ZK-AGC
Fleet 7-B
(c/n 126)
This
beautiful shot is from the archives of the Marlborough Aero Club and
comes courtesy
of Graham
Orphan. For those who are not aware, Graham is not only editor of
that excellent
New Zealand-published
magazine "Classic Wings" but is also the proud owner of another
Fleet,
a Model 16B (c/n 668,
ex N128H). By sheer coincidence, I happened to photograph
this
latter machine one
day at the old Flabob Airport in Rubidoux, California., and that image
appears
in my collection
under Ron Dupas fine website:
http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Coates/1542.htm
Anyway, back to -AGC. This
machine was imported in 1937 for the Marlborough Aero Club,
but was unfortunately
destroyed in a crash after a few short months of operation. It
evidently
flew between a couple of
haystacks in May 1938, ripping off the wings (what were they doing?)
and, although the two
occupants were not seriously injured, the aircraft was never
repaired.
War
came along shortly afterwards and the airfield was relegated to
military use with the result
that the poor
old Fleet was probably scrapped.