Our third Pitts S1 was Max Clear's ZK-EES (c/n AACA/28/1) which was another Pitts out of the Hamilton area. It was built with 2 ailerons so I think it was a S 1C. It was first registered on 21/8/75 and it is photo'd here at the 1977 AACA flyin at Masterton.
It was sold to an Auckland syndicate of Owen Harnish, S P Taylor, Richard Hood and M Waring on 11/5/83. It is is photo'd here at the 1989 National Aerobatic Championships at Waipukurau. It was rebuilt in 1994 with a 180 HP engine, and I guess it was rebuilt with 4 ailerons as photo'd below.
Finally it was sold to Darrell Brown of New Plymouth on 5/2/06, and it now operates with Taranaki Flight Tech Ltd markings. It is photo'd here at the 2011 Brian Langley Memorial aerobatic competition at North Shore Airfield on 15/1/11.
Our fourth Pitts was ZK-EEU (c/n AACA/24/1) which was built by Keith Trillo of Auckland and was first registered on 2/10/75. Its first flight was in January 1978. It is photo'd here at the 1978 AACA flyin at Nelson. I do not have a record of who took this photo but it clearly shows that it has 4 ailerons so it is probably a S 1D model.
ZK-EEU spent nearly all its life owned by Keith Trillo. It is photo'd here at the 1981 AACA flyin at Mt Hutt. It was sold to the Southern Pitts Syndicate at Mandeville and is currently on rebuild.
And our fifth Pitts S1 was ZK-KEM (c/n AACA/404) which was built by Kurt Maluschnig of Levin. I do not have a record of who took this photo, or where, but it shows it to be a S 1D model with 4 ailerons.
It is photo'd here at its Foxpine base in late 1980 where it now sports a white flash at the junction of the fuselage and rudder. I think this was to hide a repair when the aircraft possibly overturned early on in its life. Kurt sold ZK-KEM to Ray Patchett and Rex Handley of Blenhiem on 9/10/85, then it was sold to the Ashburton Aerobatic Syndicate on 13/8/86, but it didn't last long with them as it was damaged at Ashburton on 27/1/87.
The damaged aircraft was sold to Anthony Stuart Clarke of Torbay, North Shore on 27/1/88 and it was cancelled on 1/2/99. However it was re-registered by Mr Clarke, now of Warkworth, on 6/8/04 and it was based at North Shore Airfield. Finally it was sold to Neil Jepsen of Palmerston North on 4/4/09. It is based at Feilding Aerodrome where I photo'd it on 1/1/11.
I was most impressed with the collection of Fisher R 80 Tiger Moths posted by Blue Bus. To complete the set here is a photo of Jon Farmer's ZK-CCC taken at Matamata. I don't have a record of who took this photo. (I did see and photograph it in its hangar at Matamata in September 2007, but this is a better photo).
And in a double take at North Shore airfield this afternoon ( 2 hangars, 2 yellow Starlets), the full extent of the Wilkinson treatment was revealed! A winter's worth of work by David Wilkinson and his father Don has resulted in Starlets ZK-TOY and ZK-TNT becoming like two peas in a pod! They will make a great sight at the 2011 Black Sands flyin in 2 weeks time.
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| Southern Lakes AS350B2 ZK-HMD |
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| Helicopters Queenstown AS350B2 ZK-HQG with steadycam |
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| Heli-Works Queenstown AS350B2 ZK-HYS |
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| Explorair's AS350BA ZK-IBL sporting Glacier Southern Lakes titles |
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| Southern Lakes Helicopters AS350B3 ZK-IDE |
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| Heli-Works Queenstown Robinson R44 II ZK-ITT |
New Zealand's first Pitts Special was ZK-DOH (c/n AACA/121) which was started in Hamilton (Hamilton was a hotbed of early Pitts Special activity), but was completed by Chris Pask of Hastings. It was a S 1C model with ailerons only on the bottom wings. It was first registered on 11/1/76 and it is photo'd here at the 1976 AACA flyin at Kaikohe. I remember my first sight of it when it took off obscured by other aircraft and rocketed into the sky! (This was in the time of Turbulents and Jodels). One neat touch added by Chris Pask was the embossed leather patches on either side of the cockpit.
ZK-DOH was sold to Peggy Perry of Hamilton on 29/3/78 and it is shown here at the 1983 AACA fly-in at Paraparaumu. It was then sold to Dennis Thompson International Ltd in 1983, who sold it to W Sneddon of Nelson on 9/5/84, and it was then sold to R E Turner, also of Nelson, on 12/11/84.
It was then sold to Moss G Smith of Puriri near Thames on 8/9/89. It is photo'd here at the 1990 AACA fly-in at Waipukurau. It was damaged at Taupo on 20/2/90.
Moss Smith was a very keen aerobatic pilot and he rebuilt ZK-DOH as a S 1F model with the Falcon wing conversion as photo'd here at the NZ Aerobatic Championships at Waipukurau in 1991. It was finally sold to M R Smith of Inglewood on 24/10/95, and it was withdrawn on 1/7/02. 
Our second Pitts Special has an interesting story. ZK-ECO (AACA/337/1)was commissioned by Tim Wallis and was mostly built by Bob Goding at Hamilton, and it was registered to him on 20/11/75. It was completed by Drake Aviation and was first flown on 1/5/83 by Keith Trillo (who had also built a Pitts). It was an S 1E model with the 4 ailerons. I do not have a record of who took the above photo or where it was taken (later advice that the photo was taken by Greybeard), but it must have been early on in its life as it does not have the Pitts Special logo on the tail.
Sadly it only flew a very few hours before being involved in a fatal accident on 24/5/85 while undertaking low level aerobatics at Beacon Point near Wanaka, killing its pilot (see comments below). The wreckage was returned to Hamilton and it was cancelled on 30/3/88. Thanks to Bob Goding for this photo (after a lot of tracking down).
But this was not the end of ZK-ECO! It reappeared again at Hamilton with a new constructors number (AACA/1061) after having been rebuilt by E C Roberts, and it was re-registered on 19/2/90. It was finally cancelled from the New Zealand register on 26/4/04 when it was sold to the UK as G-CCXK, where it is still current and painted in the same colours. Thanks to Philip Treweek for the above photo which was taken at Rukuhia on 24/8/97.