1951 ZK-AYG being recovered after a brake failure on landing, overshot runway and hit a ditch at Paraparaumu, 27 Jul 1951.
ZK-AYG History
Built as a Mk.21.
Allocated G-AINK 1947 for Bristol Aeroplane Co.Ltd.
Reg WH575 1950 for Ministry of Supply winterisation trials in Edmonton Canada - not used.
Displayed at Farnborough 5-10 Sep 1950.
Incident 4 Oct 1950 crashed on takeoff Filton, UK - both engines cut during simulated single engine failure.
rebuilt as Mk.31.
Reg G-18-92 1950 to Bristol Aeroplane Co.Ltd.
Reg ZK-AYG 8 Mar 1951 to SAFE.
First flight 19 Mar, 1951.
Reg G-AINK cancelled Apr 51.
CoA issued 6 Apr 51.
Delivered to Woodbourne 19 May 1951 (delivery crew H. Boyes from SAFE, D. Woolf - chief pilot Airwork).
Entered service 31 May 1951 named Captain Cook.
Incident 27 Jul 1951 brake failure on landing, overshot runway and hit a ditch at Paraparaumu.
Repaired (port wing replaced) 14 Nov 1951.
Incident Nov 1951 CAA hangar Paraparaumu - while under repair four hangar doors blown in on wing during storm.
Early 1954, received spar mods.
Incident 3 Feb 1954 hit ditch after aborted takeoff Woodbourne - sent to Weston-Super-Mare, UK for repair - rebuilt without windows.
Returned to NZ 13 Mar 1955.
Returned to service 31 Mar 1955.
Incident 21 Aug 1955 crashed during airshow display Omaka, pilot feathered propeller away from crowd then feathered other before other was up to speed and sank into Taylor riverbed - rebuilt Woodbourne (required new floor, nose doors, u/c - delivered by ZK-BMA) and returned to service 20 Jul 1956 (renamed Merchant Porter).
WFU 9 Sep 1967 with 16,768 hours.
Reg cancelled 19 Sep 1967.
Fuselage went to ZK-CWF.
www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/b170list.html
The plane that everyone in Blenheim could hear - Marlborough Express Russell Gifford 20 Dec 2019
Almost retired teacher, Russell Gifford, remembers his schooldays spent in and around Blenheim in the 1950s. This week he recalls a plane that everyone in town knew about.
"On a sunny but chilly afternoon at Woodbourne Airport May 1951 we waited for the first Bristol to arrive.
There she is! Distant at first but the drone of engines getting louder, then swinging on to short finals and she was down.
ZK-AYG pulled up before a crowd of several hundred. I remember being slightly bothered about evidence of oily exhaust stains on the under surface of the wings not understanding that sleeve valve engines are required to burn a certain quantity of oil.
I was impressed when the big clam-shell doors opened to note a spare engine carried as cargo. Good thinking that!
The Bristol looked pretty big. Four bladed propellers. Not overly graceful but it presented an impressive sense of practicality and purpose.
That big boxy fuselage able to cope with all manner of loads. Mostly freight on pallets, but also cars, cases of fruit, livestock, even passengers in a pod.
It was the beginning of quite an adventure for Blenheim. Airfreight across Cook Strait was an idea whose time had come. In the end there was a fleet of 11 Bristols.
There was not a household in Blenheim that was not very aware of them. Those big Bristol Hercules engines had a distinctive and throaty roar. There was an early flight across to Wellington each morning. It was supposedly the newspaper run.
Our house seemed to be directly under the flight path. The din was impressive. Phone calls had to be paused until the thunderous beast had moved on. It used to impress me that the pilots used to include a little "concerto moment' by changing the propeller pitch from fine to coarse while directly overhead.
The Airforce also had half a dozen Bristols which served in the Malaysian conflict.
We were all gathered at Omaka Aerodrome in the mid-fifties for an air pageant. One item was to be a low pass by a Bristol Freighter running on one engine.
Shortly before arriving at Omaka the crew realised that they had shut down and feathered the starboard engine. The waiting crowd would be able to see the port engine only so the pilots attempted to remedy the situation. They had very little time to do this and somehow things got confused.
The port engine was shut down before the starboard engine could be restarted. In fact, the starboard could not be restarted, nor the port engine revived. We watched as the Bristol lost height and headed toward the cemetery! We observed a branch being knocked off a pine tree.
The futile calls from the PA system to "not proceed toward the crash site" were ignored as we made our way across a riverbed to inspect the somewhat crumpled plane. The crew were not to be seen but turned out not to be injured. Someone cynically remarked "You two were on a direct line to the cemetery or the hospital and you managed to avoid both!"
Within a year the aircraft was repaired and back in the air earning its living.
The day came when I had to make use of the Bristol. The inter- island ferries were on strike yet again and I had to get back to Auckland.
I drove up to Woodbourne in the early morning and backed my "Morrie Thou" up the sloping ramp and into the roomy cavern of the Bristol. I was invited up into the flight deck for the short flight to Wellington. So up the ladder and into the "office".
I was intrigued to notice that both pilots read their newspapers intently as we made our way across the Strait. But there was a good deal of focused attention on the skies around us as we made our turn to port for the landing.
Almost no bump and we were down. A somewhat costly flight but efficient, and provided me with long-lasting memories.
In the end the need for a rapid freight service across the Strait and on to the highways was satisfied by efficient sea ferries and a vastly expanded fleet of trucks. So, the Bristol era came to an end. A couple flew off to new countries but most were scrapped or donated to museums. As the Blenheim newspaper said. "They will be missed, but not that much."
www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/118296485/the-pl...
1951 ZK-AYG being recovered after a brake failure on landing, overshot runway and hit a ditch at Paraparaumu, 27 Jul 1951.
ZK-AYG History
Built as a Mk.21.
Allocated G-AINK 1947 for Bristol Aeroplane Co.Ltd.
Reg WH575 1950 for Ministry of Supply winterisation trials in Edmonton Canada - not used.
Displayed at Farnborough 5-10 Sep 1950.
Incident 4 Oct 1950 crashed on takeoff Filton, UK - both engines cut during simulated single engine failure.
rebuilt as Mk.31.
Reg G-18-92 1950 to Bristol Aeroplane Co.Ltd.
Reg ZK-AYG 8 Mar 1951 to SAFE.
First flight 19 Mar, 1951.
Reg G-AINK cancelled Apr 51.
CoA issued 6 Apr 51.
Delivered to Woodbourne 19 May 1951 (delivery crew H. Boyes from SAFE, D. Woolf - chief pilot Airwork).
Entered service 31 May 1951 named Captain Cook.
Incident 27 Jul 1951 brake failure on landing, overshot runway and hit a ditch at Paraparaumu.
Repaired (port wing replaced) 14 Nov 1951.
Incident Nov 1951 CAA hangar Paraparaumu - while under repair four hangar doors blown in on wing during storm.
Early 1954, received spar mods.
Incident 3 Feb 1954 hit ditch after aborted takeoff Woodbourne - sent to Weston-Super-Mare, UK for repair - rebuilt without windows.
Returned to NZ 13 Mar 1955.
Returned to service 31 Mar 1955.
Incident 21 Aug 1955 crashed during airshow display Omaka, pilot feathered propeller away from crowd then feathered other before other was up to speed and sank into Taylor riverbed - rebuilt Woodbourne (required new floor, nose doors, u/c - delivered by ZK-BMA) and returned to service 20 Jul 1956 (renamed Merchant Porter).
WFU 9 Sep 1967 with 16,768 hours.
Reg cancelled 19 Sep 1967.
Fuselage went to ZK-CWF.
www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/b170list.html
The plane that everyone in Blenheim could hear - Marlborough Express Russell Gifford 20 Dec 2019
Almost retired teacher, Russell Gifford, remembers his schooldays spent in and around Blenheim in the 1950s. This week he recalls a plane that everyone in town knew about.
"On a sunny but chilly afternoon at Woodbourne Airport May 1951 we waited for the first Bristol to arrive.
There she is! Distant at first but the drone of engines getting louder, then swinging on to short finals and she was down.
ZK-AYG pulled up before a crowd of several hundred. I remember being slightly bothered about evidence of oily exhaust stains on the under surface of the wings not understanding that sleeve valve engines are required to burn a certain quantity of oil.
I was impressed when the big clam-shell doors opened to note a spare engine carried as cargo. Good thinking that!
The Bristol looked pretty big. Four bladed propellers. Not overly graceful but it presented an impressive sense of practicality and purpose.
That big boxy fuselage able to cope with all manner of loads. Mostly freight on pallets, but also cars, cases of fruit, livestock, even passengers in a pod.
It was the beginning of quite an adventure for Blenheim. Airfreight across Cook Strait was an idea whose time had come. In the end there was a fleet of 11 Bristols.
There was not a household in Blenheim that was not very aware of them. Those big Bristol Hercules engines had a distinctive and throaty roar. There was an early flight across to Wellington each morning. It was supposedly the newspaper run.
Our house seemed to be directly under the flight path. The din was impressive. Phone calls had to be paused until the thunderous beast had moved on. It used to impress me that the pilots used to include a little "concerto moment' by changing the propeller pitch from fine to coarse while directly overhead.
The Airforce also had half a dozen Bristols which served in the Malaysian conflict.
We were all gathered at Omaka Aerodrome in the mid-fifties for an air pageant. One item was to be a low pass by a Bristol Freighter running on one engine.
Shortly before arriving at Omaka the crew realised that they had shut down and feathered the starboard engine. The waiting crowd would be able to see the port engine only so the pilots attempted to remedy the situation. They had very little time to do this and somehow things got confused.
The port engine was shut down before the starboard engine could be restarted. In fact, the starboard could not be restarted, nor the port engine revived. We watched as the Bristol lost height and headed toward the cemetery! We observed a branch being knocked off a pine tree.
The futile calls from the PA system to "not proceed toward the crash site" were ignored as we made our way across a riverbed to inspect the somewhat crumpled plane. The crew were not to be seen but turned out not to be injured. Someone cynically remarked "You two were on a direct line to the cemetery or the hospital and you managed to avoid both!"
Within a year the aircraft was repaired and back in the air earning its living.
The day came when I had to make use of the Bristol. The inter- island ferries were on strike yet again and I had to get back to Auckland.
I drove up to Woodbourne in the early morning and backed my "Morrie Thou" up the sloping ramp and into the roomy cavern of the Bristol. I was invited up into the flight deck for the short flight to Wellington. So up the ladder and into the "office".
I was intrigued to notice that both pilots read their newspapers intently as we made our way across the Strait. But there was a good deal of focused attention on the skies around us as we made our turn to port for the landing.
Almost no bump and we were down. A somewhat costly flight but efficient, and provided me with long-lasting memories.
In the end the need for a rapid freight service across the Strait and on to the highways was satisfied by efficient sea ferries and a vastly expanded fleet of trucks. So, the Bristol era came to an end. A couple flew off to new countries but most were scrapped or donated to museums. As the Blenheim newspaper said. "They will be missed, but not that much."
www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/118296485/the-pl...