Magnificent colorisation of a TEAL DC-6
French colorist Benoit Vienne has done stunning work bringing to life this TEAL DC-6, which operated through the 1950s with New Zealand’s national airline.
The B&W photo, from aviation historian Paul Sheehan, depicts the DC-6, ZK-BGB “Ärawhata” at Christchurch Airport in 1955.
Tasman Empire Airways Limited acquired the aircraft in 1954 when British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA) owned by the British, Australian, and New Zealand governments – collapsed.
BCPA’s three DC-6s were transferred to TEAL for trans-Tasman and Hibiscus (Auckland-Nandi) services.
In the six weeks after the collapse of BCPA, TEAL underwent a remarkable transformation. It transitioned from British to US aircraft, moved its engineering facilities, procured spare parts for the DC-6s, and launched the first service from Sydney to Auckland.
On February 27, 1931, Oscar Garden landed a DH 60 de Havilland Gipsy Moth named
Kia Ora at Horseshoe Bay. The flight came about after a £5 bet with Myross Bush man Geoff Todd. Todd was in the Gipsy Moth with Garden, a model of plane that the Tiger Moth would replace. It seems most of the town went to the beach to watch. At that time, only a few planes had flown over the island before, and some children were so frightened at the sight of an aircraft approaching they ran and hid in the bush.
Supplied The first flight over the island was 10 years earlier, on January 13, 1921.
Tiger Mouth landing on Stewart Island 90 years after first flight landed stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
PAUL BRENNAN/BRING OUR BIRDS HOME
From drug running to crash landing: a significant effort is underway to bring home Air New Zealand s former planes, which sit around the world in varying states of decay.
Paul Brennan is standing in front of a decaying aircraft that crash-landed 17 years ago in Brazil. His eyes are teary, as he explains to the camera the relief of seeing this piece of New Zealand history for the first time. “Now we have to set about recovering it,” he says with the kind of heaviness that knows of the challenge ahead. Brennan heads the Bring Our Birds Home trust, which is spearheading an effort to repatriate six historic New Zealand aircraft that are now scattered around the world. The aircraft all initially flew for Kiwi airlines, before being sold offshore and now sit in various state of decay.