Pilot's old fighter on show
Former air force pilot Mark Helliwell has been reunited with a long-lost pal – his Skyhawk fighter bomber.
He used to fly A-4K NZ6209 on overseas deployment with the Royal New Zealand Air Force back in the 1980s. Now he's thrilled to see the retired jet fighter settled in its final resting place at the Warbirds Association hangar at Ardmore airfield.
And from today the public can get up close with an impressive piece of aviation history.
The jet fighter had been in storage at the RNZAF base at Woodbourne and arrived at Ardmore last week in bits.
The air force's fleet of 17 Skyhawks and 17 Aermacchi jet trainers was mothballed nearly a decade ago and failed to sell despite a worldwide marketing campaign.
Now nine of the Skyhawks and three Aermacchis are being sent to aviation museums. Motat is getting two of the Skyhawks and an Aermacchi while the Warbirds at Ardmore has been given one, A-4K NZ6209.
Aircraft engineer John Manning says the plane arrived in three sections – tail, forward section and wing. But the first thing the team did was strip the latex protective barrier covering the aircraft.