Bearly Airborne

Have you ever been in an airplane?

My trip to New Zealand was the first chance I’ve ever had to fly in airplanes. It was great!

We travelled across the Pacific Ocean in one of Air New Zealand’s Boeing 747s. It was so comfortable, I slept most of the way (and besides, I was stuffed).

This is one of Air New Zealand’s pilots, aboard a Beechcraft 1900d. The flight and cabin crews made me feel really welcome everywhere I travelled.

Here I am all buckled in to travel from Wellington to a nice town called Taupo. This airplane can carry 19 passengers on flights up to 1,000 kilometres long.

My friend Lilliam is just checking to make sure I’m OK!

It’s important to read about all the safety features and procedures aboard any aircraft.

That’s the cockpit up there, where the pilots work to fly the airplane.

Warming up the engines …

This bear is airborne!

 

The 1900d is a thoroughly modern airliner, but here I am next to a much older airliner: a Douglas DC-3.

DC-3s first began carrying airline passengers in 1936. During World War II, under the names “Douglas C-47 Skytrain” or “Dakota,” these planes were also used for military transport. DC-3s are such sturdy airplanes, some are still in use today to carry passengers and cargo, 75 years after their first flights! This one won’t fly again … but it thrives as part of a McDonald’s restaurant in Taupo.

 I also had the thrill of visiting a museum full of vintage aircraft near the town of Masterton. Masterton is about 100 kilometres northeast of Wellington, in the lush, green Wairarapa Valley.

Hood Aerodrome has been an airport since 1931.  It’s now home to the Old Stick & Rudder Company, the New Zealand Sport & Vintage Aviation Society, and The Vintage Aviator Ltd.

The George Hood Aviation Museum here was bustling the day I visited, as pilots and mechanics prepared all kinds of amazing airplanes for an airshow the next day. Here are some of the planes I saw:

This is a Sopwith Camel. Eat your heart out, Snoopy!

And this is a Curtis P40E Kittyhawk from World War II. I’d thought that I look fierce when I bare my teeth …

Here I am with a friendly mechanic, a Travelling Teddy colleague, and a Nieuport 17 fighter plane from World War I.

This is a Sopwith Triplane from World War I.

This is a de Havilland DH 5 Scout plane that was presented to the Australian Flying Corps in April 1917 by Australian women, who raised the money to pay for it.

This beauty is a Bristol F.2b Fighter, a two-seat fighter and reconnaissance plane first flown in 1916.

Here is an Albatros DVa, a German fighter plane from World War I. It first took to the air in 1917.

The little plane behind me is a de Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk, a training aircraft built in Canada during World War II. Wow, I would love to learn to fly in one of these! Hm, do you think a bear could fly in a Chipmunk?

Now, I want to get serious for just a few minutes.  You remember I mentioned that the airport was really busy preparing for an airshow the next day? Well, that would be a very special airshow: I visited Hood Aerodrome on November 11^th.  

November 11th is Remembrance Day, when we honour the signing of the Armistice in 1918 that ended World War I. We all stop what we’re doing awhile to think about the brave men and women who have served in the armed forces.

This is the War Memorial in Wellington. It is a soaring tower with a beautiful shrine in its base.

In New Zealand, services are held both for Remembrance Day, and especially for Anzac Day on April 25^th. ANZAC stands for “Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.” On April 25^th, 1915, soldiers from Australia and New Zealand began their first major battle of World War I, at a place called Gallipoli. Yes, it’s important to remember.

Photos and story © S. Clouthier