RW: Airfix 1/72 Harrier GR.3 ZD668 November 1992

[KiwiZac]

​Hi all,
In November 1992 a large airshow was held at Auckland International Airport here in New Zealand called Air Expo 92. It featured the typical fare like a mock WW1 dogfight, warbirds of various stripes strutting their stuff, as well as various civil and military flying displays (watch out for the Wanganui Aero Work team - a company both my Dad and I worked for)...all programmed to accommodate scheduled passenger services! I know several people who attended this wonderful weekend but I was only five and didn't get to go, however an official VHS was produced and a trimmed-down version was broadcast on TV (keep an eye out for the terrific RNZAF recruitment advert at 41:27):
https://youtu.be/1BBuTXcfsV0

My Mum recorded the show and as a kid it was one of several videos on high rotation in our house, and did much to inform my love of certain aircraft. The dynamic dogfight between Ray Hanna in a Tora! Tora! Tora! Zero and son Mark in a P-40K, both owned by Tim (later Sir Tim) Wallis' Alpine Fighter Collection, was a revelation to this young warbird fan. Rest in peace to both these gentlemen and legends of aviation.
https://youtu.be/2nh1OmhDNYw

Several overseas aircraft were stars of the show: a Bede BD-5J imported from the USA, a Beriev A-40 Albatross/Mermaid, and an Ilyushin Il-76...which arrived carrying RAF Harrier GR.3 ZD668, the display of which was for many was the big highlight of the event. Photos taken by Phillip Treweek are available on his website Kiwi Aircraft images, here's one showing a pilot's name under the canopy rail (more on this later):
ZD668 Auckland International 1192 Phillip Treweek by Zac Yates, on Flickr

Flown by Sqn Ldr Ashley Stevenson, many people maintain to this day it's the noisiest single-engined aircraft to ever appear at a New Zealand airshow! For those who keep track of such things this aircraft is now on static display at the Yanks Air Museum at Chino. As you may have learned from the video, Sqn Ldr Stevenson had quite an eventful time on Harriers:
Ashley Stevenson 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Ashley Stevenson 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Ashley Stevenson 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

Understandably the story behind the pilot and aeroplane fascinated young Zac, and I decided should I ever build a GR.3 it would be this one. Last year I acquired the lovely new-tool Airfix 1/72 kit from a couple of years back and imagine my surprise when I discovered Xtradecals sheet X72186 contained decals for ZD668 in 1993! The only thing missing to make a replica of her as seen during her Kiwi sojurn was Sqn Ldr IA MacDonald's name, which was kindly printed by a friend.
Airfix 1/72 Harrier GR.3 ZD668 Air Expo 92 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Airfix 1/72 Harrier GR.3 ZD668 Air Expo 92 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Airfix 1/72 Harrier GR.3 ZD668 Air Expo 92 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Airfix 1/72 Harrier GR.3 ZD668 Air Expo 92 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Airfix 1/72 Harrier GR.3 ZD668 Air Expo 92 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

So although I wasn't there this was a very formative airshow for me and one of the first times I saw a Harrier in action, so nearly 30yr on it's wonderful to have ZD668 on display!

[Wardukw]

Zac mate i was there  and i remember that Harrier..it was doing slow in hover passes along the  gates and it remember it being the loudest plane it'd ever heard.
I was at the Huey display in the tent looking over the weapons they had there.
Thats where i also remember looking over a big ol Russian plane there..dont remember the model now tho but i do fully remember that the tyres on the thing were totalled and the brake lines were tied on the landing gear with string covered in resin.
Your model just brought back some good memories bud.

[NARSES2]

Lovely build as  both a reminder and tribute to days gone by 

You were 5 in 92 ? I was probably still getting over my 40th bash 

[zenrat]

 

[Scotaidh]

Zac, thanks for the link to the video.  I loved it!  I particularly like the Harrier GR3 since the pilot is apparently a distant kinsman / clansman, Macdonald being my surname.  Now I know what decals put on my 1/24 GR3 when I build it. 

[PR19_Kit]

You were 5 in 92 ? I was probably still getting over my 40th bash 

And I'd just passed my half century..........

[Rheged]

You were 5 in 92 ? I was probably still getting over my 40th bash 

And I'd just passed my half century..........

I'd just reached 40 and my elder son (the archaeologist  MA, not the younger one; military history MA) was becoming fascinated by the helicopters that flew over our house on the way to the Cumberland Infirmary.

[Wardukw]

Damn i feel like a right youngin in here right now..i was 24 in 92 and i was at a airshow  and racing bikes and cars and getting yelled at by my dad for stealing his tools and space to build em ..still tho that didnt stop him test driving them..go figure 

[megamoto]

I had two trips with Ash when I ran the Ops desk on 1(F) Sqn. A very nice guy.

[Nick]

In the summer of 92 I would have been 14 and going to the Mildenhall Air Fete on a coach subsidised by the local newspaper I delivered for. It cost me £5 when I was earning £15 a week from deliveries.

Looking back at the flying programme now https://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=86520 it stuns me just how much there was that I ignored and how many of those are no longer flying. The F-117 in its own little compound, the USN Greyhound, I must have seen the F-14 flying and the French had an Alize there too.
Ah, for a time machine.... 

[PR19_Kit]

Wow Nick, that's one wonderful link, thanks so much. 

It brings back happy memories, the Mildenhall Shows were a high point in the UK, second only to RIAT. Looking at those pics, how many types are still in service now though? Of the RAF types, the answer is NONE. 

[NARSES2]

In the summer of 92 I would have been 14 and going to the Mildenhall Air Fete on a coach subsidised by the local newspaper I delivered for. It cost me £5 when I was earning £15 a week from deliveries.

When I was doing my paper round at 14 I got 15/- a week and that included a supplement of 2/6 for preparing your own round rather than the owner doing it. Inflation eh ? 

[Nick]

In the summer of 92 I would have been 14 and going to the Mildenhall Air Fete on a coach subsidised by the local newspaper I delivered for. It cost me £5 when I was earning £15 a week from deliveries.

When I was doing my paper round at 14 I got 15/- a week and that included a supplement of 2/6 for preparing your own round rather than the owner doing it. Inflation eh ? 

Oh no, this was for the local free Gazette (Fridays, 40+ pages) and the Yellow Advertiser (Thursdays, 16 pages). Back in the days when local news was considered worth investigating with journalists and printing and making money from the adverts. Now it's all online with identical websites and godawful reporting the latest trend is to report on takeaway meals.

I would get 200 copies of each dumped on my doorstep Tuesday or Thursday with the expectation that the next day I would deliver a copy to all the houses in nearby roads.
I was paid something like 1p per leaflet and 4p per paper. Easy but poor week if I had no leaflets, bad week if I had 3 or 4 leaflets that needed adding to the paper. But not inside the paper which would make it easy to prepare before delivery, oh no, they had be outside the paper so folk would see it on the doorstep and decide that they really wanted a kebab and overpriced car insurance from a local broker and a gardener for their flat.

The daily round at my newsagents was far better paid at £15 weekly but I had the awkward round which took me all the way up to the hospital at the top of town and down to the station at the bottom. Only 40 houses scattered along the way but none were neighbours. The other lads would have 2 streets and lots of neighbours to make their life easy. Christmas Tips made it good though! 

[KiwiZac]

I had two trips with Ash when I ran the Ops desk on 1(F) Sqn. A very nice guy.

That's so cool! I'd love to meet him one day.

[NARSES2]

Paper rounds eh ? I had one "customer" who paid me extra to put her paper through her letter box rather than on the door mat, she lived in a block of flats and the letter box had teeth. Only later did I realise the reason for it. She got the Daily Star when it was the official paper of the British Communist Party and didn't want her neighbours to know. Capitalism and Communism meet eh