Dave HomewoodSounds good Shane, it’s be interesting to see one land on water. I guess they wouldn’t need too much ‘runway’, or is that ‘waterway’ to take off on a lake either.
Maybe you can bring it into Lake Karapiro (my local lake, which is very calm – famous for rowing – and would be great for a small flying boat) 🙂
One bonus is you won’t have to be putting it back onto a ship, like the Navy operated ones. The RNZAF Fitter I know who served on HMNZS Achilles servicing the Walrus, Mr Eric Ford, says he had the job of climbing onto the top wing with the engine still running to hook on the winch shackle. Blow that!
Did you know that HMNZS Leander left their Walrus (slightly bent, catapult launched with one tie down still on!!) up at New Caledonia? There may be some useful parts still up there if you know where to look. The hull could be someone’s garden shed now. The ship’s crew dumped it in a coal depot apparently according to Eric. This was about 1942.
Wasn’t there a Walrus made into a caravan in Aussie at one stage?
Dave HomewoodI’ve heard a few too at times,but the best one was when I was at Warbirds Over Wanaka 1992 I met a group of dedicated airshow fans. You can always tell them in NZ as they wear green bomber jackets covered in patches and badges from various squadrons and clubs, and peaked caps with the likes of the NZ Warbirds or Confederate Air Force logos on them. These are normally top blokes to chat with as they are usually deeply involved with old aircraft and know their stuff.
But this occasion saw one of them telling me and a couple of others of his same ilk that Sir Tim Wallis had recently purchased the Lancaster at Motat, and that he was going to get it flying.
I simply smiled politely but I was furiously rolling my eyes on the inside. :rolleyes:
Dave HomewoodThanks guys.
Does anyone collect TeeEmm? Is it rare to find?
That’s really interesting Stieglitz, cheers. Interesting covers. The second Der Adler reminds me of a scene in a certain BofB film. And as for the third one, I never realised Griff Rhys Jones was in the Luftwaffe!! 😀
Dave HomewoodI just found this link that has a transcript of today’s debate in Parliament about the sale of the A4K’s and MB339Ks. Jolly interesting – Pratt and Whitney are apparently refusing to service Skyhawk engines after 2007. Also, Ron Marks, who is a nutty kind of opposition politician but very military minded as he’s ex-Army, wants to make them into playground slides!! Cool idea, I’d play on one. 🙂
See the full deabate here, which is quite interesting. Use Edit > Find and put in Skyhawk, it begins on the second keyword ‘Skyhawk’ from the top.
Dave HomewoodIndeed, I hope to be present when it flies in. That will be a site and a half. I hope they arrange to have TB863 do a flypast during the dedication once it’s mounted on the plinth. Or at least some Harvards or something.
Maybe even some of Mr James’ Fletchers would be good.
Incidentally another off-topic Hamilton-related event, the first PAC 750XL has arrived in the UK yesterday. See here
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0406/S00335.htm
Dave HomewoodDoesn’t mention the nose art but was registered G-AGXA for the flight to Oz. Flown by Captain Geoffrey Wickner to Aussie with 18 passengers. Previously it had been flown by Australians in No 466 Sqn, RAF. It left Hurn 24 May 1946 and was in Darwin 16 days later.
It says they then planned exhibition flights to raise money for Benevolent Funds, but this didn’t eventuate. Imagine, it could have been Aussie’s own BBMF.
It was sold to a consortium of ex RAAF personnel who used it for a freight service. It didn’t suceed and they scrapped the Halifax at Sydney, the fuselage being used for fire drill at the airport. 😡
It still had turrets and some of its camo whilst wearing the civilian codes in the photo.
Sounds like quite an adventure, pooling together to buy a bomber and take it to the other side of the world.
Dave HomewoodOn the news just now they reported the last flying RNZAF Skyhawk which has been used as their demonstrator model goes for its last flight in RNZAF hands tomorrow, and will be grounded.
The report showed the Maachis all still sitting in 14 Sqn’s hangar at Ohakea so Malaysia hasn’t got hold of them as of today at least. However in this report when they mentioned the scrappings they only talked about the 17 A4K’s and never even mentioned the Maachis.
Also they defined the word ‘scrap’ as being like an old used car, ‘buy as is, where is’. I guess they’ll be in the Trade and Exchange or Loot magazine next week then.
They said as all prsopective buyers have seen the planes flying, they’re now grounding the demonstrator A4, with its last flight tomorrow if the weather is ok. As it is winter and its based at Ohakea, the weather will not be ok, that’s almost guaranteed. 😉
A sad day for the RNZAF.
Dave HomewoodFrom ‘Australia’s Military Aircraft’ by Ross Gilbert:
“The requirement for a long-range, medium altitude , high performance fighter for the RAAF was raised with the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation during 1943/44. The resultant CA-15, as it became known, was completed in February, 1946, and flown on its maiden flight on 4th March. After 23 flights the aircraft was transferred to Laverton for trials with No 1 APU on 27th June.
Later on 10th December the CA-15 was damaged during a crash landing and subsequently repaired by CAC during 1947/48.
While development of the aircraft continued, decisions were made to acquire jet fighters as replacements for the Mustangs. On 19th May. 1948, the lone CA-15 was returned after repairs, but on 1st May 1950, all development work was cancelled and A62-1001 was approved for conversion to components.
During its short development career, the CA-15 was reported to have attained 502.2 mph during a shallow dive on 25th May 1948.”
Also in the caption to the photo accompanying it states:
“During its brief career the aircraft established itself as one of the fastest piston engined aircraft ever built. Combined with its 450 mph maximum speed and its range of 2,500 miles, the CA-15 would have provided a qualitative improvement for the RAAF but was defeated by the jet age.”
Hmm, a piston fighter better than the Mustang? That’ll ruffle a few feathers on the forum 😉 🙂
Stats of the CA-15
Ebtered Service 1946
Left Service 1950
Armament – 6 x 0.5 inch MG’s (wings)
Bombload – 2000lbs
Weight – empty 7,540lbs
Weight – loaded 12,340lbs
Dimensions (feet) Wingspan 36, Length 36.2 1/2, Height 14.2
Power – one Rolls Royce Giffon Mk 61 engine, 2,035hp
Initial Climb – 4,900 feet/min
Ceiling (feet) 39,000
Speed (mph) cruising ?, Maximum 432
Endurance 2540 miles at 5,000ft
Hmm, so one book gives three maximum speeds. OK then :confused: :rolleyes:
Personally i think it’s an ugly plane compared with the Spitfire or P51D, or the MB5 for that matter, but it would be damned interesting to see it flying.
Dave HomewoodCheers Ashley, that has set most of my mind to rest at last. I have been plucking up the courage to ask about the goat for some time, because I wasn’t sure what to expect. 😀
I love the fun on this forum.
PS – Who is Molesworth????
Dave HomewoodI’ve had the occasional problem in the past couple of months where I can’t get into the forum, or am in and hit a link and it biffs me out, and both scenarios a white page appears that says it’s temporarily unavailable. That page also says the webmaster has been informed. One one or two of these occasions it has affected me all day but when i get back in I see everyone else has been posting merrily ok.
Usually a short wait, or going off the page to something else and then coming back sees everything come right.
I haven’t had a slowness like you though (yet, touch wood), but I’ve had the opposite of your other question where it is very occasionally marking everything or maybe the top half of threads on a page as unread, even if I’ve read them.
I have however several times tried to find something via the search facility and not being able to – and I mean after the good webmaster said it was repaired and reloaded. It is much better than originally after the new site came online, but for me I still have problems finding certain things even when i know the specific keyword or th author. In one case i was looking for someing I wrote myself and couldn’t find it despite using the exact title! I don’t know if anyone else still has trouble with the search thingy?
Neither are major problems, I’m not complaining, just maybe someone out there has had the same things happen.
I do however have a couple of queires of a non-technical nature regarding the Historic forum…
What is with
– Traffic cones
– Snapper and goats
– chiz (what the heck does that mean?)
Just for those not in the know, thanks guys. 😉
Dave HomewoodThanks Alex,
Stunning photos of some lovely aircraft. Please, have you any more photos NZ de Havillands you can post (esp. Dh89’s and Sir Tim’s lovely Fox Moth 🙂 )
What is the squadron crest on the Dragonfly – seems odd when it is in a civvie scheme.
Is the Dragonfly still based at Mandeville? Where is the orange Fox Moth based?
Dave HomewoodOh no no, Trumper, you send your retiring jets to us 😉 We need ’em more, much more coastline to defend than you have 🙂
John, yes Kiwi Red was a stunning team. They were not just a team put together solely for displays like the Red Arrows, Blue Angels, etc, but they also worked operationally at the same time as front line pilots and planes, despite the increasing limitations on flying hours, etc. I think that is a real cedit to our little bunch of ‘knucks’ (ie fighter pilots, RNZAF sland, short for knuckle heads due to the bonedome helmets)
I first saw them in early 1989 when they returned from Australia and flew into RNZAF Woodbourne. They did a short display before landing and stunned the whole base with the display. Magic. I then saw the whole routine on their 1989 tour display in Hamilton, and that was incredible, even my sisters who hate planes loved it. I loved the sound of six Squawks in close formation.
When Kiwi Red was disbanded (1990?) they did a final tour and I recall seeing them fly over Hamilton city in a stunning routine. Sad to think we’ll never see the likes of that again.
I have the Kiwi Red video but you don’t get the the real power of the sound, that bonechilling feeling as the ground shakes, nor the smell of the avtur. Arrrr, I miss the A4’s (and the Macchis and the Blunties…)
Didn’t the Nowra detachment of 2 Sqn also work up a small display team? I seem to recall reading about four or so of them displaying in a few shows to up their image, and I think the locals were suitably impressed.
Dave HomewoodThe New Zealanders should be ashamed of themselves for letting the ‘lickers’ take control of a great place. Helen thinks that there is too much testostorene in military jets….boys having fun etc. Like all Govt disposal deals, the so-called pubic servants and the pollies can’t sell ice to an arab…in Oz we had the C-130A/Tracker/Mirage sale debacles so we can’t laugh althogh we still have an air force with force….
‘lickers’?? Doesn’t your nation have John Howard as their leader 😉 🙂
The problem is there’s too much testosterone in Helen I think.
Albert, the NZ Govt. is on too friendly a terms with Indonesia, and I don’t think Phillipines is too high on their list of mates either, so I doubt a donation of aircraft that way will happen.
At one point there was a fairly solid deal for the whole fleet to go to the USA supposedly to a flight school, but I understand that NZ discovered that they were in fact going to be sold on to Israel, which is another country on their ‘bunch of w*nkers’ list so that was canned.
Dave HomewoodNope, that was the fuselage for the new build replica Mossie being done at Windsor, Ontario. I believe the Mossie T.III being referred to is still in Britain, pending restoration, but will eventually end up in the Western USA.
Cheers Eddie, having just re-read what I wrote above, i realise it can read as if I meant the NZ new build was the one going to the USA via Canada. That is not what I meant, sorry if this confused anyone. I meant that the NZ-Canada move was the only one I’ve heard of recently. And then, seperately, that the one in the UK must be the one on its way to the USA – as you state. Sorry again, I hope this reads more clearly.
Dave HomewoodHi Shane,
Great to see oyu made it to the forum ok, welcome aboard. I know you will enjoy it here. And I know we will all enjoy hearing of any progress in the Wlarus project, and your others too. 🙂
Firebird, thanks for the link. Interesting collection. The only Mossie movement I have heard of in ages is the new build fuselage that went from Auckland to Canada. Not heard of any others, so it probably is the T111 they refer to on the site I guess.
Cheers
Dave
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