As usual, click on the images to see a larger version
This Avro was one of a batch of six new Avro 504s ordered by the NZ Government in 1925 to replace the WW1 British Government Gift aircraft that had been in use in NZ since 1920.
It was operated by the New Zealand Permanent Air Force.
Despite some reports on the internet, this Avro is not a WW1 survivor, as the NZ Government ordered new machines at the time
The Avros were eventually replaced with DH-60 Moths and the four survivors were sold into the civil market in 1931.
Five years later it crashed in and its registration cancelled on 05 August 1938. Airframe went to E R Brewster, who used some of the timber to construct a Flying Flea (which is now at the Taranaki Transport Museum). The remains of the Avro then went to the Taranaki Aviation Marine & Transport Museum & then to The Vintage Aero Club in Levin in 1987 where Stuart Tantrum intended to restore it. Stuart relocated to Omaka and took the Avro bits with him, where he formed Antique Aero Engineering Ltd with his son Wayne. Antique Aero Engineering restored several excellent examples of antique aircraft including Rob Mackley's Stearman ZK-BWR and Tiger Moth ZK-BMY.
This newspaper report of the restoration from 2002 is interesting:
"An aviation buff has found the logbooks of a World War 1 biplane after a nine-year search.
Stuart Tantrum couldn't believe his eyes when he found the little brown books tucked away in a North Shore second-hand store.
He has been collecting parts to rebuild an Avro 504k plane at Omaka Aerodrome in Blenheim since the mid-1980s.
The logbooks, covering the years 1925 to 1938, contain the names of many early aviation pioneers who flew that plane.
Covering the years 1925 to 1938, the entries include two New Zealand airmen, Lieutenant John Moncrief and Captain George Hood, who went missing in January 1928, attempting to be the first to fly from Australia to New Zealand. Aviator Charles Ulm had his first solo flight in the Avro on October 3, 1928, just three weeks after completing the first transtasman flight with Charles Kingsford-Smith.
Mr Tantrum said the logbooks were sitting in a box of other books.
"It was of no value whatsoever to other people but when you have the other parts of the aircraft it is absolutely priceless."
When Mr Tantrum has found a piece of an Avro 504k it has often been from the 504k with the machine number A202.
"It has been very exciting and challenging. I have got so many pieces through sheer coincidence, it is almost scary, like there is a ghost who wants the aircraft to be rebuilt," he said.
He estimates he has about 70 per cent of a complete Avro 504k, 60 per cent from the A202. When complete it will be one of only 11 original 504ks left in the world and the only one in New Zealand.
The hunt has taken him all over the North Island and Australia. He has managed to procure parts from the Queensland Museum in Brisbane and others from friends in England and Canada."
Lack of a suitable engine delayed this plan however a Gnome Monosoupape was eventually located and it transpired that this engine had actually come from ZK-ACU! The rebuild accelerated markedly after it was purchased by the 1914 -18 Heritage Trust (connected to TVAL via Sir Peter Jackson). Stuart and Wayne Tantrum completed the restoration that Stuart had started 26 years earlier. It returned to the civil aviation register on 13-Oct 2008 owned by TVAL.
ZK-ACU had its first flight from Omaka Aerodrome at Blenheim at the Classic Fighters airshow on 2-April 2009, piloted by Gene DeMarco.
Three weeks later it flew at TVAL's ANZAC Day airshow at Hood Aerodrome.
Here are a couple of my photos from that occasion taken with my first digital camera, a crappy Sony compact
Sadly, Stuart Tantrum died in 2011 aged 63. ZK-ACU is a very special aircraft in the TVAL collection as it is NZ's oldest airworthy aircraft
Notice the drain holes in the wing and aileron
Thanks for looking in
Cheers
James
