Gavin Grimmer
Can you help with any of the following reports?
1/ An aircraft fitting the description of the Cherokee Six ZK-EBU was seen on the day it disappeared flying out to sea over the Moeraki River mouth, turn around about 1/4 mile out and head back up the river again.
The weather was drizzly rain and it was getting quite dark.
It was thought that the pilot had mistaken the river for the Haast River and was looking for the Haast Aerodrome.
There have been reports of sightings of a crashed aircraft in the bush in a valley just south of that position. If you were, or know of, one of those people, please contact me.
2/ There was a rumour that cans of condensed milk were found in the Hokitika River, up by the gorge several years ago. The thought was that ZK-FMQ was carrying supplies and they may have come from this missing aircraft?
3/ Someone claimed they came across a radial engine somewhere in the bush near Ngakawau.
4/ There is a rumour of an elderly possum hunter who was convinced that he had found Corsair NZ5517 in the headwaters of the Mohikinui / New Creek area some years ago. This is also the area somebody claimed to have seen the Moncrieff / Hood Ryan G-AUNZ aircraft.
5/ A farmer in the Maruia Valley just north of Mt Rutland heard what may have been Corsair NZ5517 flying south, down what he believed was the Deepdale River Valley, on the day it went missing. He took particular notice as he was concerned that it may have been the Japanese invading ( which would have been a reasonable thing to think in those days!)
6/ A piece of aluminum wreckage with what appeared to be ribs (made of wood) was found in 1994 in a stream not far from the Hopewell Guest House, in Double Bay, Kenepuru Sound.
It turns out that some of the training Harvards in WW2 had wooden ribs, so this could quite possibly be from Harvard NZ964!
Update 19 March 2013: Found out there used to be a house in the area that this was found. This house was demolished in the late 60’s /early 70’s and so by now there would be no recognition of it ever being there. After WW2, one of the locals bought an old Airforce wreck as people often did in those days, and so the logical conclusion is that it was a part from this wreck.....Sighting Explained!!!
7/ What appeared to be aircraft wreckage (using binoculars) was observed on the side of a hill 44°30’30”S 167°57’04”E from 44°30’58”S 167°57’04”E in 2004. We hovered over this site in a helicopter in December 2008 but were unable to see anything out of the ordinary.
8/ There was a wing of an aircraft observed poking up out of the bush canopy in the bush above a hut in the Martins Bay area. The observer presumed that everyone knew it was there so didn’t take note of it’s exact location. On returning later, with other people, he was unable to locate it.
9/ A ‘D’ section of panel steel was found frozen in the Whymper Glacier area, not far from Whymper Hut. Can you identify what it is off?
If you have any information about the above, or the next pages, then please tell everyone about it in the “General” forum, or please contact me at: grgrimmer@inhb.co.nz
Sighting Reports Page 1