Straits Air Freight Express

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Logo of Safe Air Limited Safe Air Limited logo 2013.png
Logo of Safe Air Limited
SAFE Bristol 170 series 31 in 1955 after rebuilding its fuselage with no windows. The badge near the door reads "NZR Rail Air" Bristol 170.31 ZK-AYG SAFE BLA 09.04.55 edited-2.jpg
SAFE Bristol 170 series 31 in 1955 after rebuilding its fuselage with no windows. The badge near the door reads "NZR Rail Air"
Bristol Freighter unloading at Nelson, November 5 1952 Bristol 170 Freighter unloading at Nelson - November 5 1952.jpg
Bristol Freighter unloading at Nelson, November 5 1952
Armstrong Whitworth AW.650 Argosy, ZK-SAE, Merchant Enterprise in Blenheim, New Zealand. Argosy Aircraft Blenheim.jpg
Armstrong Whitworth AW.650 Argosy, ZK-SAE, Merchant Enterprise in Blenheim, New Zealand.
Bristol Freighter on approach to Wellington, New Zealand, 1981 Bristol Freighter, Wellington, New Zealand, 1981.jpg
Bristol Freighter on approach to Wellington, New Zealand, 1981
Bristol Freighter on display in Nelson city, 2012 Bristol Freighter in Nelson.JPG
Bristol Freighter on display in Nelson city, 2012

Straits Air Freight Express (SAFE) was a cargo airline, established in 1950, named for its Cook Strait focus and connecting the North Island and South Islands of New Zealand's railway systems from the 1950s to the 1970s. The company was renamed Safe Air Limited in 1966 and diversified into aviation maintenance. In 1972 it was bought by the National Airways Corporation, which then merged with Air New Zealand. Safe Air continued to be operated as an independent entity by both owners. It ceased flying in 1990, but has continued to expand as a maintenance facility and now employs approximately 350 staff. In 2015 it was bought by the Australian arm of Airbus. [1]

Contents

Rail Air

In 1947, New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) and the Royal New Zealand Air Force began flying between Paraparaumu and Blenheim with a service that came to be known as Rail Air. [2] SAFE took over the service from the RNZAF in 1950. [3] Much of NZR's inter-island freight moved to its new Inter-island rail ferry service from 1962 with the introduction of the GMV Aramoana, but the Rail Air service survived until December 1983. [4] [5]

Fleet

The main aircraft type that the company operated was the Bristol Type 170 Freighter Mk.31. The first two examples were delivered in mid-1951. [6] The "cargon" system was designed in-house – a wheeled metal pallet and transfer system using modified railway flatcars to allow trucked loads to be transferred directly into the nose doorway of the tail-wheeled aircraft. [7] This reduced the turn-around time of flights to about 15 minutes. [3] 53,777 tons were carried between Woodbourne and Papaparaumu in 1961/62, but declined 25% next year, when Aramoana started the Interislander. The route closed in 1983. [8] Eleven Bristol 170s were still in operation with SAFE in 1977. [6]

The company also operated two larger Armstrong Whitworth AW.650 Argosy four-engined turbine propeller freighter aircraft from the 1970s. [9]

AircraftIntroducedRetiredNotes
Armstrong Whitworth AW 650 Argosy Series 222 19731990Three aircraft
Bristol Freighter Mk 31 1951198622 aircraft
Curtiss C-46D 19511951Four aircraft leased from Civil Air Transport in Taiwan.
Fokker F-27-400QC Friendship 19891990One aircraft leased from Ansett Australia.

Chatham Islands Passenger Services

New Zealand's most eastern islands, the Chatham Islands were linked with the main islands of New Zealand with combined air freight and passenger service using a unique removable passenger pod that was placed into the hold of their Bristol Freighter aircraft. Extra sound insulation was used to drown out the Bristol's Hercules engines and earplugs were provided. Windows in the pod lined up with those in the fuselage. The flight time was approximately three hours.

In 1982 when the paved runway at Tu-uta Point was built, Argosy aircraft were placed into the Chathams' route with a more comfortable passenger pod based on the cabin of a Boeing 737. The pod still exists today, placed in the hold of ZK-SAE on static display at Blenheim. When flying operations ceased in 1990 Air New Zealand continued operations with other aircraft, Air Chathams was founded to keep the air route open when Air New Zealand pulled out in 1992.

See also

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NZR RM class (Clayton)

The NZR RM class Clayton steam rail motor was a unique railcar that was operated by New Zealand Railways (NZR) for New Zealand's national rail network and one of only two steam railcars to operate in New Zealand - the other being 1925's RM class Sentinel-Cammell.

NZR RM class (Edison battery-electric)

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GMV <i>Aramoana</i>

GMV Aramoana was a roll-on/roll-off train ferry operating across Cook Strait between 1962 and 1983.

Interislander Ferry service across the Cook Strait

Interislander is a road and rail ferry service across New Zealand's Cook Strait, between Wellington in the North Island and Picton in the South Island. It is owned and operated by state-owned rail operator KiwiRail. Three roll-on roll-off (RORO) vessels operate the 50-nautical-mile route, taking about three hours to complete the crossing.

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NZR RM class (88 seater)

The NZR RM class 88-seaters were a class of railcar used in New Zealand. New Zealand Government Railways (NZR) classed them RM , the notation used for all railcars, numbering the 35 sets from RM100 to RM134. They were the most numerous railcars in NZR service, and were known unofficially as "Articulated", "Eighty Eights", "Twinsets", "Drewrys" or "Fiats". Their purchase and introduction saw the demise of steam-hauled provincial passenger trains and mixed trains.

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The NZR JA class were a type of 4-8-2 steam locomotive used on the New Zealand railway network. The class was built in two batches, the first batch was built at Dunedin's Hillside Workshops between 1946 and 1956 and the second batch by the North British Locomotive Works in 1951. To distinguish between the batches, locomotives are identified by their maker.

NZR K class (1932)

The NZR K class of 1932 was a class of mixed traffic 4-8-4 steam locomotives built by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) that operated on New Zealand's railway network. The locomotives were developed following the failure of the G class Garratts. The class should not be confused with the much earlier K class of 1877-78, the first American-built engines to arrive in New Zealand.

NZR K<sup>A</sup> class

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NZR RM class (Sentinel-Cammell)

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NZR D class (1874)

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The Nelson–Blenheim notional railway (1957–1979) was part of the political management of the backlash from the New Zealand Railways Department's closure of the isolated Nelson Section, which ended hopes for a southern connection of Nelson to the rest of the South Island railway network.

References

  1. ↑ van den Bergh, Roeland (22 June 2015). "Air New Zealand sells Blenheim's Safe Air to Airbus". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  2. ↑ Troup 1973, p. 205.
  3. 1 2 "Strong affections for Safe Air". Marlborough Express. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  4. ↑ Bromby 2003, p. 152.
  5. ↑ Leitch & Stott 1988, p. 153.
  6. 1 2 Davis & Piercy 1977, p. 4.
  7. ↑ MacIntyre, David (1983). Cook's wild strait the interisland story. A.H. & A.W. Reed ltd. p. 114. ISBN   0589014498.
  8. ↑ Hurst, Tony (April 2018). "Main North Line". Railway Observer. 348: 5.
  9. ↑ Eastwood & Roach 1998, p. 32.

Bibliography

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