shots.
Is there a reason why somewhere not traditionally known for its aviation background and relatively remote is so attractive in the warbird world?

Not traditionally known for its aviation background?? Due to its remoteness and rugged terrain aviation has been at the forefront of our development and history since Richard Pearse left the ground in 1903, and in modern times has been the home of some of the best warbird restoration shops and air shows in the world -is that reason enough?

Nice info and cracking shots.
Is there a reason why somewhere not traditionally known for its aviation background and relatively remote is so attractive in the warbird world?

Thanks for that, glad to hear it’s arrived safely.

Just a correction though, it wasn’t ‘disassembled’ so it didn’t need ‘assembly’ (according to the CAF SoCal Wing’s website & pics) but was shipped complete.