Hope some find this interesting
Wilf http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView /articleId/381/language/en-US/The-Moment--First-Hucks-Start-in-70-Years.aspx
Excellent article!
Next time I see Roger I will have to make arrangements to go and see it. A great piece of history for sure.
Excellent article and many many pictures. Thank you for sharing.
Great piece of history I, at least, was totally ignorant of ... Thanks!
Wilf,
Thanks for posting the article about the Canadian Model T Ford based Hucks Airplane starter (I believe the article said it was the only one in Canada). It was a good read.
Mike Walker also assembled one that was shipped to an aviation museum in New Zealand see: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/306263.html and it was shown in one of the recent magazines. From looking at the very small chain guard and very large chain -- I think it was developed before OSHA existed.
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
Fascinating article - thanks for sharing it.
Hap or Mike,
What museum in NZ has the Hucks Starter been sent to?
John,
I have an inkling it might be at the Aviation Museum at Wanaka ? But my inkling could be wrong. Hopefully someone else will know.
Regards,
Bede
John & Bede -- I understand that Peter Jackson is the owner. I worked with Gene Demarco at The Vintage Aviator throughout the building process. Gene said the Hucks will be going to "Masterton New Zealand, a little airfield called Hood aerodrome." I expect you guys know much more about that than I do.
BTW, the Hucks truck in the Vintage Ford article went to the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, VA. The NZ one is another I built after that.
Thanks Bede and Mike. Mike, I am looking forward to seeing your Hucks!
Hood Aerodrome is just north of Wellington, in Masterton. Masterton is where Roger Gardner (author of Ford Ahead and currently organising the Wellington to Auckland rally - see http://www.modelt.co.nz/motor-pioneers/
Earlier this year Roger and my son and I went to Hood Aerodrome for a flying display by The Vintage Aviator - it turned out to be one of the best airshows I have ever been to. Mostly World War 1 aircraft that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. The weather was perfect and I had a lump in my throat for much of the day! Here's a couple of photos taken that day (wave cursor over them to read what each is) .... and Mike, your Hucks has gone to a good home, and you'll know more about this than me but I'm guessing your Hucks Starter will be used as intended!
Mike, below is a photo taken that day of the Sopwith Camel - I am pretty sure that is Gene DeMarco flying it! It is a tricky 'plane to handle.
And finally, here is Roger and my son James appraising one of the RFC 'planes in the line-up.
We are indeed blessed to have these fine aircraft located in New Zealand.
So that the thing at work. Very good photos and description of it's use. Thanks
Love the photos from NZ
I'm a retired pilot, Chipmunk, Harvard(T-6), T-33,
DC-3(C-47) Beech-18, P2V7, Argus, DH-5 Buffalo, C130, Otter, B727, B737, B757, B767. Now Model T's
Wilf
Arrggh John,
It does not matter where I go, someone always posts aircraft porn, it is driving me crazy.
Best
Gus
Aircraft porn! Ha! I love it! I must confess that my son James took most of the photos that day - he is very good at it.
Wilf - the chap who generally flies the Corsair, Keith Skilling, also drives airliners for Air NZ - but you're ahead of him because he's not progressed to Model Ts yet.
Oh, I would love to spend a day or two watching planes like those being flown. I suppose I should say "again". I fellow in Livermore CA had a Jenny and I did get to see it in the air several times. But that was a long time ago.
Thank you very much for sharing these photos.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, w2
Mike and John,
I think you have nailed it. Only Peter Jackson would have enough money to (pay ?) someone else on the other side of the world to build one...
...however, further "googling" reveals that there is another Hucks Starter being built at the Royal New Zealand Airforce Museum in Christchurch, which is about 15 minutes drive away from me, and about 10 "stone throws" from my lockup where I store my Model T parts. I will have to take myself off and have a look there sometime and offer some free "coilman spec" coil rebuilding. As the saying goes "you never know what's around the corner" !!!
Here is a couple of links to the RNZAF Hucks Starter currently being built, (scroll down the forum threads) to:
http://rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Airshows&action=display&thread=2493
http://rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Airshows&action=display&thread=2493
Regards,
Bede
Bede,
The last I heard about the one at the Air Force Museum was that it was nearing completion - I saw a photo of it painted in olive drab military green. That was before the earthquake and I've heard nothing since. It would be good to get an update. It was being built from scratch, without any plans.
Best wishes,
John Stokes
John, I might even try and get there this coming weekend. I can take my 6 week old son to see his second ever model t ! Ill take some pics. Regards, Bede.
Chaps ( ) -- The NZ RAF Museum does indeed have a Hucks that they built. It has been completed for some time and pics of it have been posted here on the Forum. That museum sent someone to England a few years back to document one of the restored Hucks Starters there, and they produced CAD drawings of the drive mechanism and made all the parts for it, using a Model T car chassis as a base. Those folks were very helpful when I built my first one for the Military Air Museum in Virginia Beach. We communicated many times before and during the time I was building that one, and they emailed me lots of pictures and drawings of theirs. That was a great help.
Well there you go, thanks Mike. I might still go and have a nosey, time and wife permitting.
Regards,
Bede
Thanks Mike. I had not seen the post that discussed the Hucks at the RNZAF Museum - a search revelaed this.... http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/128929.html