Poppies Away!

A former World WAR II RAF trainer Tiger Moth, ZK-BAL (aka SNAFU) flew over Gisborne's Cenotaph to ‘bomb’ it with poppies during the city's ANZAC Day service.

Gisborne RSA member and pilot Paddy Callaghan and co-pilot Kevin Lloyd released hundreds of poppies directly above the Cenotaph

The Tiger Moth has been in Gisborne since 1952. During the past ten years it has often flown in support of Gisborne RSA commemorations.

The Gisborne Cenotaph far below (lower right corner) as SNAFU prepares to release her "flower power".

SNAFU and her pilot Paddy Callaghan bask in the sunshine at Gisborne Airport.

Gisborne's Old Girl still going Strong

Tiger Moth ZK-BAL, or SNAFU (an RAF acronym for confusion) as she is better known, has lived in Gisborne for most of her 66 years. SNAFU supports Gisborne’s ANZAC Day Citizens’ Service with a flying salute over the Cenotaph and also does flyovers on Battle of Britain Day and at veterans’ funerals, particularly those for former airmen. Former RNZAF man and Gisborne RSA member PADDY CALLAGHAN has piloted her on those occasions for almost 10 years; here he tells SNAFU’s story to BARRY ALLISON.

The De Havilland Tiger Moth two-seat biplane was designed in 1931. The type went on to serve many air forces, including the RNZAF, as an elementary trainer for more than 20 years. Most WWII Commonwealth pilots learning to fly in Tiger Moths

Built as an RAF trainer in 1940 at Hatfield, just west of London, SNAFU came to Gisborne in 1952. Rebuilt as a top-dresser she led a life probably more dangerous than her previous one of teaching World War II RAF tyro pilots to fly; with difficult farm-strip take-offs and landings and the unforgiving terrain always close beneath her wings. Her sister ZK-BAK didn’t survive but SNAFU did and stayed in top dressing until September 1958 despite flying 20 hard-working hours a week. Then her engine was removed and she was tied to a fence where she stayed until 1962.

Two hundred kilos of super phosphate is dumped into this Tiger Moth’s hopper on a Makaretu airstrip in Poverty Bay farm in 1957. The picture shows the hard, dirty, dangerous work SNAFU was doing, 20 flying hours a week for six years in the 1950s.

Rescue came in the form of the Darton Field (Gisborne airport), Flying Syndicate. An association of pilots and engineers, who untied her from the fence, removed her fertilizer hopper and spray gear and refitted the front cockpit and engine. By then SNAFU was the last Tiger Moth left in Gisborne in private ownership. She underwent a major restoration in 1982 and further refurbishment in 1997.

A new Darton Field Flying Syndicate, three of its 20 members qualified pilots, bought her for $98,000 in 1998, somehow stumping up the funds to keep her in Gisborne. Since then she has given hundreds of locals and visitors the unforgettable experience of flight from another era. Available on a cost-sharing basis the 30-minute blasts into the past meet some of the costs incurred in keeping her airworthy.

In concessions to modern times she has been fitted with radio and an emergency locator transmitter and will soon get a radar transponder, an automatic aircraft identification system, giving her position and altitude from the ground or from other aircraft.
Paddy estimates he has flown around 100 hours in SNAFU, mainly on the 30-minute flights, and said he just loves to fly her. He said his wife, Eileen, an airman’s daughter who worked at Ohakea, was very supportive of his love affair. “She’s flown all around the country with me,” he said. “She’s very patient and loves flying even aerobatics. Everyone says a Tiger Moth is an easy plane to fly but a hard plane to fly well and it can bite a careless pilot. It’s seat of the pants flying. Hands on all the way and you keep a keen eye on the airspeed indicator. When flying I wear an RNZAF flight suit, leather jacket, leather helmet with goggles, scarf, face mask with radio mike but ordinary street shoes. You lose two degrees of temperature per 1000 feet of altitude so you need a jacket. Sorry but passengers have to provide their own!

“Seriously she is a lovely, docile aeroplane to fly. I treat her with a lot of respect. She’s never been crashed and I don’t want to be the first to do it!

“There are about 40-odd Tiger Moths flying in NZ from perhaps 90 or so here in total. Being a tail-wheel aircraft, in SNAFU’s case a tail-skid, they attract interest from mainly older people. The greatest joy is taking up the old WWII guys, the guys who flew the Lancs. They absolutely love it and they still know how to fly!’

Paddy earned his private pilot’s licence in 1969 through the Ohakea Aviation Sports Club.

He had joined the RNZAF in 1966, strongly influenced by his father’s example. “Dad was a wireless operator in a Wellington bomber shot down over Holland during the war. I was always Air Force orientated, ATC and all that, and Dad gave me encouragement.”

An aircraft technician specializing in airframes Paddy worked at Ohakea, Whenuapai, Wigram, Woodbourne and Singapore. He served 21 years working on diverse aircraft such as Sunderland flying boats, C130 Hercules transports and Canberra, Vampire, Strikemaster and Skyhawk jets.

He said SNAFU has spruce wood framing for her wings and fuselage. The wings and bottom half of the fuselage are fabric-covered, the top of the fuselage plywood. A four-cylinder, 135hp Gypsy Major Engine drives the two-blade propeller of laminated wood, which, at 1940-1980 rpm, pulls her along at 80-85 mph cruising speed consuming 7-8 gallons of 91 octane per hour. The controls are strictly cable-and-pulley manual and there are no wheel brakes, “You’ve got to look ahead and plan ahead, even on the ground,” Paddy said.

“The future is a bit difficult. Beyond a doubt SNAFU could fly to her centenary and beyond but maintenance costs are rising. Forty hours labour at $65 per hour for an annual engine check, for example. In an effort to access further avenues of raising funds we have formed the Darton Aviation Charitable Trust. The Syndicate still operates SNAFU but the aim is for the Trust to buy the members’ shares. I know I’ll keep flying her for as long as I can,” he said.

Tiger Moth ZK-BAL, aka SNAFU over Poverty Bay with Young Nick’s Head as a distinctive backdrop.