On the Up: Restored plane placed back in the air above workshop in Dannevirke, 50 years after crashing

Trevor Beale was called crazy for wanting to put a plane that had crashed 50 years ago back in the air in Dannevirke.

But the doubters just didn’t understand his vision.

“They would say ‘you’re not going to fly it, are you?’” Beale says with a cheeky grin.

The plane - a Morane-Saulnier MS-885 Super Rallye - was installed on a turntable on a pole that spins in the wind at his workshop on Miller St on Monday.

The propeller uses wind to generate power that charges a battery to power night lights.

Dannevirke man Trevor Beale restored an old plane that had crashed in 1974 and was destined for the scrap metal heap.

The plane being able to feel the wind in its wings again is the culmination of a labour-of-love restoration by Beale.

It initially caught Beale’s attention when a friend had it on the back of a truck and called around for a visit.

He had learnt to fly in the late 1970s and early 1980s with Colin Sandbrook, and his interest in aviation grew from there.

“I said ‘what are you doing with that and he said ‘scrapping it’, and I thought ‘you can’t do that to a good aeroplane, it looks too good’.”

He said the plane had crashed in the Lake Rotoiti area on April 13, 1974. He said he understood it had stalled after taking off.

Once Beale learned its fate, he was drawn to saving it and decided restoring it would make the perfect retirement project.

“You don’t want to sit at home and rot away. Retirement is supposed to be enjoyable, and that’s what I do to make it enjoyable.”

He said the plane was bent, dented, and had no wings, so he set to work on it in his engineering and mechanical workshop in September 2024.

“It was severely damaged around the engine area and had to be straightened as much as I could - if you look at it close up you will see it has still got a few dents in it.”

He said he was able to work on the plane when he was a bit short of work. He typically spent time fixing trucks.

Trevor Beale started the restoration of the plane in September 2024, it now sits on a pole above his Miller Street workshop.

Beale had to remake the wings, and said the final touch was to ensure the plane was piloted by two mannequins named Molly and Holly.

“They are quite happy sitting up there all the time.”

It measures seven and a half metres in wingspan and the same in length, and is now painted blue, in the colours of his Trevor Beale Transport company.

He said since he had installed it, he’d had people visit to appreciate his work.

“It’s like the opening of the Woodville to Ashhurst Road, people come down, turn around and have a look and take photos, and this will carry on for years to come, I believe.”

Beale said people had described it as “another icon for Dannevirke”, and he hoped it would attract visitors to the town.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.