Not such a long wait between posts, this time I was inspired by another milestone. While the blog reached its 15th birthday in February, the domain previously hosted my photographs in a gallery format and that was around for many years. It came to my attention that the domain just reached 8,000 days old! At the end of May, it will reach 22 years of age.
Since February, I have searched out some more old photos to see if they could be primped and preened into something befitting my modern quality standards. Not many, in the grand scheme of things, made the cut, but those that did have been posted on Flickr. Here are a select number of those.
McDonnell Douglas TA-4K Skyhawk, NZ6254, of 2 SQN RNZAF rolls along the taxiway, heading for RWY 27 at RNZAF Base Ohakea, sometime in 1990. (Scanned negative.)Bell UH-1H Iroquois, NZ3812, of 3 SQN RNZAF sits ‘buttoned up’ on the grass at RNZAF Base Ohakea. (Scanned negative.)Freedom Air Boeing 737-300, ZK-SJB rolls down RWY 34 at Wellington, about to head for the spring skies in September 2005. Freedom Air was a subsidiary of Air New Zealand which seemed to exist solely to “rub out” any competition from upstart low cost carriers.RNZAF Lockheed P-3K2 Orion, NZ4201, is about to depart RNZAF Base Auckland’s RWY 03. It is painted in a special commemorative scheme celebrating 40 years of the type in RNZAF service, in 2006. Eventually, they would bow out in excess of 56 years!ackage holidays in New Zealand? No, Air New Zealand dry leased this aircraft, G-THOE, in 2007. Here we see it arriving on RWY 34 in December of that year.I don’t believe this aircraft actually flew in New Zealand. It was spied here at Ardmore in November 2006. It now sits atop a business in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga.
Moving back to modern times, here are a couple of studies of what will soon become the RNZAF’s longest serving current type, captured recently.
One of the RNZAF’s two Boeing 757-200s, NZ7572, reflects on moody skies in Wellington, outside the RNZAF Air Movements hangar.Same aircraft, same location, different day. NZ7572 has started up and is readying to depart for RNZAF Base Auckland.
That wraps up this post. As we head into winter, there is less chance I will head out to the airport, but I may yet dig out more gems from the past. I am thinking of giving the site a fresh lick of design — nothing too major, though.
If you’re interested in the complete set of old photos I have published recently, check out this link.
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