Post by aerofoto - HJG Admin on Dec 30, 2016 21:23:12 GMT
"Kiwi Magic" - The Final Story
AIR NEW ZEALAND commenced pure jet operations during 1965 .... much later than many of the worlds major international airlines whom became members of the international Jet Set during the mid-to-late 1950´s.
Between 1965 and 1971 AIR NEW ZEALAND took delivery of a total of 7 DC-8-52 aircraft .... ZK-NZA, ZK-NZB, ZK-NZC, ZK-NZD, ZK-NZE, ZK-NZF, and ZK-NZG .... and operated its "first ever" DC-8 service between Christchurch and Melbourne on November 24th 1965.
AIR NEW ZEALAND´s first DC-8-52 (ZK-NZA) was rolled-out at the DOUGLAS facility, at Long Beach, California, USA during December 1964 .... supporting the DOUGLAS test registration "N9683Z".
At this time the airline was still known as TEAL/"TASMAN EMPIRE AIRWAYS LIMITED" .... or otherwise referred to, in friendly rivalry (with its Australian part-shareholding of the period) as "TAKE ELECTRA´s AND LIKE IT" .... however .... upon becoming a 100% New Zealand and state owned company, and from April 1st 1965 the airline was renamed "AIR NEW ZEALAND".
Upon roll-out of its first DC-8 it seems the airlines intended livery for these aircraft had not been finalized .... resulting in ZK-NZA supporting "AIR NEW ZELAND" fuselage titles in small upper-case vertical font; Finer "DC-8 JET" titles on its upper rear fuselage section; Large white "TEAL" titles in upper-case vertical font on the tail fin .... with a 4 gold star configuration representing the Southern Cross (based on that earlier supported by both the L-188 ELECTRA and DC-6) set upon a dark blue background; "AIR NEW ZEALAND" titles in vertical block font located within a Pacific Jade coloured stripe at the base of the tail fin; And small "TEAL" titles located beside DOOR 1L .... and without engine nacelle titles and logos ....
It is not known whether or not this aircraft actually test flew in this particular livery (it may, or may not have, but, likely didn´t) .... however .... a rare photo, taken around the time of its December 1964 roll-out, indicates it "DID" at least support this livery style at that time.
Publicity photos of ZK-NZA, taken during a pre-delivery acceptance flight prior to July 1965, indicate this aircraft, by this time, supported what had become the airlines mid 1960´s interim livery .... but .... devoid of the its TEAL inherited gold Maroro/flying fish logo which was later located on the forward upper fuselage ....
DC-8-52 ZK-NZA was delivered AIR NEW ZEALAND on July 19th 1965 .... featuring revised "AIR NEW ZEALAND" fuselage titles in fine but enlarged upper case italicized font; Pacific Jade coloured "TEAL" titles in large upper-case italicized font (only until April 1966 though) .... with a 5 gold star configuration representing the Southern Constellation; "AIR NEW ZEALAND" titles in vertical upper-case font located within the tail stripe; The gold Maroro logo located on the forward upper fuselage; And engine nacelles supporting both "AIR NEW ZEALAND" period titles and the Maroro logo ....
ZK-NZB .... the airlines 2nd DC-8-52 .... was delivered to AIR NEW ZEALAND on August 10th 1965. This particular aircraft supported the same TEAL/AIR NEW ZEALAND interim livery style as applied to ZK-NZA .... but .... featuring 5 white stars on its tail fin (the only AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 to feature this particular detail) and which this aircraft supported during its first few months of service to the airline ....
Sadly .... ZK-NZB was written-off in a fatal training accident at Auckland International Airport 11 months later .... on July 4th 1966 ....
AIR NEW ZEALAND´s 3rd DC-8-52 .... ZK-NZC .... was delivered to the airline on September 17th 1965 also supporting the same style of interim TEAL/AIR NEW ZEALAND livery as applied ZK-NZA .... including the 5 gold star featured tail livery.
By April 1966 .... with the transition of TEAL to AIR NEW ZEALAND having been completed .... and with 3 DC-8´s in service .... the "TEAL" titles were removed from the tail of each of these aircraft to reveal the airlines "first definitive" mid 1960´s era livery. The "AIR NEW ZEALAND" fuselage, tail, and engine nacelle titles .... along with the Mororo fuselage and engine logos also .... each remained unaltered, but, the 5 gold star configuration on the tail of each aircraft was modified and enlarged somewhat .... coinciding also with the airlines "5-Star Jet" advertising slogan of the period.
During the late 1960´s .... and as the result of experience gained from other airline accidents around the world, during which some rescue services appeared to have experienced difficulties in locating aircraft exits with ease, painted door exits became mandatory throughout the international airline industry. In compliance with this new regulation the fuselage exits on all AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 aircraft were then outlined in black ....
.... although given the apparent stark appearance these black door outlines (during a time when airlines possibly took greater pride in the cosmetic appearance of their aircraft), these details were soon modified, using more subtle shades, in order to better blend-in with the airlines livery whilst also still complying with the then new international air transport safety regulations.
A further 2 factory fresh DC-8-52 aircraft were acquired by AIR NEW ZEALAND during early 1968 .... ZK-NZD delivered to the airline on January 27th 1968 .... followed by ZK-NZE which was delivered to the airline on February 27th 1968. Both of these aircraft supported dark blue and white door/exit outlines and which were applied fleet wide around the same period.
During the very late 1960´s other minor detail adjustments .... as well as further livery modifications .... were applied across the AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 fleet. Due to the abrasive effects of high-speed slip stream over/around airframe surfaces the previously painted flight deck windshield frames, and tail leading edge surfaces, were modified to become unpainted/natural metal surfaces, and the italicized "AIR NEW ZEALAND" fuselage titles were both enlarged and thickened also ....
By the very late 1960´s/early 1970´s McDONNELL-DOUGLAS had ceased production of the DC-8-50 aircraft in order to focus exclusively upon DC-8 SUPER 60 SERIES production .... and by this period the company was also well established with the development of its advanced wide-body DC-10.
The late 1960´s/early 1970´s represented a boom period throughout the world airline industry .... with PAX growth beginning to exceed available seat capacity at most airlines. Although AIR NEW ZEALAND seriously considered acquiring the long range DC-8 SUPER 62 and SUPER 63 these aircraft, by this period, also represented ageing late 1950´s/early 1960´s derived technology. After initially analyzing the L-1011 TRISTAR, the airline opted to acquire DC-10-30´s .... for delivery from early 1973 .... but .... was desperately in need of an additional capacity during this interim period. For this reason AIR NEW ZEALAND sourced a further 2 DC-8-52´s (its last DC-8 acquisitions) on the 2nd-hand market. These aircraft became ZK-NZF (ex N45303U) .... which was leased from UNITED AIR LINES from November 1st 1970, then, sold to AIR NEW ZEALAND on June 8th 1971 .... and ZK-NZG (ex N45301U) which was also acquired/bought from UNITED AIR LINES on October 29th 1971. Yet further livery and detail adjustments were applied across the AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 fleet during this period also. The "AIR NEW ZEALAND" titles located within the tail stripe on each aircraft were italicized to match the style of the fuselage font; The Door/exit outlines on some aircraft were modified to Pacific Jade, white, and blue outlines; And the black painted radome also began to be removed from each of these aircraft to reveal a pure grey radome surface .... but .... which was not completed fleet wide until approximately 1977 ....
During January 1974 New Zealand won its bid for the 10th British Commonwealth Games .... to be hosted by the South Island city of Christchurch .... and for which AIR NEW ZEALAND became the "official carrier".
From 1973 .... and to promote the countries hosting of this prestigious international sporting event as well as the airlines "official carrier" status abroad .... the airlines entire international fleet supported a legend reading "OFFICIAL CARRIER TO THE XTH BRITISH COMMONWEALTH GAMES 1974 CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND". During the 1973 lead-up to this major event the airlines aircraft initially supported just this "OFFICIAL CARRIER" legend only ....
.... but ... by mid 1973, and into 1974, each of the airlines international aircraft supported both this legend as well as the official "NZ74" games logo too ....
The soaring 70´s era also saw exciting new a trends begin to emerge among airline liveries around the world .... as these identities became more colourful, complex, and artistically inclined. During 1973, with the arrival of its first DC-10-30´s, and as a result of this global trend, AIR NEW ZELAND introduced an entirely new livery also and which eventually became the airlines most internationally recognized identity .... remaining on its DC-8´s and DC-10´s for the duration of their of their PAX carrying service to the airline. This new livery style featured revised fuselage and tail striping (retaining the gold Maroro/flying fish logo) which was intended to be representative of ancient Pacific voyaging canoes with their tall stern-posts as used by the early Polynesian navigators and New Zealand's indigenous Maori peoples during pre-European times; A new "AIR NEW ZEALAND" font style .... for both fuselage and engine nacelles .... with engine nacelle striping added; The new Koru tail logo based on indigenous New Zealand Maori cultural art; And a black "Royal Mail" carrier logo located on the lower forward fuselage section of each of the airlines aircraft ....
During previous early 1970´s dated AIR NEW ZEALAND livery adjustments, and well beyond the airlines introduction of its new livery, at least 1 DC-8 (ZK-NZC) retained its black painted nose radome ....
The Commonwealth Games legend ....
.... followed by the official Commonwealth Games "NZ74" logo also ....
.... continued to be applied to each of the airlines DC-8 and DC-10 aircraft to promote the countries hosting of the 1974 Commonwealth Games, and AIR NEW ZEALAND´s official carrier status, during this transition from old to new livery styles throughout 1973.
On January 30th 1974 AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 ZK-NZC, under the command of captain Ross JOHNSON, was chartered to fly HM Queen Elizabeth 2nd and HRH Princess Anne .... accompanied by Captain Mark PHILLIPS .... between Rarotonga (in the Cook Islands) and Christchurch, to officially close the 10th British Commonwealth Games, at the commencement of the 1974 royal tour of New Zealand.
From approximately 1976 .... the previously black "Royal Mail" carrier logos, located on the lower forward fuselage of each aircraft, were modified .... backgrounded with a white square ....
During the early 1970´s tail logo illumination/night lighting came into vogue among airlines around the world. AIR NEW ZEALAND became one of very few airlines to install this new lighting system on DC-8´s .... equipping it´s entire DC-8 fleet ....
Most other airlines around the world were, by this time, beginning to phase out their narrow-body DC-8 and B707 equipment in favour of advanced wide-body B747, DC-10, and L-1011 aircraft and simply did not bother equipping those B707´s and DC-8´s which continued to remained in service with this new lighting system.
On April 1st 1977 the operations of NZNAC ("NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL AIRWAYS CORPORATION" .... the countries premier domestic airline) were merged into AIR NEW ZEALAND .... with the NZNAC name then disappearing into New Zealand aviation history. At the time of this transition, and until 1981, the airlines entire fleet (by this time composed of B737-200, F27-100, F27-500, DC-8-52, and DC-10-30 aircraft) supported both the TEAL inherited Mororo and NZNAC Godwit logos .... which were both located together on the forward fuselage stripe of each individual aircraft ....
By 1979 .... and with 8 DC-10-30´s in service .... all but 3 of of AIR NEW ZEALAND´s DC-8 fleet had been retired from service .... leaving ZK-NZC, ZK-NZD, and ZK-NZE in service and which were retained primarily to service the airlines international routes from Wellington. Among these 3 aircraft .... 1 DC-8 (ZK-NZE) supported an entirely blue rudder trailing edge section throughout most of 1980 ....
One of the airlines DC-8´s (ZK-NZF) was sold to McDONNELL-DOUGLAS during 1976, and leased to CYPRUS AIRWAYS (N99862). This particular aircraft was damaged in the hijack incident and consequent gun battle at Larnaca Airport on February 19th 1978.
During 1980 the New Zealand flag began to feature prominently on the upper fuselages of all aircraft .... although ZK-NZE appears to have been the only AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 to support this particular detail .... possibly in conjunction with the royal tour of New Zealand and Australia during late 1981 and just prior to its retirement from service ....
On October 13th 1981 AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 ZK-NZE, under the command of captain Fred DOUGLAS, was chartered to fly HM Queen Elizabeth 2nd, accompanied by HRH The Duke Of Edinburgh, between Adelaide and Christchurch .... and also between Auckland and Perth on October 20th 1981 .... during this royal tour of both New Zealand and Australia.
on December 15th 1981 AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 ZK-NZE, under the command of captain Kieth WALSH, operated AIR NEW ZEALAND´s "last ever" DC-8 PAX service .... operating between Melbourne and Wellington.
This was not to be the conclusion of AIR NEW ZEALAND´s DC-8 operations though.
DC-8 ZK-NZD, which had been withdrawn from service during February 1981, and placed in storage at the Mojave desert, in the USA, was resurrected and converted to a pure freighter configuration (upon government insistence .... and despite the state owned airline never favouring operating pure freight type services), and then redelivered to the airline as a DC-8F-54 on October 8th 1981.
Upon its re-entry to service, as a pure freighter, this particular aircraft supported a hybrid livery composed of the airlines new/early 1980's introduced fuselage striping with "AIR NEW ZEALAND CARGO" and "EXPORT" fuselage titles and logo .... whilst also retaining the airlines 1973 introduced Maori/Polynesian canoe stern post styled tail livery ....
.... but .... which was later modified in accordance the airlines early 1980's introduced tail livery, also supporting "CARGO" titles, by 1982 ....
The tail logo night lighting, installed on this aircraft during the early 1970´s, remained active .... resulting in ZK-NZD being one of very few DC-8 freighters equipped this particular of night lighting system ....
On March 29th 1987 the airlines DC-8 freighter was entered into the PDL INTERNATIONAL Singapore/Christchurch Air Race .... held in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Christchurch International Airport. This particular flight was crewed by Captain Jim WOODHAMS and Captain Russell STEWART, F/O Gary SPICER, F/E Don NICHOLSON and F/E Allan McFAYDEN. AIR NEW ZEALAND Inflight Technician/Flight Dispatch Officer (navigator) Chuck REID, Flight Liaison Officer John KENNEDY, and Service Engineer Geof HORWOOD also accompanied this flight .... along with 3 horse handlers whom returned as PAX having accompanied the aircraft with a blood stock charter to Singapore the previous day, and a Christchurch Radio 3ZB announcer whom provided several live broadcasts from the aircraft in regard to its progress whilst en route to Christchurch. Cruising at FL370, and aided by tail winds exceeding 100 KTS, the aircraft achieved a velocity of MACH 0.85 .... which was maintained until the flight was within its normal fuel plan for the route .... to win 2nd place with line honours in the Commercial/Military aircraft category for this race and ultimately placed 3rd overall fastest aircraft on handicap .... having completed the flight in 8 hours 27 minutes .... whilst also having completed the airlines first ever Singapore/Christchurch service, and establishing a point-to-point air time record for a first generation jetliner over the route, as well as this having also been the longest flight ever undertaken by DC-8 ZK-NZD. Billed as "The Last Great Air Race" .... the aircraft supported a hybrid livery for this particular flight and which featured a large comical Kiwi logo with "KIWI MAGIC" titles (also used to promote New Zealand's 1986/87 Americas Cup entry at Freemantle, Australia, in support of KZ-7 which mounted the countries first ever challenge for this cup) with additional "SINGAPORE CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND" titles, "PDL INTERNATIONAL AIR RACE" titles and logo, along with the aircraft's # "33" race competitor designator .... in addition to a sponsorship legend reading "CARRIER FOR WRIGHTSON BLOOD STOCK" and the BP logo .... each of which appeared on the aircraft's lower forward fuselage section and nose.
DC-8 ZK-NZD remained in AIR NEW ZEALAND CARGO service until September 26th 1987 (during the tough economic period of the early 1980´s it was the only aircraft within the AIR NEW ZEALAND fleet that was actually recording a profit .... despite the airlines reluctance to be engaged in pure freight type operations) when it operated the airlines "last ever" DC-8 service between Sydney and Auckland .... concluding 21 years of highly successful DC-8 operations. This final flight was crewed by Captain Jim WOODHAMS, F/O Captain Bob TARR, and F/E Don NICHOLSON. The aircraft was immediately withdrawn from service and remained in storage at the AIR NEW ZEALAND jet base, at Auckland International Airport, until its sale to KALITTA/AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS on September 1st 1989 .... and at which time it was stripped of its AIR NEW ZEALAND titles prior to being re-registered N806CK and departing New Zealand for its new career in the USA ....
DC-8 N806CK (ex ZK-NZD) was transferred to KITTY HAWK INTERNATIONAL during February 1999, then withdrawn from service during April 2000 and stored at Oscowa, Michigan, USA and was later scrapped.
Today .... ex AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 ZK-NZC (currently stored at Manaus, Brasil, since its retirement from TCP service as "PP-TPC" during 2004) is the "only remaining survivor" of the 7 strong fleet of DC-8-52 aircraft once operated by AIR NEW ZEALAND ....
Investigations, and a campaign under the "BRING OUR BIRDS HOME" banner, were launched (by Paul BRENAN and associates) during March 2017, on order to try and acquire this airframe and have it returned to New Zealand, for preservation and display as the aircraft type which ultimately ushered AIR NEW ZEALAND into the "Pure Jet Age".
The progress of this particular campaign may be reviewed per the following linked HJG forum thread ....
"BRING OUR BIRDS HOME CAMPAIGN"
tonymadgehjg.proboards.com/thread/8454/bring-birds-home
Mark C
BOG/CO
AIR NEW ZEALAND commenced pure jet operations during 1965 .... much later than many of the worlds major international airlines whom became members of the international Jet Set during the mid-to-late 1950´s.
Between 1965 and 1971 AIR NEW ZEALAND took delivery of a total of 7 DC-8-52 aircraft .... ZK-NZA, ZK-NZB, ZK-NZC, ZK-NZD, ZK-NZE, ZK-NZF, and ZK-NZG .... and operated its "first ever" DC-8 service between Christchurch and Melbourne on November 24th 1965.
AIR NEW ZEALAND´s first DC-8-52 (ZK-NZA) was rolled-out at the DOUGLAS facility, at Long Beach, California, USA during December 1964 .... supporting the DOUGLAS test registration "N9683Z".
At this time the airline was still known as TEAL/"TASMAN EMPIRE AIRWAYS LIMITED" .... or otherwise referred to, in friendly rivalry (with its Australian part-shareholding of the period) as "TAKE ELECTRA´s AND LIKE IT" .... however .... upon becoming a 100% New Zealand and state owned company, and from April 1st 1965 the airline was renamed "AIR NEW ZEALAND".
Upon roll-out of its first DC-8 it seems the airlines intended livery for these aircraft had not been finalized .... resulting in ZK-NZA supporting "AIR NEW ZELAND" fuselage titles in small upper-case vertical font; Finer "DC-8 JET" titles on its upper rear fuselage section; Large white "TEAL" titles in upper-case vertical font on the tail fin .... with a 4 gold star configuration representing the Southern Cross (based on that earlier supported by both the L-188 ELECTRA and DC-6) set upon a dark blue background; "AIR NEW ZEALAND" titles in vertical block font located within a Pacific Jade coloured stripe at the base of the tail fin; And small "TEAL" titles located beside DOOR 1L .... and without engine nacelle titles and logos ....
It is not known whether or not this aircraft actually test flew in this particular livery (it may, or may not have, but, likely didn´t) .... however .... a rare photo, taken around the time of its December 1964 roll-out, indicates it "DID" at least support this livery style at that time.
Publicity photos of ZK-NZA, taken during a pre-delivery acceptance flight prior to July 1965, indicate this aircraft, by this time, supported what had become the airlines mid 1960´s interim livery .... but .... devoid of the its TEAL inherited gold Maroro/flying fish logo which was later located on the forward upper fuselage ....
DC-8-52 ZK-NZA was delivered AIR NEW ZEALAND on July 19th 1965 .... featuring revised "AIR NEW ZEALAND" fuselage titles in fine but enlarged upper case italicized font; Pacific Jade coloured "TEAL" titles in large upper-case italicized font (only until April 1966 though) .... with a 5 gold star configuration representing the Southern Constellation; "AIR NEW ZEALAND" titles in vertical upper-case font located within the tail stripe; The gold Maroro logo located on the forward upper fuselage; And engine nacelles supporting both "AIR NEW ZEALAND" period titles and the Maroro logo ....
ZK-NZB .... the airlines 2nd DC-8-52 .... was delivered to AIR NEW ZEALAND on August 10th 1965. This particular aircraft supported the same TEAL/AIR NEW ZEALAND interim livery style as applied to ZK-NZA .... but .... featuring 5 white stars on its tail fin (the only AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 to feature this particular detail) and which this aircraft supported during its first few months of service to the airline ....
Sadly .... ZK-NZB was written-off in a fatal training accident at Auckland International Airport 11 months later .... on July 4th 1966 ....
The aircraft was performing a series of touch and go landings during which simulated failed engine procedures were being rehearsed. The accident occurred as the check captain rapidly retarded the # 4 engine throttle moments after lift-off .... generated inertial forces then suddenly caused the associated thrust brake lever to rise and enter the reverse idle detent. With insufficient altitude and only minimum control airspeed available immediately after rotation, recovery action was impossible before the aircraft banked and side-slipped uncontrollably, impacting the ground about its starboard wingtip, then cartwheeling and disintegrating for several hundred yards along the main taxiway. 2 of the 5-man crew aboard the aircraft were killed in this accident .... which also hilited a potentially fatal flaw within the DC-8 throttle system which had not been previously encountered during developmental/flight testing of these aircraft since 1958
AIR NEW ZEALAND´s 3rd DC-8-52 .... ZK-NZC .... was delivered to the airline on September 17th 1965 also supporting the same style of interim TEAL/AIR NEW ZEALAND livery as applied ZK-NZA .... including the 5 gold star featured tail livery.
By April 1966 .... with the transition of TEAL to AIR NEW ZEALAND having been completed .... and with 3 DC-8´s in service .... the "TEAL" titles were removed from the tail of each of these aircraft to reveal the airlines "first definitive" mid 1960´s era livery. The "AIR NEW ZEALAND" fuselage, tail, and engine nacelle titles .... along with the Mororo fuselage and engine logos also .... each remained unaltered, but, the 5 gold star configuration on the tail of each aircraft was modified and enlarged somewhat .... coinciding also with the airlines "5-Star Jet" advertising slogan of the period.
During the late 1960´s .... and as the result of experience gained from other airline accidents around the world, during which some rescue services appeared to have experienced difficulties in locating aircraft exits with ease, painted door exits became mandatory throughout the international airline industry. In compliance with this new regulation the fuselage exits on all AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 aircraft were then outlined in black ....
.... although given the apparent stark appearance these black door outlines (during a time when airlines possibly took greater pride in the cosmetic appearance of their aircraft), these details were soon modified, using more subtle shades, in order to better blend-in with the airlines livery whilst also still complying with the then new international air transport safety regulations.
A further 2 factory fresh DC-8-52 aircraft were acquired by AIR NEW ZEALAND during early 1968 .... ZK-NZD delivered to the airline on January 27th 1968 .... followed by ZK-NZE which was delivered to the airline on February 27th 1968. Both of these aircraft supported dark blue and white door/exit outlines and which were applied fleet wide around the same period.
During the very late 1960´s other minor detail adjustments .... as well as further livery modifications .... were applied across the AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 fleet. Due to the abrasive effects of high-speed slip stream over/around airframe surfaces the previously painted flight deck windshield frames, and tail leading edge surfaces, were modified to become unpainted/natural metal surfaces, and the italicized "AIR NEW ZEALAND" fuselage titles were both enlarged and thickened also ....
By the very late 1960´s/early 1970´s McDONNELL-DOUGLAS had ceased production of the DC-8-50 aircraft in order to focus exclusively upon DC-8 SUPER 60 SERIES production .... and by this period the company was also well established with the development of its advanced wide-body DC-10.
The late 1960´s/early 1970´s represented a boom period throughout the world airline industry .... with PAX growth beginning to exceed available seat capacity at most airlines. Although AIR NEW ZEALAND seriously considered acquiring the long range DC-8 SUPER 62 and SUPER 63 these aircraft, by this period, also represented ageing late 1950´s/early 1960´s derived technology. After initially analyzing the L-1011 TRISTAR, the airline opted to acquire DC-10-30´s .... for delivery from early 1973 .... but .... was desperately in need of an additional capacity during this interim period. For this reason AIR NEW ZEALAND sourced a further 2 DC-8-52´s (its last DC-8 acquisitions) on the 2nd-hand market. These aircraft became ZK-NZF (ex N45303U) .... which was leased from UNITED AIR LINES from November 1st 1970, then, sold to AIR NEW ZEALAND on June 8th 1971 .... and ZK-NZG (ex N45301U) which was also acquired/bought from UNITED AIR LINES on October 29th 1971. Yet further livery and detail adjustments were applied across the AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 fleet during this period also. The "AIR NEW ZEALAND" titles located within the tail stripe on each aircraft were italicized to match the style of the fuselage font; The Door/exit outlines on some aircraft were modified to Pacific Jade, white, and blue outlines; And the black painted radome also began to be removed from each of these aircraft to reveal a pure grey radome surface .... but .... which was not completed fleet wide until approximately 1977 ....
During January 1974 New Zealand won its bid for the 10th British Commonwealth Games .... to be hosted by the South Island city of Christchurch .... and for which AIR NEW ZEALAND became the "official carrier".
From 1973 .... and to promote the countries hosting of this prestigious international sporting event as well as the airlines "official carrier" status abroad .... the airlines entire international fleet supported a legend reading "OFFICIAL CARRIER TO THE XTH BRITISH COMMONWEALTH GAMES 1974 CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND". During the 1973 lead-up to this major event the airlines aircraft initially supported just this "OFFICIAL CARRIER" legend only ....
.... but ... by mid 1973, and into 1974, each of the airlines international aircraft supported both this legend as well as the official "NZ74" games logo too ....
The soaring 70´s era also saw exciting new a trends begin to emerge among airline liveries around the world .... as these identities became more colourful, complex, and artistically inclined. During 1973, with the arrival of its first DC-10-30´s, and as a result of this global trend, AIR NEW ZELAND introduced an entirely new livery also and which eventually became the airlines most internationally recognized identity .... remaining on its DC-8´s and DC-10´s for the duration of their of their PAX carrying service to the airline. This new livery style featured revised fuselage and tail striping (retaining the gold Maroro/flying fish logo) which was intended to be representative of ancient Pacific voyaging canoes with their tall stern-posts as used by the early Polynesian navigators and New Zealand's indigenous Maori peoples during pre-European times; A new "AIR NEW ZEALAND" font style .... for both fuselage and engine nacelles .... with engine nacelle striping added; The new Koru tail logo based on indigenous New Zealand Maori cultural art; And a black "Royal Mail" carrier logo located on the lower forward fuselage section of each of the airlines aircraft ....
During previous early 1970´s dated AIR NEW ZEALAND livery adjustments, and well beyond the airlines introduction of its new livery, at least 1 DC-8 (ZK-NZC) retained its black painted nose radome ....
The Commonwealth Games legend ....
.... followed by the official Commonwealth Games "NZ74" logo also ....
.... continued to be applied to each of the airlines DC-8 and DC-10 aircraft to promote the countries hosting of the 1974 Commonwealth Games, and AIR NEW ZEALAND´s official carrier status, during this transition from old to new livery styles throughout 1973.
On January 30th 1974 AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 ZK-NZC, under the command of captain Ross JOHNSON, was chartered to fly HM Queen Elizabeth 2nd and HRH Princess Anne .... accompanied by Captain Mark PHILLIPS .... between Rarotonga (in the Cook Islands) and Christchurch, to officially close the 10th British Commonwealth Games, at the commencement of the 1974 royal tour of New Zealand.
From approximately 1976 .... the previously black "Royal Mail" carrier logos, located on the lower forward fuselage of each aircraft, were modified .... backgrounded with a white square ....
During the early 1970´s tail logo illumination/night lighting came into vogue among airlines around the world. AIR NEW ZEALAND became one of very few airlines to install this new lighting system on DC-8´s .... equipping it´s entire DC-8 fleet ....
Most other airlines around the world were, by this time, beginning to phase out their narrow-body DC-8 and B707 equipment in favour of advanced wide-body B747, DC-10, and L-1011 aircraft and simply did not bother equipping those B707´s and DC-8´s which continued to remained in service with this new lighting system.
On April 1st 1977 the operations of NZNAC ("NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL AIRWAYS CORPORATION" .... the countries premier domestic airline) were merged into AIR NEW ZEALAND .... with the NZNAC name then disappearing into New Zealand aviation history. At the time of this transition, and until 1981, the airlines entire fleet (by this time composed of B737-200, F27-100, F27-500, DC-8-52, and DC-10-30 aircraft) supported both the TEAL inherited Mororo and NZNAC Godwit logos .... which were both located together on the forward fuselage stripe of each individual aircraft ....
By 1979 .... and with 8 DC-10-30´s in service .... all but 3 of of AIR NEW ZEALAND´s DC-8 fleet had been retired from service .... leaving ZK-NZC, ZK-NZD, and ZK-NZE in service and which were retained primarily to service the airlines international routes from Wellington. Among these 3 aircraft .... 1 DC-8 (ZK-NZE) supported an entirely blue rudder trailing edge section throughout most of 1980 ....
One of the airlines DC-8´s (ZK-NZF) was sold to McDONNELL-DOUGLAS during 1976, and leased to CYPRUS AIRWAYS (N99862). This particular aircraft was damaged in the hijack incident and consequent gun battle at Larnaca Airport on February 19th 1978.
During 1980 the New Zealand flag began to feature prominently on the upper fuselages of all aircraft .... although ZK-NZE appears to have been the only AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 to support this particular detail .... possibly in conjunction with the royal tour of New Zealand and Australia during late 1981 and just prior to its retirement from service ....
On October 13th 1981 AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 ZK-NZE, under the command of captain Fred DOUGLAS, was chartered to fly HM Queen Elizabeth 2nd, accompanied by HRH The Duke Of Edinburgh, between Adelaide and Christchurch .... and also between Auckland and Perth on October 20th 1981 .... during this royal tour of both New Zealand and Australia.
on December 15th 1981 AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 ZK-NZE, under the command of captain Kieth WALSH, operated AIR NEW ZEALAND´s "last ever" DC-8 PAX service .... operating between Melbourne and Wellington.
This was not to be the conclusion of AIR NEW ZEALAND´s DC-8 operations though.
DC-8 ZK-NZD, which had been withdrawn from service during February 1981, and placed in storage at the Mojave desert, in the USA, was resurrected and converted to a pure freighter configuration (upon government insistence .... and despite the state owned airline never favouring operating pure freight type services), and then redelivered to the airline as a DC-8F-54 on October 8th 1981.
Upon its re-entry to service, as a pure freighter, this particular aircraft supported a hybrid livery composed of the airlines new/early 1980's introduced fuselage striping with "AIR NEW ZEALAND CARGO" and "EXPORT" fuselage titles and logo .... whilst also retaining the airlines 1973 introduced Maori/Polynesian canoe stern post styled tail livery ....
.... but .... which was later modified in accordance the airlines early 1980's introduced tail livery, also supporting "CARGO" titles, by 1982 ....
The tail logo night lighting, installed on this aircraft during the early 1970´s, remained active .... resulting in ZK-NZD being one of very few DC-8 freighters equipped this particular of night lighting system ....
On March 29th 1987 the airlines DC-8 freighter was entered into the PDL INTERNATIONAL Singapore/Christchurch Air Race .... held in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Christchurch International Airport. This particular flight was crewed by Captain Jim WOODHAMS and Captain Russell STEWART, F/O Gary SPICER, F/E Don NICHOLSON and F/E Allan McFAYDEN. AIR NEW ZEALAND Inflight Technician/Flight Dispatch Officer (navigator) Chuck REID, Flight Liaison Officer John KENNEDY, and Service Engineer Geof HORWOOD also accompanied this flight .... along with 3 horse handlers whom returned as PAX having accompanied the aircraft with a blood stock charter to Singapore the previous day, and a Christchurch Radio 3ZB announcer whom provided several live broadcasts from the aircraft in regard to its progress whilst en route to Christchurch. Cruising at FL370, and aided by tail winds exceeding 100 KTS, the aircraft achieved a velocity of MACH 0.85 .... which was maintained until the flight was within its normal fuel plan for the route .... to win 2nd place with line honours in the Commercial/Military aircraft category for this race and ultimately placed 3rd overall fastest aircraft on handicap .... having completed the flight in 8 hours 27 minutes .... whilst also having completed the airlines first ever Singapore/Christchurch service, and establishing a point-to-point air time record for a first generation jetliner over the route, as well as this having also been the longest flight ever undertaken by DC-8 ZK-NZD. Billed as "The Last Great Air Race" .... the aircraft supported a hybrid livery for this particular flight and which featured a large comical Kiwi logo with "KIWI MAGIC" titles (also used to promote New Zealand's 1986/87 Americas Cup entry at Freemantle, Australia, in support of KZ-7 which mounted the countries first ever challenge for this cup) with additional "SINGAPORE CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND" titles, "PDL INTERNATIONAL AIR RACE" titles and logo, along with the aircraft's # "33" race competitor designator .... in addition to a sponsorship legend reading "CARRIER FOR WRIGHTSON BLOOD STOCK" and the BP logo .... each of which appeared on the aircraft's lower forward fuselage section and nose.
DC-8 ZK-NZD remained in AIR NEW ZEALAND CARGO service until September 26th 1987 (during the tough economic period of the early 1980´s it was the only aircraft within the AIR NEW ZEALAND fleet that was actually recording a profit .... despite the airlines reluctance to be engaged in pure freight type operations) when it operated the airlines "last ever" DC-8 service between Sydney and Auckland .... concluding 21 years of highly successful DC-8 operations. This final flight was crewed by Captain Jim WOODHAMS, F/O Captain Bob TARR, and F/E Don NICHOLSON. The aircraft was immediately withdrawn from service and remained in storage at the AIR NEW ZEALAND jet base, at Auckland International Airport, until its sale to KALITTA/AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS on September 1st 1989 .... and at which time it was stripped of its AIR NEW ZEALAND titles prior to being re-registered N806CK and departing New Zealand for its new career in the USA ....
DC-8 N806CK (ex ZK-NZD) was transferred to KITTY HAWK INTERNATIONAL during February 1999, then withdrawn from service during April 2000 and stored at Oscowa, Michigan, USA and was later scrapped.
Today .... ex AIR NEW ZEALAND DC-8 ZK-NZC (currently stored at Manaus, Brasil, since its retirement from TCP service as "PP-TPC" during 2004) is the "only remaining survivor" of the 7 strong fleet of DC-8-52 aircraft once operated by AIR NEW ZEALAND ....
Investigations, and a campaign under the "BRING OUR BIRDS HOME" banner, were launched (by Paul BRENAN and associates) during March 2017, on order to try and acquire this airframe and have it returned to New Zealand, for preservation and display as the aircraft type which ultimately ushered AIR NEW ZEALAND into the "Pure Jet Age".
The progress of this particular campaign may be reviewed per the following linked HJG forum thread ....
"BRING OUR BIRDS HOME CAMPAIGN"
tonymadgehjg.proboards.com/thread/8454/bring-birds-home
Mark C
BOG/CO