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50th anniversary of 'retractable skis' landings on Mount Cook - 1 October
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Poster:
A snowHead
Poster:
A snowHead
1 October will mark the 50th anniversary of pioneering 'skied landings' of aircraft on Mount Cook, New Zealand. These flights, landing on the Tasman Glacier, are a big tourist draw.
This report from
scoop.co.nz
describes how retractable skis were designed to land the "single-engine Auster flown by former RNZAF wing commander Harry (later Sir Henry) Wigley ... achieved on 22 September 1955."
So the anniversary won't be to the day (due to weather problems on 22 September? The report doesn't say) but it's clearly an event of great nostalgic significance.
Quote:
A former Canadian bush pilot, ‘Carp” (E.H.) Carpenter, who was head of the New Zealand Air Department’s Airworthiness Division (a forerunner of CAA), provided advice on the design of retractable skis.
Kiwi ingenuity took the concepts further and after hundreds of hours of testing a set of laminated Oregon pine skis were fitted to an Auster Aiglet aircraft. The skis were raised by a system of radius rods for take-off and lowered for snow landings.
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