Welcome Stuart,

Thanks for filling us in on that. Can you tell us a little more please? Albert stated your Oxford was ‘recovered’, was it on a dump? Or crashed? Or merely on a farm, etc? Where exactly is Whistlewind?

I’m looking forward to hearing updates of your project in the future, good to hear you plan to restore it. Feel free to drop into the NZ Aviation forum too, at http://rnzaf.proboards43.com/ if you like.

Cheers
Dave

Is the Singapore Airlines one not at Mandeville, New Zealand any more then? Ryan? Or is this another one?

Yes, I was thinking of the Gulf Air Anson, sorry, the memory was blurring over on that one.

As for your list of Oxfords you’ve missed the example at the RNZAF Museum, Wigram which is being restored from a Canadian example using parts from RNZAF examples. Also the Subritzky family have a complete, immaculate absolutely wartime one which they’re reassembling at Dairy Flat in NZ.

There was the remains of another Oxford sold recently on TradeMe.co.nz as a restoration project kitset, and there’s another agin in an Australian museum sourced from NZ, in kitset form.

I’d like to know more about the Windwhistle one please – I’ve never heard of that place, and I have lived in Auckland. Maybe a country district in Auckland province?

Didn’t Singapore Airlines, or one of the Middle Eastern airlines (Gulf Air?) have one flying in the 1990’s?

Nice, I love the Chippie and the Tiffie

There are lots of Vincent and Vildebeest airframes in NZ recovered from dumps and crash sites.

The Subritzky family have the most complete one, which they’re restoring. It is Vincent NZ311, which was reduced to spares in 1944 at Ohakea and recovered from a dump by Don Subritzky.

The RNZAF Museum holds remains from Vincents NZ355 and NZ357, and Vildebeests NZ102 (which they’re restoring), NZ105, and NZ124. One of these was recovered from a dump at Marton by Don Subritzky and Charles Darby – Charles told me they saw a wingtip sticking out of the ground and thought it was a Harvard so went digging. That one went to Motat, and then when the RNZAF Museum restored the Motat Mosquito wing they were given the Motat Vincent/Vilde holdings.

I know that the fuselage remains of two further Vincents were recovered by a friend of mine, Dave Lockhead and his friends, from a dump in Blenheim. They were buried too and had to be archeologically excavated. So I doubt it’s these two.

These photos do look like Vincent/Vildebeest, I don’t know which one but I’d start with the Subritzkys as they’re the experts and this could be their machine. I’m sure an email to the RNZAF Museum would also provide more info, as they will know if it’s one of their’s. If you need any contact details Mark, PM me.

Dave Lockhead told me there are lots more remains that no-one knows about too, stored away by collectors. He did not elaborate as to where and owned by whom.

So these planes have swapped? So, what’s the aircraft that’s new to the UK then? That is the implication I read in the thread title. None of these aircraft discussed seem to be new to the UK.

It’s not that far to go.

I was down there a few months back and the Freighter didn’t look to be in particularly good condition externally. I hope they do it up a bit.

This Freighter, incidentally, was a cafe at Waihi before going to Waitomo.