shaken and continued their onward flight via bus. On 14 January 1950, NAC deHavilland DH89B Dominie ZK-ALC Tiora was preparing to take off from Rotorua Aerodrome when a backfire from the port engine ignited dry grass under the aircraft. The aircraft's pilot, Commander Bill Rainbow, and passengers exited the aircraft leaving the starboard engine running while ground crews attempted to extinguish the fire. However, it was too late and by the time the Rotorua Fire Brigade arrived, they could only dampen down the wreckage. ZK-ALC was completely destroyed, along with the passengers' luggage. On 12 November 1958, brand new Vickers Viscount ZK-BRD City of Wellington suffered an accidental wheels up landing at Whenuapai when Captain 'Johnny' Walker, co-piloting for Captain Peter Matheson, selected the undercarriage up lever instead of full flaps up. The Viscount slewed off the runway and onto the soft grass. Passengers were shaken and the aircraft suffered moderate superficial damage but was repaired in time for the Christmas season in December. On 16 October 1961, Fokker F27-100 Friendship ZK-BXB Kotuku, moments from boarding passengers and crew at Invercargill airport suffered an undercarriage failure when the portside main leg retracted. Ground crew had just removed the safety locking pin when the leg retracted. It was discovered that an undercarriage selector valve had failed. On 17 February 1963, Viscount ZK-BWO City of Dunedin on a flight from Auckland experienced wind shear just prior to touch down at Wellington. Towards the end of its landing run it veered off the runway embankment at the southern Moa Point Road end, none of the 37 passengers and four crew suffered injury. The aircraft was hauled back up and propellers replaced. On 13 July 1974, Friendship ZK-NAF Korimako while on a flight from Christchurch to Palmerston North developed a fault in its starboard undercarriage. The captain elected to land at Wellington where the undercarriage collapsed near the end of the landing run. Minor damage to the aircraft was sustained and was soon returned to service. This was the last incident involving aircraft under NAC ownership. Last years In 1975 the airline introduced a new "NAC Wings of the Nation" livery – a two-toned orange colour scheme with the 'Godwit' roundel on an orange tail fin. Air New Zealand DC-10s or DC-8s were often hired to move burgeoning holiday-maker numbers which brought about the idea of purchasing the larger Boeing 727-200. This would've also