Darrin
Tried to trace it through the photographer, Mark Clayton - but looks like you got there first ! - and now know that the aircraft is in New Zealand
From the Forum - for other Californians that may have been interested in the answer - aircraft sold to Russ Ward - whose reply under
I bought 748 from Michael Valentine Smith, who used to fly her out of
> Corona Airport in Southern CA.
>
> Actually I think Lynn, Mike's wife flew her most, during the 80's. Mike
> removed the wings to take them home for some slight fabric repair (we all
> know how that goes) then decided to recover the wings. and there it sat, the
> fuselage at Corona, for several years and the wings at Mikes house, while
> 'life got in the way'.
>
> I bought it from Mike in 1997 and it sat in my hangar at Reid-Hillview, San
> Jose until 2004, then I shipped here out here to NZ. I had another BC-12D as
> well as 3 BC-12 projects I was going to turn into Swick Clipwing Tcrates.
> After building an airport down here, life sort of 'got in the way' again, as
> I developed the airport and the farm surrounding it.
>
> I had the engine running recently, so it seems OK. The plan was to train
> student pilots on taildraggers, using the long wing BC-12D's, then use the
> Clipwing TCrates as a primary aerobatic platform. As the farm is now under
> control, it looks like this still could happen