Date:	Sunday 21 July 1935
Time:	c. 09:45
Type:	De Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth
Owner/operator:	Hamish F Armstrong
Registration:	ZK-ABM
MSN:	1127
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Armstrong Saddle, Ruahine Range -   New Zealand
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Akitio Farm Airstrip, New Zealand
Destination airport:	Hastings, New Zealand

Narrative:
DH.60G [Gipsy I] registered G-AAKF [C of R 2094] 25.7.29 to Malcolm Campbell (London) 1927 Ltd, Stag Lane. C of A 2128 issued 25.7.29. Sold in August 1929 (but not registered) to Hamish F. Armstrong, and shipped out to New Zealand in August 1929, arriving in November 1929. UK Registration G-AAKF cancelled as "sold abroad" in November 1929.

New Zealand Registration ZK-ABJ reserved but not taken up. Instead Registered as ZK-ABM 31.1.30 to Hamish F Armstrong, Akitio, east of Dannevirke.

On 21.7.35, Hamish Armstrong was on a flight from his farm at Akitio to Hastings when he crashed, in bad weather and off-course, in snow at about 1200 metres AMSL in the Ruahine Ranges only 30 metres below the top of a saddle (later renamed Armstrong Saddle).

An air search of the Ruahine and Kaweka Ranges failed to find the missing aircraft. Two weeks after its disappearance ZK-ABM was located, lying on its side and severely damaged. The crash was survivable but there was no sign of Mr Armstrong at the crash site and it is believed that he attempted to walk to safety with less than adequate clothing and footwear for the winter conditions, possibly injured, and probably without his glasses. His body has never been found.
R.I.P.

Aircraft salvaged by Wairarapa & Ruahine Aero Club, Masterton 2.10.35 and given to club by Armstrong's parents. Rebuild abandoned and engine used in DH.60 Moth ZK-ABE.

1. King, John (1995). Aviation Accidents and Disasters. New Zealand Tragedies. Wellington: Grantham House. pp. 118-119. ISBN 1 86934 042 6.
2. New Zealand Herald, 24 July 1935, Page 10
3. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/80-year-old-aviation-mystery-pilots-body-still-missing/RWKEBB3NMAJA6QYYQ2IDUBNNTU/
4. National Library of New Zealand Files: https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22493536
Civil Aviation File number 272/4/30
5. http://www.baaa-acro.com/1935/archives/crash-of-a-de-havilland-dh-60-moth-in-new-zealand-1-killed/
6. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
7. https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-AAKF.pdf
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_ZK-.html
9. As G-AAKF: https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/gb-registers-g-aa/g-aa-part-1?highlight=WyJnLWFha2YiXQ==
10. As ZK-ABM: https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-new-zealand-register/gn-z-zk?highlight=WyJnLWFha2YiXQ==
11. https://www.wildernessmag.co.nz/see-backcountry-plane-wrecks/
12. https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/23157/dannevirke-happened-missing-pilot
13. https://wilderlife.nz/2017/03/heretaunga-tramping-club/
14. https://www.facebook.com/DannevirkeThenAndNow/posts/there-is-no-grave-for-armstrong-but-his-name-lives-on-with-the-triplex-hut-named/5339904519374022/
15. https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~sooty/genealogy/miscairdeaths.html
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruahine_Range

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Nov-2008 00:16	angels one five	Added
20-May-2009 22:45	XLerate	Updated
10-Oct-2009 11:19	JINX	Updated
28-May-2010 23:48	angels one five	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
07-May-2011 06:26	angels one five	Updated [Source, Narrative]
26-Dec-2011 00:47	angels one five	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
26-Dec-2011 02:51	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]
23-Aug-2017 21:06	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
23-Aug-2017 21:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
19-May-2018 04:44	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
08-Oct-2021 05:44	Ron Averes	Updated [Operator, Location]
23-Jan-2022 03:57	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type]
30-Oct-2023 16:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Aircraft type]]
14-Nov-2023 12:44	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative]