Owner Simon Spencer-Bower, of Wānaka, said the refurbished vintage biplane passed its first test flight on Wednesday with full marks.
‘‘It went absolutely perfectly. There wasn’t a thing out of place.
‘‘I’ve had it for 52 years altogether, and did a lot of flying when I first bought it, and so it was lovely to get back in it.’’
The 1942 plane was first used to train Royal New Zealand Air Force pilots at Taieri Airfield.
When it became surplus to air force requirements, the plane changed hands several times and was painted in civilian colours before Mr Spencer-Bower bought it in 1974.
The plane was restored to its ‘‘particularly nice’’ Air Force colours when Mr Spencer-Bower was contracted to work on the 1981 film Bad Blood, based on the manhunt for mass-murderer Stanley Graham in 1941.
‘‘When Stanley Graham was running amok in those days, the RNZAF were called in to try and search for him. And so when they made the film, they needed another plane that looked like a 1940s plane.’’
Mr Spencer-Bower, who owns Wānaka Helicopters, did a lot of flying and aerobatics in the plane, but said there came a time when that took a backseat to ‘‘expensive children’’.
It had sat in storage for about 30 years, he said.
‘‘I’m 78 this year and I wanted to get it back flying again, because there’s no point in it sitting in the back of a hangar languishing away.’’
The Tiger Moth was re-assembled at Taieri Airfield by aviation engineer Glenn Thompson and Mr Spencer-Bower said Wednesday’s flight ‘‘was like putting on an old shoe again’’.
‘‘It all went exactly as it should have gone. It was a great, great thrill.’’
Weather-permitting, he hoped to fly it back to Wānaka next week.
