NZ Warbirds Association Inc

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Heads up, Chipmunk fans! What this weekend’s flying programme lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality.

Chipmunk Blue continues its winter practice season ahead of next year’s air show appearances with a 3-ship sortie on Saturday

⏰ When: taxi 1330
📌 Where: #2 hangar, Ardmore
📱 Follow: ZK-RFS aka Blue 1 on FR24
✈️ Profile: formation departure, airshow routine practice at Wairoa River Mouth then back to Ardmore for a formation join.
🌧️ Weather: miiiight be OK or we can try again on Sunday!

Fun fact: when properly tuned, the Chipmunk uses fuel and oil to exactly the same ratio as your granddad’s lawnmower.

Well will you look at us! Vaughn and Mike from Chipmunk Blue tucking in for Gavin Conroy’s camera. Great story in there too thanks El Prez!

Latest Cover.

What do trailers and Bristol Freighters have in common? Up to now not a lot but the team at Trailer World Ltd in Tuakau have taken guardianship of ex RNZAF Freighter NZ5902 and plan to give it some much needed TLC. We can’t wait to see how it turns out. 😀

It’s great to see a DC-3 flying around the South Island again - if only for the short term. A great photo by Gavin Conroy as always from Classic Aircraft Photography.

Here is a photo taken during last Thursdays photo flight with this very special DC-3. I would like to dedicate this photo to the late Joe Anderson, a past owner of N8336C who passed away recently.

Quiz time! How well do you know your engines? No prize other than bragging rights, but can you name the Ardmore-based aircraft these engines are from?

They don’t all have wings - although one of them should
Two are at least partly orange.
One never flew in RNZAF service.
One seats three.
One seats seven or eight
Two are named after animals
One is named after a city
One is named after a university

Off you go! Bonus points for naming the engines too.

Worth a crack, Nigel! Today’s Chipmunk Blue practice was looking iffy with the weather but Craig and Vaughn launched a pair to take a look anyway. Plan was a pairs takeoff then break into the circuit to space for some individual circuit practice.

The cloud base had different ideas - not quite high enough to fly a standard circuit pattern. Fun fact: unlike most New Zealand airfields, Ardmore doesn’t allow low level circuits.

So after a break into the base leg for spacing the boys landed on a wet runway 03 before spending three times as long cleaning the aeroplanes as they did flying them.