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| Date: | Saturday 4 June 1949 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Percival P.28 Proctor II |
| Owner/operator: | Otago Aero Club |
| Registration: | ZK-AHQ |
| MSN: | H.216 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Invercargill, Southland -
 New Zealand
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Invercargill |
| Gore | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
Ernle Clark had kept his connection with the Percival company alive during the war, and re-established himself as the company’s NZ agent on leaving his military service.
His first post-war import was Proctor c/n H.216 imported in late 1946. This had been built to military contracts by F Hills & Son as a Proctor 2 and carried the serial BV654. It passed into the hands of Percival Aircraft Ltd., Luton and was registered to them as G-AHVL on 14 June1946. Strangely, it was then said to be a Proctor 1, and was fitted with three seats.
It would seem likely that Percival’s were renovating ex-military Proctors and, after removing the heavy military equipment, converting them to four-seat configuration. Whether they installed also dual control equipment into the Proctor 2 and 3 aircraft appears unknown.
The British registration was cancelled as sold abroad on 15 Oct 1946, but it may already have departed before that date as it became ZK-AHQ as a Proctor 2 with L E Clark, Christchurch in September 1946.
In the immediate post-war era, NZ aero clubs were short of cabin aircraft. Although members could gain their training on Tiger Moths, there were only few available surviving pre-war examples of enclosed light aircraft suitable for club operation.
Thus the Proctor was seen as a desirable aircraft to fill the gap. The Otago Aero Club bought ZK-AHQ from Clark and placed it on-line for their member’s use, and over the next couple of years it visited many of the southern airfields.
On 5 June 1949 ZK-AHQ, flown by Neale Sutherland with passengers Gwendoline Sutherland (his wife), D W Farquharson and R E Mansfield, orbited the Invercargill airfield at low level before departing for Gore. While performing a steep turn at ‘a little over 100ft’ the aircraft nosed down and crashed, killing all on board.
Sources:
1. http://archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewEntity.do?code=7333
2. https://www.key.aero/comment/1714984#comment-1714984
3. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac2/NZAM/ZK-AHQ.html
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_ZK-.html
5. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AHVL.pdf
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-May-2009 12:58 | XLerate | Added |
| 09-Jul-2009 09:59 | angels one five | Updated |
| 23-Dec-2011 22:24 | angels one five | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Total fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Damage, Narrative, ] |
| 05-Mar-2012 04:01 | MDS | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Narrative, ] |
| 13-Jan-2014 11:11 | TB | Updated [Other fatalities, Narrative, ] |
| 16-Dec-2019 23:22 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 16-Dec-2019 23:26 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, ] |
| 22-Jan-2022 06:38 | Ron Averes | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, ] |
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