Early on the afternoon of 10 August Auckland International Airport was treated to the arrival of a classic flying machine, 1945 vintage Beechcraft D18S N43927.
This very colourful and beautifully presented aircraft first cropped up on our "radar" back in early June when it made the long flight from Stockton, California to Hilo, Hawaii on the 10th (NZ date). She then carried onto Christmas Island four days later then to Pago Pago arriving on the 15th (NZ date). It was to later make its way to Vanuatu where from where it embarked 08 August departing Santo-Pekoa/Luganville for Norfolk Island and then onto Auckland two days later.
N43927 c/n A-26 was built in 1945 and delivered to Grimes Manufacturing Co, Urbaba, Ohio as NC44618. Its registration was changed to just N44618 in 1948 when it changed ownership to Marietta Concrete Corp with whom it remained for just shy of a decade when it was registered to Graubart Aviaton. It later went onto fly with Dupont Air Inc and then through private hands until 1961 when it first registered to Red Aircraft Service Inc and later a week later to Fleet Rental Leasing Corp. In late 1961 the aircraft changed ownership to Joe Speidel, Miami and in 1962 it was re-registered N69JS. During 1963 it underwent a modification to Conrad 9800D specs and the same year became N1S, still registered to Joe. Two years later it it was again modified, this time to Conrad 10200 specs. It took up its current FAA marks, N43927, in August 1976 and moved to Olympia Industries Inc and in late 1977 it was registered to Michael Travis of Pompano, Florida. On 10 July 1978 the Beech was registered to Gordon M Trobert and it was after this time it was involved in drug running operations from Central and South America into the USA before being seized by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in 1982 with owners quoted as Michael Travis and Gordon Trobert. In January 1983 the aircraft was purchased by Sealite Corp of Waukesha, Wisconsin and then to Joseph P Grow of Pudacah, Kentucky in March 1986. In November that year it was registered to Palladin Enterprises of Wilmington, Delaware and remained on their books until January this year when it was sold and registered to its current owner as Southern Aircraft Consultancy.
The above data collated from this fantastic resource : http://www.warbirdsdirectory.goodall.com.au/beech18-production/beech18-part-2.pdf
The Beech may well become a permanent feature on the NZ aviation front, a welcomed addition to our population of vintage aircraft. The country has one resident Beech 18, ZK-TEX c/n A-989. This example was imported to NZ back in 1989 and was operated by the Confederate Air Force. It has not flown for many years now and is hangared at North Shore/Dairy Flat registered to Black Sheep Wing Inc since November 2012. Perhaps the arrival of N43927 will breath some life back into TEX!
