The N.Z. Situation

[Dave McDonald]

Hi all

' National Archives hold records relating to the New Zealand Air Department.
I have conducted a brief search of our finding aids to records generated by
the Air Department, but, unfortunately, was unable to locate any references
to the German Airforce (Luftwaffe). '

Well it seems that both the RNZAF Museum and the National Archives hold no ' officially captured ' Luftwaffe documents - so those that did make it back to New Zealand would have been ' liberated ' privately and unfortunately until they are donated to one of the above institutions they will remain unavailable to researchers .
Further to this , only one Luftwaffe aircraft was sent to N.Z. , in the form of a Me 109E-4 . The aircraft was a casualty of the Battle of Britain , shot down in November 1940. She was shipped here in late 1941 and was attached to the Technical Training Schools at Rongotai and Nelson , occasionally being displayed for War Bond drives . She was unfortunately broken up at RNZAF Wigram , Christchurch in 1948.

best regards

Dave

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[Simon Gunson]

Notwithstanding regular airshow dogfights between Spitfires and guest star Bf-109-G aircraft most Easters, New Zealand has a Bf-108 resident near Auckland. This site is worth a look at:

http://www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/bf108.html

...and this is what it had to say about the Bf-108 Taifun:

New Zealand's sole example of the Bf108 is registered as a Noord 1002 Pinguin. However, the aircraft was built in 1943, prior to the manufacturing plant being moved to France (June 1944), and can be considered a real Messerschmitt. During its wartime service, the aircraft was shot down twice. Rebuilt in March 1945, it was given the Noord c/n 103. The Luftwaffe aircraft was surrendered in Belgium in June 1945.

The aircraft entered the civil register as OO-NET. Exported to the USA in 1968, the Bf108 became N108H in 1973. It then passed through a succession of owners in New Hampshire, Colorado, Nevada and Texas before reaching R.L. van Buskirk in Vero Beach Florida. Rebuilt by Piper Aircraft the aircraft received a 300hp Lycoming in place of the original inverted V4 Argus engine. This along with the installation of butane guns, and a Bf108 style paint scheme allowed the aircraft to be employed in film work.

In March 1989, the Bf108 was exported to South Africa. There it was registered ZS-WFI to C. van der Walt of Wonderboom, near Pretoria. Maurice Hayes and Colin Henderson travelled to South Africa to check the aircraft out before importing it to New Zealand in March 1996. They registered the aircraft as ZK-WFI with their company 'Fighter Trainers ltd'. The aircraft is now registered to 'In Touch Travel Limited'

[Dave McDonald]

Simon

I would take this 'history' with a grain of salt, I have yet to see any evidence of a wk.nr. being produced, something that will be needed to prove any providence.

regards
Dave

[Simon Gunson]

http://www.caa.govt.nz/Script/AirReg...3=Get+Reg+Mark

NZ CAA list the constructor's number as #108