Friday 9 April 2010

Captain Dougal Dallison and Some of His Aircraft

Blue Bus's recent post on Cessna 206 Skylane ZK-FJH referred to the owners who bought it to New Zealand from Dubai, Dougal and Shirley Dallison. I picked up on this and I think there is an interesting story to be told about Dougal Dallison - I will kick the ball off and invite others to share their information.

Dougal Dallison came to New Zealand in the late 1980's and formed a company Alternate Aviation which imported quite a lot of interesting aircraft such as PZL Wilgas and the ill fated Fouga Magister ZK-FGA.


One aircraft that was owned by Dougal was the Isaacs Fury 2 replica ZK-DMN which he exported to the UK, I think for use in a film. Does anyone know any more about this? Fortunately it did return to New Zealand. ZK-DMN was New Zealand's first scale warbird replica and was constructed by Barry Thompson of Auckland over a very short time. I understand that Barry was an experienced model builder and prefabricated all the parts so it came together quickly. It was first registered on 26/2/75 and was test flown by Brian Cox on 26/3/75. It then went on to a succession of owners, all in Auckland - Owen Harnish from 30/3/82, Colin Glasgow from 27/6/85, Recreation Aviation Ltd from 12/7/85 and the Dougal Dallison on 8/5/90. Dougal crated it up in May 1990 and exported it to the UK. The next owner was Peter Fahey on 19/7/93 and finally Taildragger Classics Ltd (still Peter Fahey) on 15/5/95. The above photo was taken at North Shore Airfield in December 2005.


And another interesting aircraft imported by Dougal was the ARV-1 Super 2 ZK-FSQ which was first registered on 31/1/89 and cancelled on 30/7/90 when it was also exported to the UK. I don't have a photo of it as ZK-FSQ but here is a photo of it As G-BSRK in England, taken in 1991, soon after returning from New Zealand. The ARV-1 Super 2 was developed by Richard Noble of landspeed record fame in the UK in the 1980's to fill a gap in the trainer market. Around 40 were produced. It was of rugged construction and featured a 3 cylinder water cooled 2 stroke engine. This photo was taken by Derek Heley at www.abpic.co.uk Thanks to Derek for permission to use this photo.

Can anyone post a photo of ZK-FSQ?

3 comments:

  1. any piper pics frm wow

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  2. As well as the aircraft you mention (the Wilgas were ZK-PZL and ZK-PZM) Dougal also imported the Chipmunk ZK-MUH in 1987.
    Through involvement with Alternate Aviation Ltd. he also had a hand in Cessnas ZK-EZK FGY Robbie ZK-HDC HPC HPT Jetranger ZK-HHC Koliber ZK-PZA Wilga ZK-PZN PZO PZP PZQ
    Quite a busy little collection!
    He lived in a property just off the end of WP's 08 runway, and died there quite suddenly.

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  3. Doug employed me to fly in Dubai, UAE on oil transport operations when he was then Operations Manager for Aerogulf Services. I enjoyed the company of Doug & his wife Shirley on a number of occasions through the following many years. Doug came from Rakaia originally and joined the NZ Army but later decided he wanted to fly. Anyone who knew him knows how much fun he can be at a party, ever seen the photos of him with tubes out his nose and herman munster forehead scar post brain tumour op drinking a beer or nine will know what I mean! He was a character and lived for the day. The Wilga was the epitome of Doug in metal form ( he was born before the Wilga). A guy nothing much ever bothered him and there wasn't anything you couldn't do. I suppose that's why we got on so well. He was run over in the orchard by Shirley once I believe which buggered his leg. He was flying DC10's at the time. He managed to navigate his way around most hurdles in life by his good belief in himself - something lost today with all the nonsense we are expected to believe from the same people who tax us! -MHM LATHAM

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