New Omaka Aviation Museum

Congrats on those superb articles, DaveM2.
Very well written and informative.:)

Apologies, I must have read wrong on the Stuka numbers.

Dave

Yes I am the author of those articles and thanks for the comments ..of course they would not be possible without the help of many people ..several of whom frequent both this and the WIX forums.
I can assure Turbo there is only one Stuka here BUT there is a possibility a project MAY come this way .
Re the replica accident …. damage was confined to the wing [ broken off ] , canopy and tail.
Politicians ..well I wont comment further..but just be thankful they got at least one thing right so far this year ;-0

DaveM2,

Are you the author of the excellent Stuka and Me109 articles we’ve recently been treated to. If so, congratulations. It was a surprise to me to find just how many Stukas there are still about the place, even if most are in poor condition.

Interesting about the replica Stuka’s ‘accident’. It looked pretty good when I saw it last month.

Don’t feel too confident on the politician front though, I doubt this sort of thing will continue. In recent years the Govt sort to destroy Wigram, which was almost perfectly preserved in its wartime state for 50 odd years and would have made a superb NZ Duxford. I dear say that the Omaka grant may be a one off. If they want to fund aviation museums, both Motat and the RNZAF Museum could also do with a whopping grant to keep them going. And we know that will not happen!!

Daz – I have just ordered Piece of Cake on DVD. Yey! I can’t wait to see it again after all these years. I’ll look out for the BofB bits.

Dave

A lot of Piece of Cake‘s scenes were intercut with shots taken from BofB, although you can tell these a mile off.

Dark Blue World also used a fair smattering of ex-BofB shots, but none I think was simply “stock” footage, or even lifted from the film. IIRC a lot of un-used stuff would have been cleaned up and altered to the film-makers’ requirements.

One shot of the two Spitfires flying past the White Cliffs is certainly reminiscent of BofB’s scenes showing “Squadron Leader Canfield” (Michael Caine) and his men, but DBW’s director took out the third Spitfire which should have been to the left of the leader 😉

Wow, that’s amazing. So there may possibly have been complete other Spitfire Squadron threads cut from the storyline? I wonder if any well known actors lost out to the cuts.

I got the impression from the Mosley book that they struggled to get enough flying sequences in the can, due to weather problems, etc. Mind you, it has been ages since I read the book so I’m probably wrong. What a shame that the extra scenes may never see the light of day.

I guess it was from that pool of extra stock that Dark Blue World tapped into, so it must all exist. Were any of DBW’s scenes recycled staight from the final cut of BofB. I did get one or two pangs of dejavu.

Dave, I am pretty sure this are two Stukas here in NZ….I might be wrong, just thought I read it in CWD.

Be nice if I am right though 😀

If not, well,…I might just flag the Pietenpol I’m probably going to build and do a Ju-87 instead;)

Cheers
Chris

Originally posted by Dave Homewood

Daz – Thanks for that. And, yes, you are certainly much more expert than me anyway. So there are more scenes? I’d love to see a longer ‘directors cut’ on the DVD then!

There are certainly more scenes – I was always confused about the pilot (Peter) taking over “Red Section” near the end – could never figure out where he came from, or who his CO was, so that may have been the end of some scenes featuring another squadron. Doubt any of these scenes will be included in the DVD release.

There are images around (plenty of ’em) of Spitfires coded “EI”, “LC” and “BO”, to name a few. Not sure about Hurricane codes, though, without my books.

Apparently, despite there being many, many sorties flown and many hours airborne and however many thousands of feet of film shot, only FORTY MINUTES of aerial stuff made it into the final cut!! 😮

Great news for Omaka , kudos to Graham Orphan and all the others there, that have pushed for this over a long period of time . I take back all the negative comments I have made about politicians here in N.Z. of late [ OK , maybe not all 😉 ]
Regarding the replica Stuka …it was damaged when a gust of wing flipped it over late last year and is being rebuilt , since they now have a bit more time [ a bit of a rush to get it ready for Classic Fighters ] it will be more accurate this time around .
Hope you enjoyed the Stuka survivors article !

regards
Dave

Paul,

The “Entire current RNZAF Fighter ability” is in fact just a few blocks away, at RNZAF Base Woodbourne. All the A4k’s are tucked away there in a hangar, and not in the USA like most people seem to think. I saw them last month. The Macchis are also tucked away, at Ohakea. Hopefully they may stay there till after the next election, and we can dump Labour and it’s anti-RNZAF policies.

Daz – Thanks for that. And, yes, you are certainly much more expert than me anyway. So there are more scenes? I’d love to see a longer ‘directors cut’ on the DVD then!

Chris, two Stukas? Are you sure?

Originally posted by Dave Homewood

Daz, as an expert, do you know exactly which scenes in BofB that the Omaka Hurricane appears? It was the first replica they built if that helps. Just curious, that’s all. I remember when it was at Motat. It used to be on a pole at the gates. All right for a while, but later some vandals attacked it. I saw it in the late 1980’s in a very, very sad state. So glad to see it looking so beautiful again.

You flatter me with your comment, sir! 😉

I would imagine it would be from the “Battle of France” sequence at the start of the film, and was obviously not blown up during that sequence (not all of them were – there are some at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum UNLESS, of course, there were some scenes shot of another airfield ‘set’ that were not included in the final film.

No comment from me about

Entire current RNZAF Fighter ability being maintained at this base!

yes I believe youre right.

The bare metal one and the desert camo one are 2 different Stukas.

I saw the Stuka last month when I visited Omaka. Interesting to see. I don’t think the colour scheme is strictly accurate, but it is an interesting beast. The Hurricane is also in desert colours. I think it was a theme for last year’s Classic Fighters aishow.

Yes it did feature in the latest Classic Wings (Issue 44), in a feature on the Stuka with all known survivors, etc. There was another replica mentioned too in the same article. That photo of the Omaka one in bare metal must be old though Chris, look back in Issue 40, page 45 and you’ll see it virtually completed. It is probably taxiing now I’d think.

I think I photographed the Stuka too while I was there, will try to get photos posted soon.

Daz, as an expert, do you know exactly which scenes in BofB that the Omaka Hurricane appears? It was the first replica they built if that helps. Just curious, that’s all. I remember when it was at Motat. It used to be on a pole at the gates. All right for a while, but later some vandals attacked it. I saw it in the late 1980’s in a very, very sad state. So glad to see it looking so beautiful again.

Could a fibreglass replica moulded off the real thing actually be made to fly?

hmmm,….me thinks maybe the triplanes may not do the aerobatic g’s that the Harvards would……

That Stuka you mentioned, thats the 1:1 scale one that’s nearly completed isn’t it…I think it was featured in the latest issue of CWD. I seem to remember seeing a pic of it painted in desert colours.

Nice picture.

Hey, now, here’s an idea… get the Roaring 40’s team to fly the Triplanes – there’s five of them. Imagine that with their aerobatic precision in these ‘older’ mounts, lol

That’s great news!

Tell me more about this Stuka replica! 😉

tell me where else in the world you will see this sight…..

ha ha,…yup Telstar-based !!!
Coulda been worse,…he could have used a Cortina….:D

Don’t you just love the Roaring 40s…all those Harvards together….what a beautiful noise…..

That would be great if you could post some piccies, Dave…

Holy Cow! I never realised that began life as a Ford Telstar! What a vast improvement, lol

yes, I believe it is based there. Last year the NZ Army transported it up here to Cambridge for our Armistace Day celebrations. That is an even worth attending – we’re one of the few places in NZ that mark it. The Warbirds come down and display every year – last year was the P51D and the Roaring 40’s.

Anyway, that tank is, as you say Chris, incredibly authentic. I went up and tapped it thinking I’d get a hollow, fibreglass sound. However I got the dull, cold clank of steel. I don’t think it is really steel, but they’ve done a damned good job of replicating it. And when the fire the guns, WOW. There was a Stuart firing it’s gun too, and it sounded like a pea-shooter compared with the Mk IV. And the Stuart was real!

I will post a few photos when I get round to it.

Thats awesome news !!

It will only get bigger and bigger.

Is Peter Jackson’s Ford Telstar-based WW-1 British Tank going to be there too ?
Incredible to think what it was originally, because it looks so authentic !!