Dave HomewoodThe ceremony was shown on the news this evening. As I expected, Bryan Cox was guest speaker. He is now the only survivor of the event.
3 News sneakily used some footage of the Masterton-based Corsair doing a flyover, but the film was clearly taken at RNZAF Base Hobsonville and dated from the aircraft’s return to NZ in February last year. I don’t think the Corsair actually did do a flyover of this event, but it would have been a good idea though.
For those visiting Motat the new plaque is in the garden beneath the Hurricane gate guard.
Dave HomewoodWell said T.J.
True, maybe Iraqis don’t value those planes now, but the average person in the west (UK, USA, NZ, Australia, Europe…) didn’t value their country’s aircraft either for several decades after WWII. No-one cared they were disappearing at a huge rate in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Now we do, and eventually the Iraqis probably will begin to care about their aviation heritage too. But it will be too late if the planes have all been nicked!
The war was started because Saddam didn’t comply with the UN. Maybe so. But if you remember the facts, those who started it, the US and UK, also were going strictly against the UN’s wishes. Kofi Annan has publicly stated many times it is an illegal war. I hold that much more offensive to the United Nations as what Saddam was doing because many tens of thousands have lost their lives needlessly. I feel for that grave mistake the USA and UK should be expelled from the United Nations. It wouldn’t matter a jot to the UN anyway without the USA – they never pay their bills unless they want to start a war.
Dave HomewoodI also found this link
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_national_story_skin/468633%3fformat=html
Dave HomewoodHappy Birthday Don,
Have a – whatever fancy beer they drink in Wellington – on me!
Cheers
Dave
Dave HomewoodStored in the desert? – How else do you expect the Iraqi military to store their historic aricraft? The whole country is virtually desert! They are on military bases and stored by the Iraqis to preserve THEIR heritage and culture. The desert environment in Iraq can be no more harmful than the storage facilities at China Lake and Davis Montham can they?
I agree with Steve and David. The Iraqi military has kept those aircraft there for a long time for a specific purpose. They are not in service, and will not be again. They must be preserving them as museum pieces – If they didn’t want to preserve them for their country they’d have scrapped them or used them as targets, or for fire drill, etc.
Those aircraft are the Iraqis’ heritage, not anyone elses. If the Government – which incidentally they haven’t had for some time – chooses to sell them on behalf of the people, fair enough. But if they have simply been stolen by the Allies of Evil, then something should be done.
The looting of aircraft (if this has occurred) is identically as shameful as the looting of priceless ancient artifacts from that museum that caused such outrage in the press when the Yanks first invaded.
Who says these aircraft are considered there as junk by the way? Just because they are in storage what makes them junk? Have you spoken with the owners and locals to find this interesting point??? I could just as easily call all the stored aircraft at Davis Montham junk becuase they look dusty and uncared for. Are they also unwanted junk? I think not.
How would you feel if a foreign power went to Cosford or Hendon or Dayton or any or your Air Force bases and took all the preserved historic aircraft saying that someone is going to get them flying but you’ll never see them again! YOUR heritage, stolen! How would YOU feel??
Dave HomewoodHere is a still from ‘that’ film from this site
http://highlights.ultimatedvd.org/pearlharbor/en/pearlharbor_moviestills_gal3.asp
Which ship is this capsizing?
Dave HomewoodUSS Utah and USS Oklahoma capsized, didn’t they? Perhaps the ship seen in the fil represents one of these and not Arizona? I cannot remember because it has been a while since I saw the film. It will be a while before I watch it again too.
Dave HomewoodI suppose next you’re going to say the Stirling was found on a Chinese farm where they’d used it for a Panda-coop for the past nine decades?
Getting back to reality — Is there, or is there not, any possible chance that China might have the remains of a Stirling? Even if it is crashed as suggested earlier?
Dave HomewoodHmmmm…….
Dave HomewoodRNZAF Weedons is closing this year I believe. It may already be gone. So I dear say the Canberra will be making its way to Wigram soon if not already.
Weedons was an amazing tresure trove of aviation junk. Most airmen never got to see inside the big store rooms there. I was lucky because I had a mate in the RNZAF Museum restoration team who was a volunteer, and he often used to find jobs for me to do officially (the base workshops used to do a fair amount for the museum in those days). He took me out on an official job once to assess stored saftey gear there. Funny thing was, he had been the same trade as me and knew the job backwards so this was really an excuse to show me round there. I remember then they had the crashed Dauntless there which was sad to look at, both for the plane, knowing it’ll never be restored, and for those who dies in it. Lots of Vilde and Vincent parts and Oxford bits, all of which are coming to something valuable now in the museum’s workshops where a Vildebeest and Oxford are being restored. Plenty of other stuff there too, all covered in pigeon crap.
Dave HomewoodWhat exactly is this rumour about a Stirling in China? I have seen snippets of the rumour on here but nothing explaining what it is about. Is this a forum ‘in joke’ or is there really a possibility that a Stirling has survived behind the Bamboo Curtain? Can someone explain please?
Dave HomewoodAn interesting point about the film is the only big name star who actually went to Hawaii to film his scenes was Jason Robards. He had been a Naval officer at Pearl in 1941 and was actually there during the real attack. Apparently when he arrived to film his scenes an attack scene was being filmed. That must have been quite scary for him to bring back those memories.
Rod Steiger was also in the Navy at Pearl during the attacks and they wanted him for the film but he wasn’t available.
Mark Morris – how much more film has the extended version got? I didn’t know there was an extended version. My DVD has the director’s commentary, which is fascinating, and a trailer for TTT and oddly a trailer for The Longest Day which had little to do with things except some crew having worked on it. But it deosn’t have the making of. I re-discovered on tape the other day I had recorded the Hollywood Backstories episode about TTT which was interesting.
The stuff about the director Akira Kurosawa and his total breakdown and eventual firing are interesting. He was considered a God for his film making and even now is still very highly regarded. I note from IMDb he continued to make films after his terrible time with TTT and interestingly many films have been released since his death in 1998. I find it amazing how instead of actors he cast industrialists and millionaires to play the Japanese Navy high command, in the hope they’d late finance his next films. Very clever but it didn’t quite work out as he’d wanted.
I wonder what became of the mock-up Kingfisher and the Japanese floatplane (Pete?) on those ships. Were they kept like the flying replicas? Or destroyed?
Dave HomewoodPerhaps the OFMC is preparing to send the rest of their collection to New Zealand :diablo:
Dave HomewoodThere are photos of other impressed aircraft in the book including a Porterfield and a Waco, with virtually the same colour scheme so I think all four Rearwins would have worn that same style of scheme. I’d think it was along the lines of RAF Dark Green/Dark Earth which was standard ‘at home’ scheme for the first part of the war. Later when paint became very scarce most aircraft in the RNZAF received schemes in locally made paint that was a slightly different dark green and a unique blue-grey colour, as seen on the Hudson at the RNZAF Museum. As this was applied to Hudsons, Harvards, Oxfords, Ansons, Tiger Moths…. I cannot see why it may not have also been applied to the impressed fleet. I am not sure, just guessing, but if so that’s an even more unusual scheme. The RNZAF Museum will probably know for sure and probably have more Rearwin photos if you contact them too.
Dave HomewoodWhen did the B(I)8 go to NZ?
I was there in April ’04 and the only Canberra I recall was an ex RAAF one (unless it is being kept away from Wigram?)
The RNZAF Museum has two Canberras. The one on display in Hangar 1 is indeed an ex-RAAF one that was kindly donated to the musuem in about 1987. It flew into Wigram and is no doubt still quite possible of flight.
However it is quite different from those operated by the RNZAF, which is why they left it in RAAF colours. The RNZAF Museum bought the B(1)8 in about 1992 or 93. I recall it arriving when I was based there. This was the same model as those used in No. 75 Squadron. I didn’t realise it had come from Britain, I was told it had Indian origins, but that was probably just a base rumour.
I didn’t see the Canberra when I was there in Feb 04 and suspect it is still in storage awaiting assembly, possibly at Weedons. Sadly they haven’t the money and manpower to get all their projects done. The Catalina has been there untouched (after an iniial spurt of restoration by the Hobsonville workshops) since 1991. 🙁
Does the RAF still operate those awesome strecthed Hercules’s? One vistied Auckland when I was based there, and I simply loved it. One at least of those should be in a museum when they retire. Did any other nation use that modification on their Hercs?
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