Confessions of an NZ PropellerHead: THE "WOODEN WONDER"

What an amazing day and an experience not likely to be repeated - ever. I have just returned from an aviation event at Ardmore aerodrome (South Auckland) to celebrate the return to the sky of De Havilland Mosquito KA114 lovingly restored here in NZ but soon to depart to the USA. Why such a unique occasion? Well, for those of you who don't know the DH Type 98 Mosquito was a WWII fighter-bomber originally created as a "fast bomber" and, partly to minimise weight and boost performance, was built mostly of bonded wood using techniques that have been all but lost. Although there are a number of "Mossie" airframes around the world the likelihood of any more than a handful being restored to airworthy condition is pretty remote. Having said that, now that AvSpecs at Ardmore have the moulds who knows; there is already another DH 98 undergoing restoration.
Nine of us went up - in JGP, piloted by club captain Euan ("Flyinkiwi"), two in Alpha, WCD, and yours truly with youngest daughter and another club member in Cherokee, WIT. I must admit I was a little nervous as I had not flown into Ardmore for some years and never before as Pilot-in-Command. Ardmore is a very busy, uncontrolled airfield. It all turned out very well in the end. The flight up was uneventful and, although I had lost sight of the others on the way up, I could hear their radio calls and joined a left-hand downwind for runway 21 behind JGP and WCD, now back in sight, and followed them to the designated "itinerant aircraft" parking area for the show.
We arrived about 90 minutes before the first display and had a leisurely look around the classic cars that were also there before finding a pretty good spot to watch the displays. These were really cool but the "Mossie" absolutely stole the show. A few low passes were all that was needed to show off its lines. It was interesting that the first flight today was only the third or fourth time it had flown, less than 3 hours logged - it had a short trip to Auckland International on Thursday but didn't fly yesterday. I doubt whether the European Union bureaucrats or the FAA in the States would be too happy about the relative lack of test flying before participating in an aviation event but here in "laid-back, no-worries, she'll be right mate" NZ it was good to go. And now for a few pictures: