Mosquito NZ2308 on Seven Sharp 20240321
The fourth De Havilland Mosquito restored in New Zealand by Mosquito Aircraft Restorations and Avspecs, T.43 NZ2308, was featured on the NZ current affairs TV show Seven Sharp on March 21st, 2024. The piece - hosted by Michael Holland - interviews MAR and Avspecs employees and test pilot Steve Hinton, and pays tribute to the late Glyn Powell, who was the mastermind of the modern-day "production line" of Mosquito rebuilds in NZ.
This aircraft was originally built for the Royal Australian Air Force as A52-1054 and was sold to the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1947, becoming NZ2308. Upon retirement in the early `1950s it had flown 479hr 35min and went on to become derelict at a South Island farm, before being rescued by museum volunteers and taken to Auckland. Later it was purchased by a syndicate led by Owyn Fenner which aimed to restore the hulk to fly, but ultimately one member - Glyn Powell - persevered, keeping NZ2308 as his personal aircraft while he and his growing team of engineers worked on other customers' aircraft, and Warren Denholm's Avspecs was contracted for final assembly and fitout.
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