OzMattThanks very much for that Snapper. Will have to PM Ashley and perhaps Jonathon at some stage (unless they beat me to it by replying to this thread 😉 )
Have a great New Year’s and weekend mate. Any time that I might be able to help you in some way, please do not hesitate to ask.
Cheers,
Matt
OzMattHi Dave,
Very interesting to read this post of yours. I don’t suppose there’s any chance you might be able to borrow that book and somehow manage to have a digital copy of the Wirraway photo (or plural if there’s more than just one) find its way to me? Would be very, very interested to see that. No worries if you can’t do this mate but I can only ask.
By the way, Happy Birthday for recently mate. I’ve just had one even more recently and also had a day filled with aircraft related activities. Visited the B-24 restoration at Werribee before continuing on to Point Cook to do a couple of things down there. They flew the Winjeel in the Interactive Flying Display on the day so that was a nice touch to the day.
Hope all is well over there.
Cheers,
Matt
I picked up a book in the library today which I’ve seen many times over the years, but for some reason never bothered to flick through. Well today, flick I did.
It is called Rust In Peace: South Pacific Battlegrounds Revisited, by Bruce Adams.
Adams basically went up to the Islands, and mainly around New Guinea, and photgraphed remnants and relics of the battles that took place 30 years before.
This copy I noted was dated 1970 and published here in NZ by AH & AW Reed Publishing. I just did a websearch and found there was an Australian printing in 1975 too, and this site claims it was the first edition! :confused:
Anyway, I was amazed at many of the aircraft, how intact they were. Lots of Japanese medium bombers like Betty’s just lyingh in long grass. One was on it’s undercarriage even. There were floatplanes in the undergrowth, a largely intact Catalina, a virtually complete Wirraway (which the author purported might be the last one surviving, but I think not) and lots more of interest.
I know PNG has long had restrictions on people taking planes away for restoration but I wonder if any of the aircraft in that book have made it to a restorer. Especially the Jap bombers which must be hugely rare.
Has anyone even heard of this book up-over in the Northern Hemisphere? It is in itself a time capsule. I doubt the places Adams visited look the same now. One house had a Jap plane’s wing as its porch!
OzMattWell Steve it’d be great to have someone turn up from the Northern Hemisphere if at all possible. After reading your post, I (like Feather #3) thought that perhaps the February (5/6) Temora flying weekend would be a good one for you to attend.
I try to get to Temora at least once a year although unfortunately that won’t happen this year. For your interest as well as Gnome’s, attending one of their weekends is something that should be done whenever possible. The whole organisation and event is extremely professional. Having said that, they also manage to create a very personal feel.
They try to fly pretty much of all of their aircraft on at least one day of the weekend. Before performing it’s display, an aircraft will be positioned in front of the crowd so they can witness the starting procedures. After display, the pilot goes over to the commentator where they are interviewed about aircraft flying characteristics and such things.
When the flying is over at the end of the day, the barriers are moved a lot closer to the aircraft and the public can gain a closer look and also talk to pilots and others who are alongside their respective aircraft. As mentioned above, not all of the museum aircraft tend to fly on both days. They’re getting a fair collection now, and there’s only so much time in the day! Additionally, visiting aircraft will frequently display as well.
Temora’s downside is that it is around 6-7 hours drive from Melbourne. I’d guess at maybe 3-4 hours from Sydney. The closest centre that you could get to on an airline flight would be Canberra which I think is still about 2 hours from Temora.
Cheers,
Matt
OzMattHi all,
Well I have to say that I’m impressed with the interest in this possible meet. By placing the post both here and on the WIX, I’m trying to make it a meeting of people from both forums. Although many people use both anyway.
From people’s comments it’s probably looking like early February would be a reasonable time to make it happen. Unfortunately this is too early for those who are making a trip to the region for the Avalon show. IF (that’s a big if) a meet could be arranged the weekend before Avalon, would this be a better time? I’m just not sure that many of those who are coming for Avalon would arrive a week early. The weekend after Avalon is Easter so that’s a bad time for many people and I might be overseas anyway.
The intention was to have a meet where people can look certain things in a certain location (Ballarat in this instance). It’s quite possible that something could be arranged for Avalon as well.
Steve, would you really consider coming down for the meet or were you actually talking about Avalon? I’m sure that you’d definitely be seeing JDK during an Oz trip and he’s only going to be a maximum of about 2.5 hours away (depending on what part of Melbourne he moves to) away from me so we’d definitely have to try to catch up regardless of when you journey down this way.
Just re-capping, assuming other priorities don’t arise, the possible meet would be in early February in which case detailed organisation would begin around the middle of January. If it doesn’t happen then, it will at some stage anyway!
Cheers,
Matt
OzMattHi Dave,
Just wanted to congratulate you on all of your efforts mate. I haven’t been to your website (should do that sometime) but just from your regular reports on here, I know that you’re doing a great thing. Unfortunately those who served in WW2 are passing away rapidly and it’s very important that we record their memories whenever possible.
A related question – I don’t suppose you’ve ever come across any Kiwi Corsair pilots who flew with 5 Sqn RAAF Boomerangs (and maybe the odd Wirraway) on Army Co-operation work? I’m sure you know the details, but in case you don’t then a single 5 Sqn aircraft would lead out a flight of Corsairs before marking the target with a smoke bomb and then letting the Corsair boys bomb the place.
Enough rambling from me. Once again, Well Done!
Cheers,
Matt
OzMattHi Denys,
Send us an e-mail when you get a chance mate. Address is: [email]grigg_matt@yahoo.com[/email]
Cheers,
Matt
OzMattJames,
So you haven’t mentioned which part of this great country you’ll be residing in mate. I’m thinking it’ll be on the east coast, and probably either Vic or NSW. Enjoy Duxford while you’ve got the chance.
Cheers,
Matt
OzMattSo this chap that people call Mr. Tweed is returning to the great land then. Well at least he’ll actually get some hot summers as a result. Which part of Oz will you be living in JDK? If you get bored sometime, perhaps you’ll have to drop in.
Steve P., there’s no need to be show the sad face mate. I’m sure JDK will be well looked after and you’ll be most welcome to visit him down here. Think of the advantages of a holiday here rather than to the U.K. Our beer is served cold; the fuel price isn’t as bad; and most of our ladies have at least a slight tan (not sure why I added that when you’re a married man). If you felt the need for a visit, I’d certainly try to catch up with you, and the same applies to other forumites who might be visiting Oz.
Cheers,
Matt
OzMattHi Julian,
Great to hear from you mate, and I have to congratulate you on the completed Demoiselle. It looks great. Thanks for your offer of assistance should a replica be built and I’ll keep that in mind. It’s certainly something that I’d like to do in time to come, however at the moment my attention is directed at one of those complicated things with aluminium construction and instruments. At least it should fly a bit better than a Demoiselle!
Cheers,
Matt
Dear all,
My name is Julian Aubert and I built the Demoiselle currently exhibited at Brooklands museum. It was rather difficult to build to original specifications and consequently I would recommend to build a replica along the lines of the one for the film.
In my case, it was a bit of a personal challenge that I was seeking but must admit that it is frustrating not to be able to fly it because of regulations. However, if anybody is mad enough to want to build one, I would be happy to help.
Best regards,
Julian
OzMattHi Steve,
Thanks for joining this thread mate and it’s great to hear of your experiences with the Demoiselle. You mentioned the possibility of there being a taxiable replica at Old Rhinebeck. Not sure if the museum owns it themselves, however I have definitely seen a photo of a taxiable one there. Haven’t been able to confirm if it’s one of the Magnificent Men aircraft but it certainly wasn’t to original configuration. They do have an accurate replica on site.
I haven’t read the book on building the film aircraft, but have been casually looking for a copy for some time. No great rush, and I’m not going to pay the prices that some people are asking!
If I ever get around to building a replica myself, then it’ll essentially be a replica of the film aircraft, as at least they’re partially practical. Of course there’s the fact that I have the ideal pattern aircraft in my home town too.
Cheers,
Matt
OzMattEvening Phil,
I don’t know the full details about how the Demoiselle ended up here in town, but it was apparently brought out to Oz as a promotional item for the release of the movie. At some stage, Ansett acquired it (for unknown reasons!), and sometime later, it appeared in the museum. I have not heard anything about the aircraft having ever flown here in Oz, and I doubt that it would have been.
Although the replica Demoiselles look quite similar to the originals, there some some significant differences to make the beast easier to fly. Prinicipal among these changes are the ailerons (originals used wing warping for roll). This aircraft has a VW engine installed and I believe this is what was used for flying.
Is great to hear that you’ll be helping out a bit down at Point Cook. Spoke to one of the Mossie guys down at Tyabb in March (can’t remember his name), and they certainly seem to have plenty of enthusiasm for the project. Don’t really have any useful Mossie bits up here though. Well, not that I know of anyway.
Sensational that you were able to make it to the Aquarium. Haven’t been there myself but will make it sometime. With these trips you’re making or have planned, we might just have to see to it that you get to Avalon in March as well.
Cheers,
Matt
OzMattG’day Phil,
Have to agree with you that it’s a classic film – so much so that it’s part of the movie collection. I believe that at least 2 Demoiselles were built for use in the film. Have no idea whether they both flew, or if one was limited to static/close up shots, etc. So, I can’t guarantee that this particular Demoiselle did the flying scenes. A clue might lie in the fact that the Ballarat one has lightening holes in the rudder pedals, whereas the one used for close ups in the movie, doesn’t. Haven’t looked closely enough at the flying scenes to look for such holes in that aircraft.
Personally, the Demoiselle is one aeroplane that I’d love to fly. Perhaps a future toy 😉 .
The weather’s starting to improve up here in Ballarat, so maybe in the next couple of months we’ll have to see if we can’t organise a trip for those who could make it.
That’s enough for tonight. Hope the MS isn’t getting the better of you mate. Keep up the fight.
Cheers,
Matt
G’ day Matt 😉 , I still watch that movie when its on, Classic Film I think, Or Crap film great planes either way :p , Nice pic Matt, Did she really fly while making the movie :confused: , She looks in pretty good nic, Cheers, Tally Ho! Phil. :diablo:
OzMattThanks for the replies so far guys. Clearly these signal dischargers bear a distinct resemblence to the cartridge units as used with the starter in the Chippy. Don’t suppose anyone knows how close a resemblence there is though? While I doubt that this item would have been used for such a purpose, I certainly wouldn’t put it past any English people involved with designing aeroplanes.
If anyone has a photo of a Chippy cartridge unit, maybe they could show it on here (or e-mail to me). Then we might be able to prove or disprove the theory. As an aside, the signal discharger unit that is sought is a Mark I or II; used 1.5 inch flare; and fired a recognition flare from the fuselage of the aircraft.
Ben (aka TEXANTOMCAT), did you get an e-mail from me a while back? Sent one through, just giving a bit of an update on things down here. I know you’ve been busy of late though, so don’t worry if you just haven’t had a chance to reply. Things are incredibly busy down here too, so I know the feeling only too well.
Cheers,
Matt
A225HVY – I was about to say the same thing!
OzMattWerribee B-24
Hi Mark,
I’m not involved with the restoration of the B-24 at all (used to be a member of the Association however), but I can fill you in somewhat. The restoration is continuing, and while very well advanced, is still a reasonable way from completion.
I personally last saw the aircraft around this time last year. Since the official dedication of the aircraft in Aug 2000, a lot of work has been devoted to actually restoring parts that were ‘positioned’/assembled to make the aircraft look complete on the day.
Unfortunately, the restoration hangar has been broken into on at least two occassions, with the resulting loss of tools and some, not insignificant, parts. This has been a tremendous blow to the team. To make matters even worse however, the roof of the storage hangar collapsed very early this year I think it was. Parts were damaged, and access was essentially impossible for quite some time. As part of the assessment process, I believe that access was heavily restricted to the restoration hangar (same type of structure as that which suffered roof collapse).
Just today I had a mate here who used to be heavily involved with the B-24, and still is involved on a reduced level. Restoration work has recommenced now, and the stored parts have been relocated to other storage facilities. Climbing over and trawling through some of my piles of ‘junk’, he pointed out that the boys down there might require a few of the items I have. So, I might have to make another journey down there sometime in the not too distant future.
Apologies for rambling mate, and I hope this might have answered your question at least partially.
Cheers,
Matt
Whilst we are thrashing the B-24 to death on this thread, do any of our ‘Aussie’ posters have a ‘sitrep’ on the B-24 restoration at Werribee, just outside Melbourne?
I last saw it in June 2001 and jolly good it was looking then.
Have they pulled it outside the restoration hangar yet?
Mark
OzMattHi Dave,
I have to stick up for the humble Wirraway, and advise that of the two ‘Dauntlesses’ in the film, one of them was actually a Wirraway. The Wirraway was A20-719 (painted as A20-458), and is unfortunately the one that crashed with fatal results in 1999. Owen who was flying the aircraft when it crashed, did a lot of the movie flying. A mate who’ll never be forgotten.
The Harvard that was in the film was actually a true Harvard, and not a T-6. This aircraft is the one owned by John Rayner, and it is one of the regular Southern Knights team aircraft.
On the issue of the P-39 and Wildcat replicas, I seem to remember seeing a photo showing that Syd Beck at Mareeba had ended up with at least one Wildcat replica. But I certainly didn’t spot one when I was at his museum a bit over a month ago. The P-39 fibreglass replicas were made from moulds which were taken straight off Syd’s own P-39D.
Cheers,
Matt
Thanks Oscar,
A good deal of the film was filmed in the Solomons, but as soon as you said Cairns I remebered reading somewhere while it was being made that the Harvards were Aussie ones, so it makes sense that some scenes were filmed there. Well, that clears that up, they’re fakes.
Cheers
Dave
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