Catalina, Vampire and Yaks fly in for reunion
Top aircraft engineer Paul Muller touched down in Taranaki for a double celebration - more than half-a-century after first learning his trade at the New Plymouth aerodrome.
Taranaki born-and-bred Muller, with his wife Brenda, celebrated 50 years of marriage, together with 53 years of working in aviation at a private function held at New Plymouth Airport on Saturday.
Muller joined Rex Aviation in 1955 as an apprentice aircraft engineer working at New Plymouth aerodrome before the company moved the workshop to the newly built New Plymouth Airport in 1967.
Shortly after Muller transferred to Ardmore and later worked for Air New Zealand for 20 years.
A stint in the Pacific saw him employed by Turtle Airways, and Fiji Air before he returned to New Zealand and bought his old company Rex Air in New Plymouth, renaming the company, Paul
Muller Aircraft.
The company, which serviced and maintained aircraft, had customers in New Plymouth, Queenstown and Auckland.
Muller sold the company in 2008 to move to Kaitaia and live closer to family.
The weekend’s celebrations were marked by the arrival of valuable components of New Zealand’s aviation history, including the restored Catalina flying boat, a Vampire, owned by Taranaki businessman Brett Emeny, and several Yak 52s.
Guests were treated to flights across the Taranaki region in the planes, as well as helicopters owned by local pilot Matt Newton who leased the Precision Helicopters Ltd hanger from Muller.
Muller has owned previously two aircraft, a homebuilt Zodiac, and a Cessna 132RG.’
Among the highlights of his long career has been helping fully restore a 1948 Cessna 195 sea plane in Fiji. Muller said the weekend celebrations were ‘‘extremely successful’’.
‘‘We had a large number of family and friends down for the weekend,’’ he said.
‘‘We were lucky with the weather which cleared after the storm passed over.
‘‘Several guests were unable to make it due to the bad weather but those who did had a terrific time.
‘‘The weather was brilliant and I had a lot of trouble getting people to leave after midnight.’’