I have found a little more info on the Aitutaki airstrip youy may find of interest, though it doesn’t really address your initial questions Panther. In the book “To Fly A Desk – Sir Geoffrey Roberts: Father of Air New Zealand” by Noel Holmes (Reed Publishing, 1982) there is the briefest of a mention.

It reads, referring to Geoff Roberts being concerned with setting up airstrips in the Island for the defence in the Pacific, thus:

“He got some grim amusement out of one at Aitutaki, in the Cooks, a more or less circular atoll, where a dog-leg had to be introduced – shades of the North-West Frontier. This strip, of consolidated crushed coral, was put in by the Americans but was never used seriously, although it was later to come in handy as a civilian touchdown point.”

Here are a few more… great nostalgic old artworks

Note one cover offers a model plane too

OK Kiwis

How many Avengers are there over there anyway – I always get confused by the numbers – a list if you please good sirs

Regards
john P

John, four ex RNZAF Avengers remain in NZ today

One at Motat being restored NZ2527
One at RNZAF Museum, Wigram NZ2504 (painted as NZ2521)
One at Gisborne’s GAPS museum (on loan from RNZAF Museum) NZ2505
One owned by Ken Jacobs NZ2539

There is talk of at least two groups wanting to purchase Avengers for the Warbirds scene too but I don’t know whether this will happen.

Ah, ok. You may be right Dave. You refer to Ken Jacobs’s one. I saw the Motat one at Dairy Flat in about 1990 and it seemed to be in a dreadful state too.

Regarding the Sunderland shot, a mate of mine here in Cambridge, Ray Tocker, was the Flight Engineer aboard that No. 6 Sqn aircraft during the incident. He told me that they were in serious peril as the runway ripped a considerable chunk out of the hull, and he was given the task himself of hanging upside-down by the legs, held by someone else, to patch the hole with whatever they could rip out of the interior furniture. It toook some considerable time and they were running low on juice by the end. The pilot was given a medal for landing the stricken aircraft, he says.

What I want to know is, I have seen several photos of Sunderlands and Catalinas (non-amphibious types) on the edge of RNZAF Hobsonville’s grass runway. They were put their on retirement to await the scrappers in thwe 1960’s. But how did they get there is what I want to know. From my memory of living there for 7 months, I am sure they cannot have been towed up from the wet apron as that’s down a hill which has only one access – a narrow road with a tall bank on one side going upwards. So if they were towed the wings would have to have been removed and then refitted as seen in the photos, which seems pointless if they’re to be scrapped. So, were they flown in and landed on the grass? Anyone know?

In auckland you could try Motat’s museum which sells aviation books at the Keith park memorial airfield, right in front of their Lancaster and other planes. Also Whitcoulls and Borders in Queen Street, Auckland are big shops and will undoubtedly have something.

I would highly recommend Bryan Young’s book ‘Beckoning Skies’ if you can pick it up, it should be still available. One of the best aviation autobiographies of a WWII pilot I’ve read. Another good one is “Tiger Moths and Butterflies”by Peter Norman which you may find in a NZ bookshop still. It’s a good read. Al Deere’s book has recently been re-released here as have several other classic ace’s books too.

There’s a pilot’s shop at Ardmore aerodrome, home of the Warbirds, which I’m sure has books, though it is never open at weekends (Go Figure – when everyone is flying it’s closed!)

Good luck.