VQ-FAJ  Aeronca 100                         (c/n  AB.105)

                                    

                                         I am indebted to Nick Lindsley for this rare shot taken by his father, Fred, in Fiji circa 1953.
                                         (Fred was Chief Engineer for Fiji Airways at the time).  The equally nice shot below plus the
                                         color image at # 3 are both from the Laurie Sanders collection circa 1949, the aircraft being
                                         owned at the time by his uncle, Tom Sanders, who worked with New Zealand's Civil Aviation
                                         Authority and was based in Fiji       . In those days New Zealand took responsibility for the
                                         colony's aircraft control.   This Aeronca had been exported from Australia in 1949 where it
                                         had lived for the prior decade as VH-UXV.   Originally Tom was to have registered the air-
                                         craft in New Zealand (as ZK-AYW).    Laurie further indicates that uncle Tom had evidently
                                         fitted the wrong pitch propeller to the Aeronca and it could not gain enough height to get over
                                         the hills from Nandi to Suva (or the other way around).    The result was that it was crashed
                                         landed, tail first - a relatively gentle crash, although one that did, in fact, virtually write the air-
                                         craft off.      Further flood damage sustained in Nandi did not help the situation.    Eventually
                                         it was purchased by Kip Netherclift in New Zealand, and, following storage at Wellington and
                                         a lengthy rebuild, the rare old bird is now flying again.   Since New Zealand rarely re-issues
                                         registrations (besides which VH-AYW had been used by a Tiger Moth), it was given the 'period'
                                         registration ZK-AMW.  The ZK-AMx series were originally allocated to TEAL's flying boats,
                                         and the last one issued in regular series was VH-AMQ, a Solent.       VH-AMR thru -AMZ
                                         remained unallocated for decades.  Finally the image at the foot of the page, from owner Kip
                                         Netherclift's collection, shows the aircraft as it is today, based at Napier.