Clipped wing is now reunited with its model airplane body

Warner Summerton with his broken wing made for a 1930s Lanzo bomber design, he built himself

A Kimberley Road resident found the wing of a large model aeroplane in the blackberries in a back paddock.

He left the black and yellow wing at the Chronicle office on Friday, hoping we might find an owner.

A Facebook post generated a few quick responses locally and on Monday morning the owner of the plane that had its wing clipped turned up to claim it.

Warner Summerton from Waikanae said he was in town the previous weekend for a competition of vintage model planes.

"Mine is based on a 1930s design of a Lanzo bomber. This is only half of its wing."

He said his plane soared rather high and he lost track of it.

"I saw it coming down and I found most of it, but this part we could not find. It landed rather a long way from where we were flying on Tararua Road."

He reckons somewhere a kilometre or two into the air the plane must have tilted and damaged its wing.

"It probably lost its thermal lift and came crashing down."

He's had the plane for a year or two and built it himself, and he said it can be easily fixed.

The Levin Model Aeroplane Club flies from a local farmer' paddock every Saturday and Sunday from 8.30am until about lunchtime, said club member John Curtis.

"We fly everything from vintage planes to aerobatics, gliders and drones. It is a safe place to fly."

The club has about 40 members and is holding a minor championship on March 23 and 24.

For more on the local club ring John Shorer, 06 362 6313.