16 October 2023

Mystery SOLVED

Can anyone help me identify the location of where this Whites Aviation photo of NAC de Havilland DH89B ZK-AKU is taken??? 

My initial thought was Hokitika but the hills in the background seem wrong. 

As far as I can recall the following airports were served by NAC Dominies... Kaitaia, Kaikohe, Whangarei, Whenuapai, Hamilton, Rotorua, Paraparaumu, Wellington, Blenheim, Nelson, Westport, Hokitika, Franz Josef, Haast, Taieri and Invercargill...

Any thoughts???



 

A comment below about the sand got me thinking and about the old Whakarewarewa aerodrome site on Fenton St, Rotorua... After searching the MOTAT site I found this great photo of Guide Tina and an unidentified woman waving Oscar Garden goodbye as he flies off at Rotorua airport in aircraft Kia Ora taken at Rotorua on the 17th of December 1930. The hills match the photo above...


13 comments:

  1. I could be way off - but is that Mandeville? 🤔

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  2. I would have thought it was an NAC port. Not sure that Mandeville had an airfield late 40s or 50s

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    1. Ah yes! Quite right you are. My other thought was Kaikohe - but I don't think that's right either

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    2. Kaikohe is what I have been thinking too but I don't have photos to compare the background

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  3. According to the NAC book by Richard Waugh this particular DH-89 flew predominantly between Auckland and Whangarei, so i don't know if that narrows it down at all?

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  4. This is an early scheme so quite a of other destinations as possibilities

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  5. Must be near the coast as the ground looks like sand

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    1. The sand comment got me thinking about Rotorua... the old Fenton St/Whakarewarewa site... but I can't match the hills in the background... its quite a distinctive twin peak

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  6. Kind of looks like the hills between Tairei and the coast behind?

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    1. I've had a look at Google's street views and the hills don't seem to match... Also with the western hills...

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    2. The bush also doesn't fit with Taieri

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  7. Nothing showing on FR24 😂😂

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  8. Of course! Definitely Whakarewarewa. :)

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