Guest: Rob Booth



Host: Dave Homewood



Recorded: 2nd of March 2025



Published: 13th of May 2025



Duration: 30 minutes, 18 seconds



In this episode we hear a presentation given at the Wings Over New Zealand 20th Anniversary Forum Meet at NZ Warbirds Inc., Ardmore, by Rob Booth, a former Warbirds pilot and owner. He is talking about the Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 ZK-SFR, which he and fellow NZ Warbirds pilots Steve Taylor and John Greenstreet brought into New Zealand in 1986, and had restored to fly. Later Grant Biel bought into the syndicate when Steve and John dropped out.



The restoration was carried out at Ardmore by Bruce Coulter, who was assisted by Warren Denholm (then of Gulf Aeronautics, now much better known as owner of Avspecs Ltd.).



The aircraft was very popular on the New Zealand airshow scene through the 1990s, during which Rob was the main display pilot of the Sea Fury.







Hawker Sea Fury ZK-SFR over the Southern Alps. (Rob Booth collection)



Rob Booth during the talk at the WONZ 20th Anniversary Forum Meet, Ardmore. (Phil Treweek photo)



The Sea Fury while it as a Hawker Fury in service with the Iraqi Air Force. (Rob Booth collection)



Here is a video version of this presentation, filmed by Stuart Russell for the WONZ Show.









Quick Links:



• New Zealand Warbirds Association Ltd



• NZ Warbirds Association of Facebook



Thanks to Stu Russell for the recording.



Photos below are from Rob Booth’s collection, and show the aircraft when they purchased it, and the restoration and then when it was flying around New Zealand.




































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