Kitty Hawk Restoration in New Zealand. What is happening to these historic WWII Fighter aircraft?
Claimed to be the only aircraft that has ever shot down another aircraft over New Zealand, Curtiss Kitty Hawk P40N, NZ3147 is under restoration at Ardmore. They plan to paint a New Zealand flag on the side to remember the “kill”.
Truth is stranger than fiction. On 20 June 1940, two planes were prepared at Gisborne for filming. Two mistakes led to a “friendly fire” incident where an unnamed pilot shot down his boss, Squadron Leader RM McKay, and struck the aircraft, disabling the hydraulics. It did a belly landing after the undercarriage could not be lowered.
The subsequent inquiry found that the weapons of both aircraft had been loaded with live rounds owing to a misunderstanding on the part of the armourers, and the pilot of NZ3147 had failed to select the gun solenoid “Off” as required for safety in such an exercise.
The Court of Inquiry report stated that the pilot clearly understood the operation of all the switches on the P-40N, but followed the procedure adopted when doing similar exercises in the P-40E model, which he had recently been flying, in which the switch position was reversed to the “on” position.
Kitty Hawk NZ 3142 was repaired at the time and returned to service. It was scrapped post-war at Rukahia, near Hamilton.
Pioneer Aero has restored 12 Kitty Hawks of the approximate 40 now flying worldwide. The restorations take about 30,000 hours and cost $2m. Current restorations come with the upgrade of a second seat behind the pilot, where one of the fuel tanks used to be located.
Peter Haigh brought along a memento from his dad, who had wrecked a surplus Kitty Hawk post-war. The only surviving part is the rear vision mirror. This got our host, Steve Cox, very excited! As NZ3147 will be staying in NZ, Steve is putting as many authentic parts into it as possible. Steve told Peter that if he ever wants to let the mirror go, it could fly again in NZ3147!
In the 1943 WWII Pioneer hanger, there is another Kitty Hawk that just needs the CAA paperwork to be ticked off before it can be test flown. It is one of two lend-lease planes recovered from Russia a couple of decades back when these things could be purchased. The plane, White (Russian) #51, was shot down and crashed onto a frozen lake. The pilot survived and the plane eventually went to the bottom of the lake.
Surprisingly, White 25 is also being restored. It is at a very early stage. The 15-person team at Pioneer is also working on wings for a Kitty Hawk that is at Blenheim. Each wing takes about 5,000 hours to recreate.
Pioneer have restored other warbirds. There is a ship-based amphibious aircraft crated up waiting for funding. Another project that is being shipped to NZ now is an SBD-5 Dauntless B-22 dive bomber. And just when you think that you have seen everything a kiwi hanger has to offer, there is an instrument panel out of a B-52 bomber sitting on the floor. Its local owner collects such things and he is eagerly waiting on this restoration!
This visit was organised by Kevin Smith, area rep for Jeep Division. Kevin’s wife, Antoinette, works with Steve Cox’s wife Sharon. When Antoinette asked what her friends’ husband does, Sharon said he restores old military aircraft. Sometimes it is not what you know, it is who you know! The 30+ members enjoying the visit certainly appreciated the opportunity. The New Zealand Military Vehicle Club is an amazing organisation!
The hanger raid on Pioneer Aviation took place in July 2021.
Please follow me and clap if you enjoyed this story. Both actions will help me become more established on the Medium platform. BTW, if you hold down the clap button, you can give multiple claps. Thank you!