Dave HomewoodHere’s one of Freddie “Popeye” Lucas’s aircraft.
I have seen this quoted as being NZ3501, but in photos of that aircraft the Popeye figure is different and this is clearly “Popeye III” in the original photo.
NZ3501 collided with a Ventura that ripped its wing off, but it still got down safely. A well known story, but I think a new Popeye was created when 01 went out of action, and then this is the third in the line.
The reason Lucas had Popeye as his mascot was he exactly resembled the character in looks!!
The Anson also had Toro The Bull on its nose, another Disney character
Dave HomewoodWell when I Googled his name yesterday IMDb didn’t come up, just a handful of sites trying to sell his books.
Not that IMDb told me as much as Ian did anyway. Cheers.
Dave HomewoodPropwash – a liquid cleaner for polishing your airsrew blades (something the new U/T’s were always sent spuriously to get a bottle of from Stores when I was in the RNZAF. I didn’t fall for it!)
Dave HomewoodWow, simply stunning. Well done Alex.
I too love the shot over the docks.
ZK-WAR (the flagship) still looks great. I’ve always wondered, does anyone know if that scheme of W-AR is an authentic wartime RNZAF scheme (I know the camouflage is, but I wonder about the codes). I have always assumed it is simply a made-up scheme as it was the first New Zealand Warbirds aircraft.
Dave HomewoodCheers Phil,
Yes it seems they had a quieter war than the other NZ squadrons in the RAF. I do know it was 490 (NZ) Sqn crews that brought the RNZAF’s first four Sunderlands out to the Pacific in 1944 to operate as transports between NZ and the islands.
I had forgotten to post the link to the site I mentioned yesterday. Here it is.
http://www.georgian.net/422sqdrn/422morsn.htm
I still haven’t looked up Alan Mitchell’s book yet. Hopefully tomorrow.
Cheers
Dave
Dave HomewoodGeoff, you should be on “I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue” 🙂
Although I don’t think any specific aircraft are mentioned in these, a few aviation related wartime songs I like to listen to are:
He Wears A Pair Of Silver Wings (Dinah Shore)
Coming In On A Wing And A Prayer (The Four Vagabonds)
I Fell In Love With An Airman (Tessie O’Shea)
Wings Over The Navy (several artists)
It’s a Pair of Wings For Me (Nat Gonella & his Orchestra)
Has anyone mentioned Jefferson Airplane? Or Eight Miles High?
Dave HomewoodDave
I think you’ll find Flying Officer Trigg was flying a Liberator GR.V of 200 Sqn.
They were at the time based at Yumdum in The Gambia.
The action took place 240 miles South West of Dakar at 09.45 (local) on 11th August 1943.
Cheers
Andy
You’re absolutely correct Andy, it was a Liberator. Sorry, it was late at night and I was going by my shocking memory, remembering back to my RNZAF training at GSTS, WOodbourne where they taught us the history of the service. I got a little confused there. Trent was definately in a Ventura though.
James, again I concede, retract and delete to try not to cause trouble. Sorry to anyone who disagrees with me.
Have any VC’s been handed out for the current war in Iraq?
Dave HomewoodI have removed the said quip, as it obviously offended Kev, sorry(let me say it had nothing to do with the dog’s name by the way).
Yes, I think you’re right about collective bravery. It just doesn’t make sense really does it? I mean in most cases that pilot won’t have been able to have carried out the deed he’s awarded for without the gunners protecting him, or without the bomb aimer actually completing the mission they’re sent to do, and the navigator getting them there in the first place.
The RNZAF has had three VC recipients. Sgt Jimmy Ward was on Wellingtons in 75 (NZ) Sqn. He was 2nd pilot when the wing was hit and caught fire. He climbed out onto the wing and back several times till he’d smothered the fire with a tarpaulin, and saved the crew. So yes, this is a good one for being singled out.
But the other two were like you say, collective efforts. Lloyd Trigg attacked a U boat and though the Ventura aircraft was very badly damaged they pressed home the attack till the U boat was sunk. The plane crashed and all aboard died. It was the U boat commander who recommended the VC being awarded when he was picked up and made a prisoner, which is an incredibly sporting gesture after his submarine had been sunk. In this case it was Trigg’s decision to continue to attack the sub rather than let it go and save himself and the crew, but it was the whole crew’s efforts that saw the sub sunk. They all should have received the award, yes.
And the third RNZAF VC was Leonard Trent – the only one of the three to survive the war. He also pressed home his attack, this time on land when 10 Venturas were sent to bomb a power house. Only his got to the target, all the others were shot down. He dropped his bombs and damaged the power house, and then was shot down on the way home, and spent the rest of the war a POW (except for a brief escape he made during The Great Escape, which was short lived freedom.)
Again, it was his whole crew that took part. I just wonder is it because the pilot is Captain and makes the ultimate decision, is it considered his responsibility, and thus his bravery? This despite the fact the crew may all be like brothers and would never consider leaving each other or arguing the fact, etc, and all would be as brave as the pilot who’s made the decision for them.
Dave HomewoodIn Gibson’s case, the VC was awarded for the Dams Raid. Or was it? If it was for the raid itself then why were the rest of the crew awarded lesser decorations? They collectively completed the mission and Gibson could not have done it without his crew. So, why the distinction? It could be said that it was for his leadership throughout the preparations and the raid and that would make more sense. I have not seen the citation.
I don’t know for sure but I wonder if it is a matter of rank. Gibson was the highest ranked and the leader, and many RAF awards are different for different ranks who do the same deeds – the good old snobbery of the Brits coming into play. (though the VC isn’t normally differential like that because NZ had a few Sgt VC’s so this is probably wrong).
VC’s never get given out often because they are extra special. Even though the whole crew, and no doubt all the other crews that night and many thousands on other occassions deserved the same recognition, it simply couldn’t be done. I understand that all VC’s are struck from the same source, they’re made from the barrel of an 1800’s canon used in some battle or other. I can’t recall fully. But they would surely run out of source material if they handed them out to all who deserved it.
Dave Homewood😀 😀 😀
Oooh, such a flypast would be great, especially if somone got one of the old Wasps up too.
The 60th Anniversary has long passed of course. The Royal New Zealand Navy was established as a seperate force in 1941. Before that our navy was actually called ‘The New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy’. So New Zealand funded the ships and supplied most crew members, but they were British controlled.
The Walrus first came into NZ service in 1936 when the cruisers Leander and Achilles were equipped in that year and the next. They were operated by No. 700 Sqn of the RN FAA – but many of the Sqn members were attached from the RNZAF. Before the war there were four examples, one for each ship and two in store at Hobsonville in the FAA depot there.
In October 1942 a change of policy saw the Walrus brought onto land permanently (there were now five of them), and in Jan 1943 they were taken over ‘on loan’ by the RNZAF to form the Seaplane Training Flight at Hobsonville, where Catalina crews were trained as the Cats were coming into servicein April 1943. One was made an instructional airframe pretty soon (NZ155) and NZ153 crashed into the water after just two months. The remaining three were joined in Sept and Nov 1944 by five more ex-RN Walrus (NZ156-NZ160). After the war the RN was given back NZ151 and NZ152, while two of the other four left remained in service for a further six months with No. 5 Sqn at Hobby till Feb 1947. All four were sold at the end of 1947.
There was an eleventh RNZAF Walrus, K8558 of the FAA which was meant to be a stored spare at Hobby’s FAA depot but was instead used by the RNZAF from August 1941 to train pilots so they could deliver our Short Singapores from Singapore to Fiji. This Walrus was wrecked when it did a wheels down landing on Auckland Harbour 😮 . There’s a great photo of it somewhere upside down and being hoisted by one of the cruisers out of the drink. I’ll bet the pilot felt a fool! It was later transferred to the RNZAF books purely for admin reasons as it was a write off. It must have been a “You break it, you pay” policy.
This info comes from “Aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force” by David Duxbury, the late Ross Macpherson and Ross Ewing – the man who’s now leading the Walrus project.
So, I think the fantasy anniversary flypast will have to be the 75th, in 2011, just after it has returned from that trip to Duxford. 😉
Dave HomewoodHi James (Wal-nut 🙂 )
Well, it seems to be the unwritten rule on this forum that when any warbird anywhere in the world is mentioned as being restored, it is EXPECTED to be at the next year’s Legends 😀
As Shane Glassey (aka Shagbat) said on my original thread about the NZ group wanting to buy the Walrus:
“A tour of UK and Aussie has been discussed as something we would like to do but it’s too early to speculate to much.” Shane is heavily involved with this group, and is a noted restorer of old aircraft himself, like Ross Ewing.
So there is a possibilty, and at least they are considering it as an option. Wouldn’t it be great if they could get the Royal New Zealand Navy involved and the plane actually did a world tour on one of their ships, just like the olden days when they operated from the RNZN ships Achilles and Leander. Thy could lash it to the hhelideck I guess. I’m probably getting into the realms of fantasy now though…
Dave HomewoodCheers, I will keep a look out indeed.
Dave HomewoodI’m glad you chaps liked it – I liked it too. I found the link on Hyperscale, which has to be the best scale aircraft modelling site in the world, they often have little gems posted like this. 🙂
Dave HomewoodFantastic photos Mark. Thanks for sharing. Wow it looked like an awesome event, and an awesome day – I’ll bet the temperature must have been pretty balmy.
I love the look of these photos, some are dreamlike, others looklike genuine wartime pictures.
Dave HomewoodArchieraf, wow, thanks for that. A wonderful story.
I talked with Spifire ace Edward “Bill” Wells last year. He told me of all the flying he did, (Battle of Britain, sweeps over Europe and shipping, D Day, etc.), Arnhem was the scariest period he ever endured. This was because they were flying so low, and the ground was so flat, it was hard to see obstacles like power lines. I have to say I was surprised to hear that he found Arnhem scarier than the Battle of Britain – he was a rookie in the BofB but was a very experienced combat pilot by 1944. Rather interesting.
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