Texan couple to tour N.Z. in antique plane

Press, 11 September 1989, Page 14

Texan couple to tour N.Z. in antique plane

PA Washington A Texan businessman inspired by flying scenes in the movie, “Out of Africa," will-' bring his small; antique" aeroplane to New Zealand -' next January as part of an effort to fly as much of the world as possible. . Mr. C. W. Culwell plans six weeks touring New Zealand, calling on fellow members of the Experimental Aircraft Association, an international club of classic aircraft buffs.

Mr Culwell, aged 57, and his wife, Marilyn, aged 52, have already had flying holidays in their Piper Super Cub in Canada and Alaska, Africa and Australia.

They intend to ship the plane in a special container and reassemble it in Auckland.

Speaking from his clothing shop in Dallas, Mr Culwell said they expected to clock up 40 hours of New Zealand flying time, touching

down at aero club fields and “keeping off the tourist mill.”

Later, they wanted to fly around either South Africa or Argentina as other countries among the relatively few open for such adventure, he said.

“The world is unfortunately mixed up politically and militarily, and when you look at places you can go and fly your own aeroplane, you don’t have that many places where you can fly without getting shot at or having some sort of problem,” Mr Culwell said. The two-seater, fabriccovered Super Cub was built in 1952 but has been completely refitted for the Culwells to fly long distances over remote territory. “It’s a kind of jeep among aircraft,” he said.

The first trip, around Canada and Alaska, in mid 1987, covered

22,400 km. It all started a year before when the couple saw “Out of Africa.”

“I came out of the movie and said to my wife, ‘We’ve got to experience that',” Mr Culwell said.

He began flying in the early 19505, and today uses a larger, twin-en-gined aircraft to fly regularly the 1200 km between his home in Aspen, Colorado, and his business in Dallas.

The expedition to Africa came in 1988 when the Culwells flew for seven weeks around Kenya, Luanda, Tanzania and Zaire, and “we just had a ball,” Mr Culwell said. The trip to Australia took place last April.

In preparation for the New Zealand trip, lie said he had written to 137 members of the New Zealand branch of the Experimental Aircraft Association.