Daz, as Yak139 says, there is nothing stopping you going to uni now, is there?

When I left school most of my mates went to university but I joined the RNZAF. I learned a trade and was very good at it, but alas it doesn’t really transpose too well into the civilian workforce. Not many jobs call for packing parachutes and liferafts, etc. One area of the trade I did learn I thought would bode well, upholstery. But when I have applied for jobs in upholstery, they say I’m over-qualified (they want a pay-nothing know-nothing to machine that same thing hour after hour…) or under-qualified because though I was fully trained and had run the Fabric Section for a year and a half myself, the RNZAF didn’t give you a trade certificate so bosses don’t recognise pure experience.

So when I was jobhunting I found it was like hitting a brickwall trying to do what I’d trained in and loved. I then got a job, a local guy gave me a break in a place making truck covers and shade sails, etc. It was short term over summer. I was paid rubbish money and I knew more than the foreman! I don’t mean to sound obnoxious when I say that, but I literally had more experience than him, and yet I was the ‘boy’. At the end of the contract the boss said, “You’ve done very well over summer. As you know, we are planning to take on a new apprentice, and I’d like to offer that apprenticeship to you.” I was fuming. Though he thought it was a kind offer, I really couldn’t see my way to spending three years on apprentice wages doing a job I was fully capable of doing just to get a slip of bloody paper saying I could do it! And by that time I’d had a guts full of it there as I didn’t particularly like the work on truck covers.

So I said no and left. I kicked around in crap go-nowhere jobs for a while, and then after I’d had a time not working due to a severe wrist injury, i decided I’m not going back to that crap life. I decided to retrain. I went to university. I am still there and will hopefully complete my studies this year. I have learned all about making films and TV, a lot about computers and making websites and much handy stuff, I’ve also studied history and all sorts of bits and pieces. And I’ve had fun and met lots of great people.

And as an adult student I and other mates have found we have such an advantage over kids straight from school. Life experience counts hugely and a mature attitude will see you doing very well if you put your mind to it.

Apparently according to statistics, university graduates are in the top 15% of wage earners, and screen and media graduates (what I’m doing) have the best chance of securing a steady full-time high paying job in their chosen industry within 6 months of graduation. So I can only look forward I guess.

We can learn from past mistakes and have regrets, but they’ll never change things.
The biggest decision I made was leaving the RNZAF when I was doing so well in it. I wanted to see the world. Recently I’ve been in touch with several guys I was in with and they’re still in the RNZAF. I realise now I miss the lifestyle and everything. It was a great life and a much better job than any other I’ve had. But, on the other hand I don’t regret leaving because if I hadn’t set on the course of life I’m on now, I would never have met all the people here in Cambridge whom I now call my best friends. I have an amazing group of friends of all ages who mean the world to me. I had great friends in the RNZAF, but nowhere near as close as my mates now. If I had to live over I’d change nothing because no matter how bad life gets, it’s friends that count.

My only true deep regret in life is that I did not start my research into people who were in the RNZAF from Cambridge ten years ago or more. So much has been lost in the intervening years as people have passed away, and I’ll never get those stories and memories now. But I guess what I have done since I began in August 2003 is much more than many have achieved and I’m extremely proud of my work on that project.

I’ll bet the Spitfire pilot shat himself when he looked in the rear vision mirror!

Thanks

Wasn’t it Richard Shuttleworth’s mother that started the Shuttleworth collection in his memory too? She has had an amazing impact on warbird and vintage aviation then

Who was that lady that owned an A26 and a few other planes in the UK in the early 1990’s? They were all black with nose art of a lady on

There is a photo in an early 1990’s issue of New Zealand Wings of The Swoose, taken by the RNZAF while she resided in New Zealand for a short time. It said in the caption that the reason it became a transport was it was the only survivor of a raid – the rest of the squadron was shot down. That link Peter posted doesn’t mention this.

Which Space Shuttle is that? Is it the prototype? The space programme is on again I see, they may need it back at NASA soon!

But Paul McSweeney said the yellow on the Merlin was thought very seriously to be the original colour. The aircraft was bought by the RAAF during the war and never used. It sat in a crate for about 50 years before being sold on, and has only flown 400 hours since it was built. He said the engine hasn’t been repaineted by a wrbird operator.

That is why I asked about this marine Merlin, I wondered if there was a connection. I guess not.

Please, someone explain seriously – is the marine Merlin for boats or for sea-going aircraft? Or both?

Seafuryfan, are you seriously suggesting a Merlin was fitted to a Walrus variant? I’d be verydoubtful mate. It would completely change to c of g for a start. It’d rip the top wing off!