Zlín Z-326 MF Trenér Mater
Kommentit
Michael KohlVery well done Trener and a nice homage to a bird who found its way home again.
gorbyLovely work!
The aircraft is the same era as I am and it looks like it's in much better condition than me. I'm certainly not airworthy. 😄
Album info
Zlin 326 (v.no. 931) was produced in 1967. The flight was carried out on 19.6.1967 by the factory pilot V. Berg. At the end of October 1967 the aircraft was flown to the factory warehouse in Vyškov, where it was stored until April 1968. During June and August 1968, a series of test flights took place before handing over to the customer and on 11.7.1968 the aircraft took off from Otrokovice airport for a delivery flight to France.
The aircraft was entered into the French Air Register on 5 February 1969 as F-BPNP and flew as a trainer and towing aircraft from Carcassonne airfield in southern France for the first ten years. In the autumn of 1979 it flew to Nimes airport where it served three years in flight school. In November 1983 it was dismantled and transported by ship to the Caribbean, where its new owner operated it for two years mainly as an aerobatic aircraft from Pointe-a-Pitre airport on the island of Guadeloupe. From September 1985 to August 1988, the F-BPNP was stored and did not fly. It made its last few flights in the winter of 1988/1989. It was then grounded for nearly twenty years. During that time it changed hands several times, but never flew again.
In 2008, almost exactly after forty years, the Trainer Master serial number 931 returns to the Otrokovice airport, where Milan Jančář, owner of Zlin Avion Service, will take it over with the aim of finding a new operator for it in the Czech Republic. So in the summer of 2008 the necessary documents were signed and in October the aircraft could be registered in the Czech Aviation Register as OK-OTF. The operator is FTO Aviatický klub based in Roudnice nad Labem.
During the winter of 2008-2009 the aircraft was overhauled and after a long break it flew again in August 2009. As part of the overhaul, the aircraft was converted to the Z 326 MF version, which is equipped with the M-137A engine and V-503A auto-adjustable propeller. The original Z-326 F-BPNP was powered by a Walter M-6-III engine and fixed pitch propeller.
The registration OK-OTF was chosen because it follows the historical designation Z 326 in the Czech Aviation Register (OK-OTA to OTE series), although an aviation expert might argue that OTF is decades younger and corresponds more to Z 526. The same colours were flown by the UK aerobatic team under Neil Williams in the 1960s and 1970s.
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