I was just perusing Airliners.net when I found this 1976 photo of the former RNZAF Douglas Dauntless now with the Planes of Fame museum. It is wearing wartime RNZAF colours.
I am intrigued by this as I ahven’t seen it before in NZ colours. Does anyone out there have other photos of it in its wartime scheme? Mark12, anything in your famous box of slides?
I am particularly interested in the nose art. And I’d like to know if it wore the big letters on the side as I’ve not seen that before. Another thing that I noticed is the fin flash seems too small. I know we used very thin fin flashes because of the Americans shooting at anything with a hint of red in their markings, but this seems much smaller in height than any flash I’ve seen.
It looks great though. Does anyone know if it ever flew in RNZAF markings?
The photo is here
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=NZ5062&distinct_entry=true
By: Chad Veich - 5th January 2005 at 01:23
What’s the radial engined aircraft between the Dauntless and the Spit? Is it Japanese?
Appears to be an FM-2.
By: Dave Homewood - 5th January 2005 at 01:10
What’s the radial engined aircraft between the Dauntless and the Spit? Is it Japanese?
By: Mark12 - 4th January 2005 at 09:22
Have another look. That wing is in very poor shape. Those dents aren’t painted on…
OscarD,
I don’t have to. I am not disputing their condition.
I was suggesting that the ‘NZ paint job’ was fresh and applied over the damaged leading edge by the museum.
The subsequent photos above, if all of the same Dauntless, would support that.
Mark
By: oscar duck - 4th January 2005 at 04:38
Have another look. That wing is in very poor shape. Those dents aren’t painted on…
By: Dave Homewood - 4th January 2005 at 04:11
Thanks Mark. Interesting pictures. It is good to see that, if even just briefly, it wore its real RNZAF scheme, or a close approximation to it. I wonder if they’d ever consider returning it to that scheme again now that it flies.
By: Mark12 - 3rd January 2005 at 16:14
Planes of Fame Dauntless
DaveH
Here are shots of A Dauntless at PoF that bridge your time span.
The B & W whilst at Ontario, Ca, in 1970.
The colour shot, my own, at Chino in 1979.
Of course they could have had more than one Dauntless.
Mark
By: Mark12 - 3rd January 2005 at 14:31
If you look at the port wing that plane isn’t going flying soon….
..and if you look at it closely you can see that it has been painted in this condition.
This in my view is a ‘holding’ paint scheme applied for display pending major restoration.
I have a shot of the Mk XIX Spitfire when the museum was at Ontario with what I think is the/a Dauntless in the back ground. This would be 1970. It seems to be bare metal or silver overall. I’ll scan it and post it later.
Mark
By: oscar duck - 3rd January 2005 at 14:22
If you look at the port wing that plane isn’t going flying soon….
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January 3, 2005 at 1:58 pm