Keith Morris grew up looking down on Wellington Airport as it was being built and then opened. At Rongotai College, right beside the airport, he remembers classes having to stop as Bristol Freighters droned interminably by.
After gaining an engineering degree he flew a few hours in gliders but soon reckoned that his time might be better spent building an aircraft, so in 1973 he started work on a single-seat Jodel D9 Bébé. Marriage and family slowed the project, as did working as an engineer for the Hong Kong government for three years, but on returning to New Zealand he finished ZK-KMM in 1984.
However, not at the time being a pilot, Keith sold the Bébé while he and his family were having other adventures in Asia, most recently doing Christian aid work. Over the years Keith kept up his interest in this side of aviation, compiling the histories of New Zealand’s more than 1500 homebuilt and sport aircraft. In 2017 Keith, now retired, bought his old Jodel Bébé back, learned to fly and bases his aeroplane, now named Honey Bébé, at Kaipara Flats.
