Errol Cavit

Defence Force plane bound for Middle East to help New Zealanders stranded by conflict Minister of Defence Judith Collins said the government's immediate priority is supporting New Zealanders in the Middle East.

Defence Force plane bound for Middle East to help New Zealanders stranded by conflict | RNZ News
#AvGeek
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/588900/defence-force-plane-bound-for-middle-east-to-help-new-zealanders-stranded-by-conflict

Several vintage biplane trainer aircraft at a grass airfield. There are a few people looking at them, and puffy white clouds in the sky above

Part of the line-up at NZ Tiger Moth Club AGM and fly-in, Dairy Flat Airfield.
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Four biplane trainer aircraft lined up on grass next to a sealed taxiway, seen from right front. They are in a nice variety of colour schemes.

A nice collection of Tiger Moths at Tyabb Airshow 2020, VIC AU.
I'm off to see a bunch of Tiger Moths today at the Tiger Moth Club AGM.
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Tiger Moths to show stripes at Kaipara Flats A recent line up of Tiger Moths, a Fox Moth and a replica Fury at Kaipara Flats airfield. Photo, Keith Morris. AKE Air to Air Gavin Conroy. Photo, Bruce Lynch. The triple tail Miles Messenger on approach to Kaipara Flats airfield. Photo, Keith Morris. The deep thrum of Tiger Moth engines will soon fill the skies above Kaipara Flats when the Rodney Aero Club hosts the Tiger Moth Club of New Zealand at its Newton Road airfield on March 7. The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a renowned 1930s British two-seat biplane, which was used as a trainer for the Royal Air Force and Commonwealth air forces during World War II. According to Te Papa, by 1945 8500 had been built in various countries, including 345 built as trainers for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) at de Havilland’s New Zealand factory at Rongotai Airport in Wellington. After the war, the Tiger Moth was used here extensively for aerial topdressing – technology that revolutionised NZ’s agriculture industry. It flew some 6000 hours and delivered nearly 28,000 tonnes of fertiliser and grass seed from 1946 to 1956. Rodney Aero Club spokesperson Keith Morris said the Tiger Moth Club would be descending on Kaipara Flats for its Far Northern Safari and hold its AGM at the clubrooms, which have just been upgraded. “If the weather for the preceding week is good some Tiger Moths will come from the South Island and there should be a dozen or more at Kaipara Flats airfield,” he said. “The appeal of the Tiger Moth today is that of a gentleman’s touring aircraft that is also aerobatic, and they evoke feelings of an earlier age of exciting flying. They look and sound wonderful when they are in the air.” The de Havilland DH82 Tiger Moth was the brainchild of the prolific British aircraft designer Geoffrey de Havilland and first flew in 1931. The RNZAF eventually operated 335 Tiger Moths during the period 1939 to 1956, and many of today’s Tiger Moth Club planes are painted in RNZAF colours. “Our club is proud to be hosting this event and anyone can to come out to see the vintage aircraft – there will be a donation at the gate with food and refreshments available.” Morris added that Kaipara Flats airfield had become a mecca for vintage aircraft with two or three Tiger Moths based there, as well as a Fox Moth, which is the enclosed cabin version. “There is also a spectacular fully restored 1947 Miles Messenger and a 1938 Aeronca, which is known as the flying bathtub.” The refreshed Rodney Aero Club has been operating since December 2021, and provides microlight flying training and trial flights from Kaipara Flats airfield. “The club has a friendly flying culture and the jug is on at the clubrooms every Saturday morning around 10am, if you want to come out and find out more.” For a trial flight contact Arjen Visser on 021 443 298 or email admin@rac.nz or book at the airfield on March 7.

I've just woken up to the Tiger Moth fly-in happening tomorrow, an hour's drive away. That's my Saturday sorted!
https://www.localmatters.co.nz/mahurangi-news/tiger-moths-to-show-stripes-at-kaipara-flats/
https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2026/03/tiger-moths-and-jackaroo-at-kaipara.html
#AvGeek

History has taught us nothing _Content warning: descriptions of death and mutilation._ The opening paragraph of the current draft of my next book, about one day over a century ago: > Shortly before midday on 13 June 1917, Upper North Street School in Poplar was hit by a single bomb dropped from a German aeroplane. It killed eighteen pupils, sixteen of whom were aged just five or six years old. More than a century later, the grief still radiates from contemporary accounts. Many of the dead children were disfigured beyond recognition and could only be identified by some distinctive item of clothing, such as ‘a button which the mother had sewed on the wristband the previous evening’. Newspapers told of ‘Pathetic scenes’ inside the coronial inquest into the deaths, with ‘many children giving way to childish grief at the thought of the sudden and awful fate of their school companions’, while one rescuer, a ‘fine burly’ sailor, was reported to have ‘wept quietly for a moment’, saying ‘these little children—it is too much’. But while anguish and despair were understandable responses, it was stoicism which was applauded, even – especially – when displayed by those who had lost the most: > >> > The caretaker, who was still suffering from shock, says the first victim of the explosion he encountered was his own little son, whose body was mutilated almost beyond recognition. His wife was prostrated with grief, but the caretaker was bravely ‘carrying on.’ ‘School is ordered to start again tomorrow,’ he said. Then he went mechanically about the work in hand. > > > As Will Crooks, a Labour member of parliament (MP) and Poplar’s former mayor, observed admiringly of such restraint in the face of overwhelming loss, ‘I have never seen more truly British pluck than I have seen today’. And from the _Guardian_, about one day less than a week ago: > The missile hit during the school’s morning session. In Iran, the school week runs from Saturday to Thursday, so when US and Israeli bombs began falling at around 10am on Saturday [28 February 2026], classes were under way. At a point between 10am and 10.45am, a missile directly hit Shajareh Tayyebeh school, in Minab, southern Iran, demolishing its concrete building and killing dozens of seven to 12-year-old girls. > > Photographs and verified videos from the site, which the Guardian has not published due to their graphic nature, show children’s bodies lying partly buried under the debris. In one video, a very small child’s severed arm is pulled from the rubble. Colourful backpacks covered with blood and concrete dust sit among the ruins. One girl wears a green dress with gingham patches on her pockets and the collar, her form partly obscured by a black body bag. Screams can be heard in the background. > > One distraught man stands in the ruins of the school, waving textbooks and worksheets as rescuers dig by hand through the debris. ‘These are the schoolbooks of the children who are under these ruins, under this rubble here,’ he shouts. ‘You can see the blood of these children on these books. These are civilians, who are not in the military. This was a school and they came to study.’ History has taught us nothing. But, as a historian, I have to keep hoping that it still can. Image source: ‘The funeral of the child victims of the air raid – the scene at Poplar’, _Sphere_ , 30 June 1917, 281. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://airminded.org/copyright/. Share this: Related posts: * The pigeon has landed * Apropos of nothing in particular * Is nothing sacred?

At Airminded: History has taught us nothing https://airminded.org/2026/03/06/history-has-taught-us-nothing/

Read NZ News story about two RNZAF C-130Js preparing to go to the Middle East to assist in evacuations. Then get email from Warbirds Over Wanaka (3-5 April) about the flypast by C-130s from 4 countries. Let's see if that actually happens, shall we?
#AvGeek

Biplane trainer aircraft, seen from behind and slightly above in a museum hangar. It a blue white and red scheme

Focke Wulf FW-44 Sk12 Stieglitz D-ECUX at Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich.
#AvGeek #Aviation

A vintage box kite hanging from a museum hangar roof.

Weather kite based on Proj Lindenberg Observatory, Lindenberg, 1910 This box kite was used for weather measurements and weather observation: a measuring and recording device attached to the kite could be transported to higher air layers to record weather data (air pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed). At the beginning of the 20th century until the 1930s, kites were used extensively for meteorological studies. This data was used for research purposes, but also for the preparation of weather forecasts. This type of box kite was developed by Prof. Charles F. Marvin (1859-1943), head of the Weather Service Meteorological Institute in Washington DC, USA. It was a further development of the Hargrave box kite known at the time. A characteristic feature of the Marvin kite is the front cell with three surfaces. Prof. Marvin equipped the kite stations in the USA around 1900 with this type of kite. In Germany, the Marvin kite was used at the Lindenberg Aeronautical Observatory near Berlin, at the Friedrichshafen kite station and at the kite station of the German Naval Observatory in Grofs-Borstel (Hamburg). Length: 2,25m Width: 1,86m Height: 0,82m

A weather kite of Prof Marvin's design, used at Lindenberg Observatory in 1910, at Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich.
#AvGeek #Aviation

Deep-sea whale re-floated after stranding on central Auckland beach Shepherd's beaked whales live in the deep sea, and only come up to shore if something is wrong

Deep-sea whale re-floated after stranding on central Auckland beach https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/588515/deep-sea-whale-re-floated-after-stranding-on-central-auckland-beach 🐋 #Cetaceans #MarineMammals #MarineLife #MarineBiology #Whales #Science

Close shot of a 1930's cabin airplane, taken from beside and behind the open cabin door. The nearest high wing is removed, and the cladding panels are mainly removed, displaying the metal framing with wooden formers.

Fairchild F-24 W46 NC8155 in Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich.
#avGeek #Aviation

Screenshot from the Flightradar24 app, showing aircraft funneled into paths that avoid overflight of Iran and its neighbours as well as Ukraine and Russia.

Busy airspace over Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and northern Turkey as flights into and out of Europe thread the needle between warzones.

Boxy vintage biplane trainer aircraft in a museum hangar, taken from right rear. It has an orange plywood fuselage and silver wings with solid struts.

Udet U 12 Flamingo replica at Flugwerft Schleissheim Munich. This 1925 design has a strong connection with the airfield, with many based here in the 1920s.
#AvGeek #Aviation

Two dusty, abandoned British Airways cabin trainers sit in a large, derelict warehouse.Two dusty, abandoned British Airways cabin trainers sit in a large, derelict warehouse.

BA 747 cockpit

Passenger area of BA 747, with blue leather seats

Cockpit of BA 77377

✈️ An abandoned British Airways Training Centre, England. This sprawling site is now disused, surplus to requirements, and outdated. At the heart of the complex is this Safety and Emergency Procedures (SEP) area.

For training cabin crew, these Boeing 737 and […]

[Original post on mstdn.social]

Flying wing glider of metal and wooden construction hanging in a museum hangar. The pilots head is visible above and near the front of the swept wing, under the smooth shaped canopy, while the pod for their legs extends below and behind.

Close view of flying wing glider of metal and wooden construction hanging in a museum hangar. The upper body and head of a dummy is seen under the smooth shaped canopy.

Horton IV glider in Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich. Built 1941-42, flown until 1950 by RAF personnel. Centre section reconstructed in 1990's.
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A woman takes a selfie, reflected in a large, ornate, and decaying mirror within an abandoned palace room,

🪞 Random mirror selfie, in an abandoned palace somewhere in Portugal. This huge, gorgeous foxed mirror must have seen some sights over the decades. Nowadays it decays, mostly forgotten, as the world moves on outside this forgotten space.

On this day, it had to […]

[Original post on mstdn.social]

Currently enjoying being downwind of a 100yo Gnome 9N rotary running up on the other side of the airfield! It's fairly breezy so might not see the Siemens Schuckert D.IV replica that it powers fly today.
#AvGeek #Aviation

Small boxy silver vintage trainer aircraft in a museum hangar. It as an uncowled radial engine, and open cockpits.

Klemm L25a VI D-EBMX, in Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich. I didn't realise at the time that it was the same one that I had seen a few days earlier at Hahnweide.
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Map of the Nazifascist massacres in Italy, 1943-1945

Each dot in this picture is a Nazi-fascist massacre in Italy that happened between 1943 and 1945.

This is the result of a project that lasted years, summarized by the Atlante cells Stragi Nazifasciste https://www.straginazifasciste.it/

6000 of them, the […]

[Original post on manganiello.eu]

Vintage high wing glider hung from the ceiling of a museum hangar. It is silver with a large registration, and makers name on the nose.

Akaflieg München Mü10 Milan at Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich.
#AvGeek #Aviation

A World War 1 two seater aircraft in a museum hangar. The near side of the fuselage has had the fabric removed, displaying the internal equipment.

Rumpler C.IV at Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich.
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Very early biplane in a museum hangar, seen from just in front of the right wing. An engine is fitted on the front of the lower wing, while two large aft mounted propellers are linked to it by geared chains.

Museum placard Wright Flyer Model A Wright Company, Dayton, OH, USA, 1908 The brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright carried out the first successful powered flights in the USA in 1903. The Wright Flyer Model A was the first mass-produced powered airplane and a further development of the "original Flyer". The specimen on display here was purchased by the newspaper publisher August Scherl ("Berliner Lokalanzeiger") and was later exhibited at the General Aircraft Exhibition in Berlin in 1912. In April 1918, he donated the aircraft to the Deutsches Museum in Munich. It was also Scherl who had invited Wright to his flight demonstrations in Berlin in 1909. Between 4 and 21 September, Wright demonstrated his flying skills with the aircraft on display here, setting an altitude record of 172 metres and another duration record in two-person flight of 35 minutes. He also founded a company in Berlin: Flugmaschine Wright GmbH, based at Berlin's Nollendorfplatz, which subsequently produced around 60 biplanes at the Johannisthal airfield until 1913. Technical data: ; Wingspan 123m Surface area 47 m2 Length 8.6m Maximum speed approx. 60 km/h Empty weight 390 kg Flying mass 550 kg

Wright Model A Flyer at Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich. More in sign alt text.
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Except from the High Speed Rail Authority's Newcastle to Sydney High Speed Rail Business Case, giving some details of the project. 115 km of the 194 km route from Newcastle to Western Sydney Airport will be in tunnels and the trains, while otherwise able to operate at 320 km/h, will be limited to 200 km in the tunnels.

That document does also give some insight into why the predicted journey times are so unimpressive for a supposed high speed rail line.

The trains will apparently operate at up to 320 km/h, which is OK, but only 200 km/h in tunnels, and most of the Newcastle to […]

[Original post on aus.social]

Small silver metal flying boat hung in a museum. Its engine is fitting on the parasol wing, above the cockpit. It also has significant sponsons below the wooden wing struts attached to the fuselage.

Dornier Do A Libelle II, Deutsches Museum Munich. One of these was in a fatal crash off Milford, Auckland NZ in 1929.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNAK19291213.2.2
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/116116193839471747

The NJ legislature is not fucking around.

Today I learned that New Zealand employers are REQUIRED BY LAW to provide tea and coffee to their employees.

!!!

The author standing next to a twin otter aircraft at -40 degrees in Northern Alaska

One airplane I always wanted to fly. Maybe in retirement, get checked out just for fun.

I have thousands of hours in the DHC-6 (Twin Otter), which is still my favorite aircraft. We flew it off-airport, bringing Salmon scientists to their Summer research […]

[Original post on thecanadian.social]

An unusual metal rectangular structure with a large closed cylinder of shiny yellow metal near the closest end. Various pieces of machinery are ahead of this, with a long exhaust pipe along the side. There is a skeletal frame to about waist height and an A frame towering above.

Museum display placard, with a photo and a diagram of a small early airship on the left. The text on the right is: Parseval airship nacelle Airship nacelle of the Parseval airship "P.L.2" named after its developer August von Parseval (1861-1942). Parseval airships are so-called impact airships: The airship hull, which has no stiffeners, is kept inflated by two inflatable airbags. A special feature of Parseval airships is that the gondola is suspended deep below the hull. With the help of steel cables and a pulley system, it is possible to keep the airship gondola approximately horizontal, even if the airship body is in an inclined position (e.g. when starting off). Another special feature of the first Parsevaliairships is the non- rigid propeller: it is mounted on a high frame and has four propeller blades made of loose, strong material, which are fitted with weights, steel cables and steel crossbars so that the propeller blades are brought into the appropriate shape and rigidity by centrifugal force during operation, i.e. when the propeller is turning. At rest, the blades hang down limply (as they do now in the exhibition. Parseval airships were built as one-offs between 1906 and 1917. The P.L.2 had a gas volume of approx. 4,000 m* and an overall length of around 60 metres, making it one of the smaller Parseval airships.

Airship nacelle of the Parseval airship P.L.2 in Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich. More in sign alt text.
#AvGeek #Aviation

A photo along the recently redesigned Halswell Road in Christchurch City with a sign saying "Cyclists Please Use Shared Path" and another sign with a bicycle and an arrow pointing at the footpath.

If you have to put up a sign asking cyclists to please use your shared pedestrian path, you've designed it wrong.

As a commuter cyclist, I want to get from point A to point B as fast as I can, without dying. Just like a car driver.

When given the option of […]

[Original post on mastodon.nz]

A water bird with a purple chest, black wings and head, a red beak, and huge pink feet stands on a rusty railway track. There's green grass and light brown casuarina trash between the tracks. Lush green bush behind.

From Thursday's walk to get groceries: a swamp hen posing on an old railway track.

#LakeMacquarie #BirdsOfOz

A silver flying boat in a museum hangar, a close shot looking up from the front left. The 3 radial engines are mounted in front of the parasol wing above the cockpit. S A R is marked in yellow ahead of the wide side pontoons.

Dornier Do 24 T-3 at Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich.
#AvGeek #Aviation