In June I took a brief trip up to the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions. This netted me a handful of aviation photos from a few locations. As there aren’t that many photos in total, I have included them all here.
With our day one destination being Rotorua, Taupo airport is a good final stop to stretch the legs and I usually do that by grabbing my camera and walking the length of the apron area.
The first and most obvious sight was this US-registered but locally based Dassault Falcon 50.
We often see the Taupo rescue helicopter and this trip was no exception as it arrived back from a tasking just before we left.
Next was probably the most interesting. A couple of people were doing work on this Bell Jetranger much of the time we were there. It later took off and repositioned… just after I had put my camera away.
Last, and oddest, is an aircraft I see every time I have been at Taupo airport in the last few years — in the same location and same condition. This Cessna Stationair is still on the active register! It is registered to one of the skydiving companies. Clearly it hasn’t seen any use in a while.
The following day we made a day trip from Rotorua to Tauranga. Last time we did this, I had plenty of photos from the Classic Flyers museum. This trip I also visited the museum, but only to buy a (rather nice) sausage roll and brownie from the cafeteria, as the weather was biblically wet.
I did take advantage of a brief let-up in the downpours to snap a pair of De Havilland Vampires that were out in the weather.
First up is ex-NZ6767 which is intended to be mounted on a pole as a “gate guardian” for the museum, in this bronze colour scheme. It was in the hangar still undergoing restoration on my last visit.
The other one is NZ5751 which the museum has on long-term loan. This, at least, is in a colour scheme representative of a service scheme. This aircraft is not in airworthy condition.
The final destination with photos was Hamilton “International” Airport. Here there was a very interesting sighting — a very new (to New Zealand) Boeing 737-800 freighter. It had entered the New Zealand register only 10 days previously!
Also at Hamilton, there was a bunch of helicopter activity related to the Fieldays event at Mystery Creek, which is only a short hop away. This Eurocopter EC120 Colibri popped in, I think, for a crew change. It is seen departing again for its constant circuits from the event.
That wraps up this selection. I did swing by Ohakea on the way back home, but the only vantage point available these days is from the south side, at quite some distance from the flight line. There were several P-8s parked up, but the light wasn’t fantastic, and I do have the shot from the last trip.
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