Dave HomewoodDan,
A little off-topic to this thread I’m afraid, but as you seem to be interested in the Spitfire Mk XII, I thought I might mention this book in case you’re not aware of it.
Green Kiwi versus German Eagle, by J. Norby King.
http://www.rsa.org.nz/review/bs2004february/bookshelf_8.html
He was a Hurricane and Spitfire pilot and he did a short stint on the Mk XII. He’s still alive so perhaps if you order the book from him you can get a bit more info dircrectly from him if you wish to. I hope this helps.
PS – is Johnnie Johnson still alive? The last I saw of him anywhere was when he was guest at the Wanaka airshow about ten years ago.
Dave HomewoodYou should talk with Glyn Powell, of the Mosquito Aircraft Restoration Company, Auckland, New Zealand.
He has painstakenly recreated the moulds for the Mossie fuselage and is now able to make them to order as good as the original thing, but brand new. He is currently rebuilding ex-RNZAF Mossie NZ2308 to fly. I can’t wait.
A list of the world’s preserved Mossies can be found here http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/Preserved/Mosquito.htm which has some photos.
Dave HomewoodSorry, who is he?
Dave
Dave HomewoodI really appreciate the benefit of this forum where we can find out about aircraft and collections in countries not usually covered much in the usual magazines. Before I found this forum I knew very little about the warbird movements in places like Canada, Germany, France and Belgium, etc.
It is really great to see the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum collection, thanks guys. I now know that there are several aircraft in Canadian collections that I have read about in books by former WWII RNZAF pilots who trained in Canada but thought probably no longer existed, like the Cessna Bobcat/Crane, the Yale and the Fleet Fort, etc. I had assumed that simply because I’d not read about them in magazines covering modern warbird activities etc. they no longer existed. It is nice to know someone somewhere is lovingly caring for such types which have a great history for both the Canadians and the New Zealanders, and ultimately the RAF as a whole.
That Lancaster looks stunning, as good as the BBMF example.
If anyone has more pictures of any of the CWH aircraft, or those from other Canadian collections, I’m sure I won’t be the only one who appreciates seeing them. Thanks.
Dave HomewoodWho, me? My best guess is it is the personal scheme of Cruella De Vil 🙂
Or perhaps Gerald Durrell…
Man, that Blunty looks hot!
Dave HomewoodIndeed it is interesting nose art Peter, I really like it. I have a Tamiya 1/48th scale Lanc that has been packed away since I bought it in 1988. I have decided that when I finally build it it’ll be as Taipo.
A bit more background. Roy was one of only four New Zealanders to win the DFC three times – and the others were fighter pilots, so he was the only ‘heavy’ pilot to do so. One of the others was the very famous Colin Grey, NZ’s top scoring fighter pilot.
Roy flew 59 bombing missions and only endured one wound, shrapnel to his arm on the raid where Taipo crashed. He also lost only one crew member, on the same raid, when Wireless Operator Lewis Herbert Austin, RAAF, was killed. The observer was badly wounded but survived. As well as being wouded himself, and battling to save the aircraft, Roy had to also deal with an American along for the ride who disobeyed Roy’s orders to help the W/Op, probably through fear or shock. The rest of the crew were greatly unimpressed when afterwards the Yank did all the talking at the debrief of how he helped save the plane, claiming credence he never deserved.
Roy managed to save the aircraft and crew on a number of occasions when others may have bailed out. He was one of the pilots who perfected the corkscrew dive in the Lanc to avoid being attacked underneath, and he went on to teach this to many other pilots.
Taipo flew with Roy and his crew on No 50 Sqn, RAF, for 22 missions before the crash pictured above, and he cosidered it the best Lanc he’d flown. Previous to these missions Roy had survived 6 raids in Manchesters, which he hated.
Below is Taipo before the crash… a shot after with the uninjured crew sitting on the injured wing… and a shot of Roy himself. All photos via Mrs May Calvert of Cambridge.
Dave HomewoodPS to the above post – those are holes on the aircraft, not the photos – which were three I have joined together.
The aircraft’s name was ‘Taipo’, which is the Maori word for devil, and the lovely nose art is a devil chasing hitler with a pitch fork. The aircraft’s code was R5702 VN-S.
Not sure if the nose art below will come out ok :confused:
Dave HomewoodPeter, sorry I don’t have any photos of what it looks like now, only photos of the aircraft after belly landing at Bradwell Bay as flown by Roy Calvert. See below.
Flood, I didn’t know this had been in Flypast, have you any further details? Scan?
Dave HomewoodI remember sometime in the 1980’s it was on the TV news that the ZK register had gotten up to ZK-SEX, and it was issued to a lucky owner of a Cessna 172 (I think), so the NZ authorities were not so prudish.
I often think how lucky it was that Sir Tim Wallis’s Spitfire wasn’t another in 453 Sqn. It is marked with the codes FU-P, but there is at least one photo I’ve seen of it during the war sitting with several other squadron members, including ‘K’ and ‘C’ !!! 😮 😮 😀 😀
Dave HomewoodDoes the original still exist anywhere?
Dave HomewoodThanks guys for this interesting info.
I can see some correlation between some country codes, G (for Great Britain), D (for Deutchland), etc. But why do some have no connection with the country, like ZK for New Zealand, VH for Aussie, or OO for Belgium? Any ides of what is behind the system?
As far as new types on the register, I assume this is why the Russian rebuilt Polikarpovs for the AFC in NZ were given a CofA in the USA before bringing them here to NZ. Perhaps it was easier to pass their CofA and more universally accepted when they were sold on?
One thing I noted yesterday, the ShortsBelfast operated in Australia by Heavylift Cargo of Brisbane is in fact registered in Sierra Leone. There’s an interesting one. The same company has recently registered a Boeing 727-51C in Sierra Leone too for Trans-Tasman operations. So the Aussies obviously allow this to happen all right.
Dave HomewoodRichard,
Yes, the Corsair was sold in about April to a new owner in Masterton or thereabouts, as it is now based at Hood Aerodrome, Masterton. Thankfully it is back in NZ for at least a while. 🙂
The LA-9 was also reported as up for sale. Not sure if it has been bought yet. That would be a rare thing to snap up, and no doubt worth a packet of dough, so I doubt it’ll stay in NZ. It’ll probably go to the states I guess.
Dave
Dave HomewoodThat is a real credit to the Russian engineers to be able to do that. Of course in China they are now doing it to every American product they can get their hands on!! Only today they are not copied so well.
How many TU4’s were actually built in the end?
Dave HomewoodThat’s great to discover that there are many more left than I had thought. Thanks for all the info.
It was a huge shame about Kee Bird. It would have been nice to know another one was flying. I guess now the only hope of a second flyer would lie with Kermy Weeks.
Regarding the Washington pilot I know, Gordon Easter, he only transported the bomb to Christmas Island. I believe it was ground detonated (though I would have to listen to the taped interview again I did with him to be certain). He said he and his crew were given dark goggles and they sat on the tarmac to watch it go off. Luckily he did not contract leukemia, but sadly he does have emphsema, which he attributes to the fact that in the wartime air force he was encouraged by the insistant doctors to take up smoking because it calmed the nerves. Just as shameful as the nuke tests really.
Dave HomewoodI know a Kiwi pilot here in Cambridge who flew the Washingtons in the RAF for several years. He even flew one out to Christmas Island with an A-bomb on board and then watched it go off. A truly fascinating chap. He flew in the RNZAF and RAF for 20 years from 1941 onwards. he did all sorts of things – bombing raids in Wellingtons and Stirlings, he bailed out of a Stirling over the UK, he sadly lost three bomber crews on various occasions (all not him flying, other pilots kept borrowing his crews and not bringing them back!), and he was sent to India to convert to Liberators, but when he got there he was told the Libs were in the USA, and the RAF had sent him to the wrong country. He had suposed to go to Florida o convert and tranport a lib to India. In the end he stayed there and filled the role of a Transport Officer for several months till 1944 when he was sent home to NZ, and then he went up to the Pacific where he flew transport C47’s and Hudsons with teh RNZAF. After the war he returned to the RAF and flew transport, Yorks and Washingtons mainly. He did about 250 sorties in Yorks on the Berlin Airlift. Totally amazing chap, and very modest about it, but he can talk for hours and has photos and log books to back up his tales. I’m sure he visited almost every country in the world in Transport Command.
Anyway, back to the point. The B29 in Duxford flew in there in about 1979 from the USA. I have an article from Aeroplane Monthly that year somewhere. I don’t recall where in the USA it came from, but probably was China Lake (which now that you reminded me James is the place in the video I saw).
Papa, thanks for clearing up my wondering about the B50. Sneaky devils.
Did any remains of Kee Bird (the one destroyed on take off when it was being ‘rescued’ from the Arctic circle (Greenland??) ever get recovered? That was a huge shame. 🙁 🙁
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