Date:	Saturday 14 March 1931
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth
Owner/operator:	Auckland Aero Club
Registration:	ZK-AAT
MSN:	1132
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Location:	Hood Aerodrome, Masterton, Wairarapa -   New Zealand
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Demo/Airshow/Display
Departure airport:	Hood Aerodrome, Masterton, Wairarapa (MRO/NZMS)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
c/no 1132 DH.60G Moth [Gipsy I #597] to Air Survey & Transport Co Ltd, New Zealand with C of A 2118 issued 26.7.29. Imported 26.10.29 and registered as ZK-AAT 25.10.29 to Auckland Aero Club, Mangere

Midair collision with ZK-ACI on 14.10.31 while competing in the Herald Trophy air race. Lower wing tip of ZK-AAT hit ZK-ACI behind the cockpit. ZK-ACI managed a forced landing a field, only the undercarriage was damaged. As per a report in a contemporary local newspaper (Star (Christchurch), 14 March 1931, Page 16 - see link #2)

"PLANE CRASH. MASTERTON
March 14.
In the North Island air pageant, the Herald Cup Race, 'planes piloted by Lewis, of Auckland, and Boys, of Hawke's Bay, crashed at an altitude of two hundred feet. The machines had just completed a banking turn when their wings touched. Lewis went into a wide spiral, and could not rise. Both pilots landed in adjoining paddocks uninjured. The machines were considerably damaged. Lewis's machine turned over and came to rest upside down. The 'planes flying speed at the time was about eighty-five miles an hour."

1. AHSNZ, 1987, Journal, Vol 30 No 3.
2. AHSNZ, 1988, Journal, Vol 31 No 2.
3. Star (Christchurch), 14 March 1931, Page 16: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19310314.2.129
4. Star (Christchurch), 14 March 1931, Page 11: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19310314.2.105
5. https://library.mstn.govt.nz/wairarapa-stories/transport/hood-aerodrome-and-early-flying-in-the-wairarapa/
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_ZK-.html
7. https://ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh60.pdf
8. http://www.flydw.org.uk/DWZKAAH.htm
9. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-new-zealand-register/gn-z-zk?highlight=WyJ6ay1hYXQiXQ==
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hood_Aerodrome#History

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

12 March 1938

ZK-AAT

Auckland Aero Club

0

near Mangere Aerodrome, Auckland

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
16-Nov-2023 07:20	Ron Averes	Added
02-Dec-2023 15:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category]