04 February 2025

Air Chathams Farewells AWP

Yesterday Air Chathams' staff had an opportunity to farewell the company's classic, nearly 80 year old Douglas DC-3 ZK-AWP. A couple of scenic flights were operated from Auckland before the plane departed for Ardmore for some brief work in preparation for its ferry flight to Darwin. It then flew to Matamata where it will do crew training before leaving the country, at this stage on Saturday.

Unfortunately the Auckland heat haze played havoc with the photos landing and taking off.

A full history of ZK-AWP can be found here : 
https://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2020/04/douglas-dc-3-zk-awp-her-75-year-history.html


Douglas DC-3 ZK-AWP landing in the heat haze at Auckland with the first staff flight on 3 February 2025



An unexpected change of taxi way and I had to sprint to the car to change lens

Missed the side on shot

Departing on the second staff flight


And better shots on the return 





About to depart for Ardmore and Matamata 

 

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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 04, 2025 10:31 AM

    So glad I managed to grab one of the last flights out of WHK. Such a beautiful bird.

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 05, 2025 8:21 PM

    Will AWP be exported to oz via Auckland on Saturday?

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  3. AnonymousFebruary 06, 2025 6:01 PM

    I was lucky enough to have a ride when she was still top dressing. Basically no airworthy Daks in the country now?

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 06, 2025 9:07 PM

    From what I have heard , if the plans fall in to place for the other 2 airworthy DC-3s in this country , then sometime this year , New Zealand will have no flyable examples.
    A sad time in New Zealand's aviation heritage.

    ReplyDelete