Mount Maunganui residents were treated to a fly-over and acrobatic display yesterday as the A4 Skyhawk Zero-One was welcomed to Classic Flyers at the Aerodome Museum yesterday.

Former RNZAF pilot Dave Brown piloted a North American Harvard in the demonstration which thrilled a crowd of more than 200 aero-enthusiats.

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges at the official welcoming of the Skyhawk at Classic Flyers on Sunday.

Club CEO Andrew Gormlie says the club had been unsure of whether it would be allocated one of the jets even after it got its name on the list of recipients.

Andrew says fundraising to get the Zero-One from Blenheim to the Bay had begun as soon as the minister had granted approval.

'The cost of $34,500 has been almost entirely donated by the community, says David.

'The aircraft itself is in good order but still needs a bit of touching up. While a quality display has been cobbled together, the final exhibit will be a lot more comprehensive including a lot of 75 Squadron memorabilia as well as Skyhawk data.”

Many of the donations were received through a special Skyhawk membership, which was similar to standard membership, but included special perks for contributing to bringing the Skyhawk to the Mount.

Zero-One arrived several weeks ago and an RNZAF crew led by Hank Hancock took about three days to put together the display as illustrated by a SunLive stop motion video documenting the process.

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges spoke about persistence and paid tribute to Andrew and Dave Love of Classic Flyers for getting the jet to the Bay.

'There were a couple of significant hurdles including getting agreement from the minister. I remember that David and Andrew were onto me about what they had heard that the Skyhawks may be able to go to aviation groups. It was the first I'd heard and through their persistence I went to the minister and kept on at him because Andrew and David were always on to me.

'Eventually we got agreement. I believe this is not just an asset to Tauranga, but is quickly becoming one of the foremost aviation museums and centres in New Zealand.”

Retired Air Commodore Stuart Boys spoke about the history of the plane and his personal relationship flying it during his RNZAF career as squadron leader.

As one of the first course members in 1970 he flew the aircraft for 10-years, clocking up just short of 1000 hours flight time.

'I flew something like 90-hours in Zero-One as it was often assigned to the boss and I tend to identify most with this aircraft after flying over 50 missions in it. I was very sorry it had to retire. We all thought they were being replaced by F16s. It would have been good to see the squadron go to the USA as they make good trainers. But I'm very happy Zero-One is in Tauranga,” says Stuart.

The A4 Sky Hawk is still the work horse of the Argentine, Brazilian and Israeli Air Forces.

Former RNZAF fighter pilot Dave Brown. Photos by Daniel Hines.

A4K Skyhawk Specifications:

• Wingspan: 27 ½ ft (same as Tiger Moth)

• Length: 40 ft

• Height on deck: 15 ft

• Empty Weight: 10,000lb

• Max AUW: 24,500lb

• APS Weight (+ pilot and empty tank) 11,700lb

• Engine: Pratt and Whitney J52 – P88 9,300lb st

• Max Speed (sea level) 585 knots – at altitude 1.2 mach (clean) 0.9mach (with tanks)

• Max fuel load: Internal 240, wing 570, plus three under wing tanks 986 = 1,796 US Gal

• 5,500lb + 6700lb = 12,000lb Jet A1

• Still air range with full fuel 1,800nm (4 ½ hours)