A few 'oldies' for Oscar Duck

Hi Oscar,

I’ve just been going back thru old issues of Classic Wings and found an article with lovely photos of the Zero and TBM transit to Aussie. It is the June/July 1999 issue if anyone out there is wondering. It’s hard to believe the pair left over five years ago now.

I think to reduce your photos you’ll need to take them into a photo program like PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro, and ‘resize’ and resave them till the file is less than 100Kb. Then they’ll load up. I don’t know if there are any other methods, this is what I do, in the latter program I mention.

JS, nice shot of my TBM @ Caboolture. Tks..

The Zero was a real suprise at Lord Howe Island. We forgot to tell the police sargeant who is also the customs guy it was coming…a Zero arrives unannounced on a Pacific Island..mmmm, let’s make a movie of this and call it Capricorn One….!!!!

We do a routine with the Avenger and Zero for airshows…if I could work out how to make my pics fit the limit on size here, I’d show you.

Hi all
Here are some recent pics of the TBM and Zero

Regards
John Parker

Great stuff Oscar,

Have you any photos of your Spitfire? And a bit of its history please. Sounds like an interesting one. How far away isit from completion around-abouts?

I had momentarily forgotten the much safer Norfolk Island and Lord Howe route. Have you any pictures of the aircraft on either island? It must have been something for the Norfolk Islanders to see an Avenger fly in after all those decades. And I guess it would have been the first ‘Zero’ to land on their airstrip too, thankfully.

Perhaps someday in the future i will come to Aussie for a look at your aircraft, thanks. Something to look forward to. I REALLY want to see the Temora Hudson too someday, especially in the air. And the AWM Lancaster, etc. I might have to start saving up.

Hi Dave, I’m just happy to see them preserved and flying. I agree that it is nice to see a correctly researched colour scheme if possible. I guess that if a particular aircraft was “historic” or wore a great scheme in its life then that would be appropriate. You can see that my TBM didn’t do much and was probably plain vanilla. This, of course, could be interesting if I could ever find an actual shot of her.

My Spit will be as it flew, being a 4 kill machine and flown by an Aussie [as well as a Canadian and Kiwi]. Best is that I have the history and a photo.

Both my 0-1 and 0-2 warbirds are finsihed in their original Vietnam war colours and finishes. [not gloss etc]

Rex Dovey flew the TBM across the ditch and the late Kel Stark flew the Zero for me. Via Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands…no problems.

Come and see them in Brisbane.

Hi Oscar,

Thanks for that. Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that your current scheme is any less than that which it wore in New Zealand. I think it is great that you have done so much research, and it certainly does represent a historic plane’s scheme now. Well done. I hate seeing warbirds wearing incorrect schemes simply because no effort was put into the research. Your planes are a credit to you.

Would you ever consider bringing them back to NZ for a visit – say for an event like Warbirds Over Wanaka?

One thing I’m curious about is when you bought them, were they flown to Australia or shipped? The Tasman can be nasty for flyers and I wondered if these two would have had the range too.

Thank you very much for the photos of the TBM and Zero. Both of these aircraft have travelled the world and lots of folks have had the experience of seeing them first hand. I’m just a custodian really. The debate on the movement of warbirds from country to country is always strong emotionally – I flew a B-25 across the Pacific in 1983 only to see it sold back to the USA some 20 years later.

Re “Plonky” – understand this. I barrack for the Wallabies and my bride comes from Atlanta, Georgia. The new scheme “Georgia Peach” was fully researched as well and is as accurate as I could get it. I’ve been in touch with the gunner from the original “Peach” who still lives in the USA. VT-83 who flew from the USS Essex participated in a number of battles including Okinawa. This is from a chap whose father flew her and other TBM’s:
My father was in AG83 on the Essex from March to sept 1945. He was awarded the Navy cross, DFC & 3-stars, Air Medal & 3-stars and a presidential citation. VT 83 sunk 265,000 tons of enemy shipping as well as 77,000 tons of merchant shipping and received credit for sinking the Yamato..[I]15 total TBM’s in air group

72 strikes against Japanese
26 strikes against Home islands
46 against Ryukus, principally Okinawa

Here is the USN history of #91110. Any additions to this would be very welcome;Thanks for contacting the Tailhook Association. I pulled the history card on your TBM-3E and here is what is listed. The acraft was a TBM-3E that was accepted by the Navy on 7/9/45. It was assigned to the Naval Air Reserve Training Command at NAS New York (Floyd Bennett Field) until 10/27/50, when it was sent to Overhaul and Repair (O&R) NAS Norfolk until 1/23/52. From there it was assigned to the Naval Air Reserve training Unit at Norfolk until it went back to O&R Norfolk. It was retired on 29 April 1953 and striken on July 1956. The total hours flown were 1,422 and the total months operational flying were 44.
According to the 1947 Aircraft and Location Allowance List it was one of 24 TBM-3Es that were assigned to NAS New York.

Oscar Duck,

I assume that you’ve seen my post from March on this thread from when we painted the Avenger when it arrived in NZ.

http://forum.airforces.info/showthread.php?t=23376&highlight=plonky

That was a really special time for me, and it was one of my all time favourite aircraft. I still feel pangs of loss to know it’s no longer in NZ and I probably shant get a chnace to see another Avenger in our skies again. I am also disappointed that it no longer wears the famous colours of Plonky – though I fully understand it is the owner’s right and perogative to paint a plane how they like. It’s really just the personal attachment I have to that scheme, and the memories of all the research and work we put into it. All I can say is a huge thank you to Sir Tim Wallis and his team for bringing Plonky into our lives.

Thanks for clearing that up…. 🙂

Snakeman,

Yes, the Avenger in your photo is the same one as in mine, now owned by Oscar Duck as VH-TBM. As can be seen, it was repainted as George Bush’s Avenger.

Geoff.

Avenger ?

I am bit confused :confused: Is that the same Avenger in those pics as I saw the RN one at NWFM and had wondered what had happened to it ? :confused: