Mid-Winter Special: Purchase your copy of the book before 31st July 2010, and we'll thrown in TWO FREE Historical Aviation Collectors Cards
This stunning new pictorial book (NZ$25) catalogues and illustrates the development and growth of the incredible collection of full size World War One-era aircraft that The Vintage Aviator Ltd has maintained, built and operated throughout the first decade of the 21st Century.
This book is:
A5 in format/size
Full colour throughout
Bound, not stapled
116 pages long
and it contains over 260 high quality contemporary photos of 47 different World War One aircraft and colour schemes.
Over 90% of the photos in this book have never been published before, and the book contains 55 full page (A5) photographs, one for each aircraft, plus a few extras. Click here for details and some sample page spreads.
* New Online videos [4 July 2010]
We've finally had a chance to upload a few more videos, and have a few more yet to go over the next few weeks. Check out our YouTube channel at:
* New Collectors Cards released [9 April 2010]
We've released eight new Collectors Cards, and you can order them now, for shipping from 16th April 2010. The new cards are:
We've released our first High Definition video on YouTube - an introduction to the Quasar - a radical motorcycle design from the late 1960's!
The concept of the Quasar was first mapped out in 1968 by Malcom Newell and Ken Leaman when they met up in Scotland on holiday.
The design is unlike any standard motorcycle design in that the rider sits low inside the machine rather than astride it, and this design concept quickly gained the technical term Feet Forward based on the riding position.
We've now released a short clip of the April 2009 public display debut of the newly restored Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2f (A1325) owned by New Zealand based 1914-18 Heritage Trust, and restored by The Vintage Aviator Ltd.
You'll also find a couple of photographs of the B.E.2f, along with the Avro 504k in our Classic Fighters gallery page (more to come later).
* Wings Over Wairarapa 09 DVD Released [22 April, 2009]
Some of you have been asking about a DVD release of material that we shot at the successful Wings Over Wairarapa airshow (Hood Aerodrome in Masteron), back in January. We're very pleased to announce that this is now available at $17.50 including shipping within New Zealand.
This 75+ minute DVD is not a full (i.e. narrated) event souvenir or documentary, but rather a highlights package only (albeit a very good one!). The disk features all the clips we've previously released via YouTube, but also includes a number of other segments not available elsewhere, including a nice short clip of the Sopwith Triplane during the practice day.
The DVD is available in a PAL format only, but is presented in 16:9 widescreen format. North American users can use and watch PAl format DVD's via computer DVD-ROM drive.
One of the ground theatre stars at this years Classic Fighters airshow held at Omaka Aerodrome in Blenheim over Easter weekend had to be the impressive WW2 German 88mm anti-aircraft gun.
We've released a short, fun little clip of this impressive artillery piece during it's initial firing at Omaka Aerodrome prior to the airshow. The gun arrived in Blenheim unable to fire, and in fairly short order was restored to (blank) firing capabilities by a small team of Dave Lochead, Tim Babb (ex-Royal Tank Regiment), Reece Duncan, Craig Keown and Roger Lauder. Well done guys!
* Wingnut Wings Releases 1/32nd scale kitsets [22 April, 2009]
For those interested in aircraft modelling, the recent release of a number of stunning 1/32nd scale World War One aircraft kits by Wingnut Wings has taken the modelling world by storm.
These superb kits are highly detailed and have to be considered to be some of the most impressive 1/32nd scale kits to have ever been released. The good news for modellers is that the first four kits released are just the beginning - the company has a number of additional aircraft kit releases on the drawing board.....
If you enjoy the odd card or board game, then you owe it to yourself to check out this great little game. It's easy, fun, relatively quick to play, and the miniatures are just superb.
* New Online World War One Arcade Game [1 April, 2009]
And now for something slightly different.... if the idea of playing tabletop games seems a little too '20th century' for you, and you'd rather be playing video games, then you should check out the free 'Dogfight 2' game on the internet.
It's a classic arcade shooter featuring anti-aircraft fire, zeppelins, aces, bombers and bombing missions and it'll have you using up a lot of leisure time until you've completed all 24 levels of this highly addictive game.
* Two New Fighters DVDs Released [06 November, 2008]
Due to popular demand, we've released two new aviation DVDs: Classic World War One Fighters and Classic World War Two Fighters. These two disks combine all the WW1 and WW2 video footage from the first four Classic Fighters Marlborough airshows (2001-2007) into a single place on their respective disks. This allows those folks with a more specific interest in either/or both eras to obtain this great footage, without spending a lot of hard earned cash on the complete airshow event DVDs. Take a look at the on-line store page for more details.
* Bristol Freighter Taxis For First Time In 20 years [06 November, 2008]
In recent months Alastair Marshall has done great things with Bristol Freighter
ZK-CPT at Omaka Aerodrome. He has resurrected the aircraft's two Bristol Hercules
engines, and has recently been able to power up the aircraft and taxi about
the aerodrome -- the first time the aircraft has moved under its own power in
approximately 20 years.
A higher quality and larger version of this video is available on our YouTube Channel.
* Photo & Video Shoots [14 September, 2008]
While we at HAFU make an effort to get out and about and take photos and video footage of all manner of aircraft (and sometimes motor vehicles), we can only undertake these shoots if we know about them. If you've got a flying event planned, or if you're an aircraft owner (or pilot) who's looking for a bit more than some amateur snapshots and shaky video footage of you and your aircraft, do feel free to let us know.
The third series of twelve new 1/144th scale miniatures for the 
