Dave HomewoodOh, and I forgot to mention the Jato-powered CT4K Attacker, which as we all know has been at the front line in the war against the evil penguin empire on the Antartic tundra, which is probably the most deadly region on the planet right now. Those penguins will never get our fish!! The %$#@*s.
Don’t they know they cannot win? After all, we quelled the 66 million sheep that attempted a military-style coup last year.
The RNZAF will be victrorious
Muu-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Dave HomewoodNice Chris.
Yes all three types are historic enough to be here – they have all operated in combat zones or potentially threatening areas, so they are warbirds too.
The Hercs are definately warbirds – having served most notably in the Gulf War. They have also operated in many warring countries on humanitarian grounds as well as providing logisitics.
The Iroquois has seen service in many trouble spots too, such as Timor, Sinai, Guadalcanal, etc. So they too are warbirds in a way.
And of course the P3’s are even today serving in the troubled Middle East in Operation Enduring Freeoil.
Each fleet is probably the longest serving and best kept of type in the world – all entered service in 1965 (though a few additions were made between then and 1970 so a few are mere ‘babies’.
The Orions are the only P3K’s in the world, and they look damned impressive in that low viz scheme. Another thing historic about them are they are now our only bomber strike force!
And it won’t be long before the RNZAF Iroquois is no more. They and the Sioux are undergoing a replacement programme now.
The Hercules is also coming up for replacement, something that should have been done ten years ago when we had the chance of a deal with Aussie.
Dave
Dave HomewoodThanks a lot everyone, this is all realy interesting indeed. I had forgotten all about the Irish being neutral too. Thanks for those details.
Crazymainer – a pity that your great-uncle didn’t slip back into America quietly and hide the He111/Fw190 combination in a barn, eh! Imagine the value of that now. Did he see much active service while in the Luftwaffe? What made him change allegiances?
Robblec, I had read a book where a British pilot escaped over the Pyrenees to freedom. He hadn’t been imprisoned, but instead helped back to Britain just as if he’d entered Switzerland. So this must have been later in the war and there definately must have been a policy change.
Papa Lima, waht is ABA? Is it a Swedish airline? Have any of the Allied planes that were captured been kept to this day in museums?
Great. If anyone has more stories to add I’m keen to hear. 🙂
Dave HomewoodOriginally posted by Stieglitz
Is this the new alternative for the movie-industry? The price to make Pearl Harbour would have been much lower if they used planes like this! 😀J.V.
Yes, and then they could have spent the money on a script!
However… there are some nice models on that site. I am not an aeromodeller by any means, I like static models (1/48th!) but I grew up with them because Dad used to fly them (he’s now into boats) and he ran both local and national clubs.
Occasionally I went with him to scale meetings. I’m afraid most scale flying models fail to impress me, because as Der says, they simply don’t look right, and worse, they sound just wrong!.
However there are two models I’ve seen that really blew me away. The first I saw at Waharoa. It was a Harvard, painted as NZ1091 which was then a well-known real warbird on the circuit. The thing about the Harvard is it was made from real aluminium, complete with tiny rivets. It was a huge model, the span must have been almost three metres. The interior looked real, even the prop looked right. The builder had done a great job, and then the guy started it. Wow! It had a huge chainsaw engine in it, but he’d heavily modified it and worked out the exhaust so that, believe it or not, he’d actually got it to sound just like a Harvard. And he flew it really well, it was like watching and hearing the real thing. Dad and I were very impressed.
The second model to impress me is quite a famous one in NZ. It’s a Hercules in RNZAF colours, and it is MASSIVE. The guy has to carry it on a large purpose-built trailer. The fuselage is as long as a car, and man is it impressive. I saw it flying at Wigram one day. Sunday afternoon. I was walking along and saw it off in the distance over the hangars. I swear i though it was a real Herc. I went for a look because a) aircraft landing on Sundays were rare, and b) it was white (in the old RNZAF scheme) so i assumed it was a foreign one visiting. Luckily I had my camera and got some snaps. It drops parachutes and the works! Anyone want to see the photos?
Dave HomewoodPhil,
Have you any idea who the Kiwi was? I’d be interested to hear more.
Cheers
Dave
Dave HomewoodThanks Steve,
Nice to know they used real aircraft names for all. Were the particular aircraft that were lost in the film really shot down I wonder?
Dave
Dave HomewoodOriginally posted by LesB
[I]Dave, Canberras were never fighter bombers – only bomber or PR. Exception was the B(I)8 to which a 4-canon gunpack could be fitted (in the rear of the bomb bay) but this made it an interdictor (ground attack) not a fighter. Canberras did of course slot into many different roles but never as a “fighter”. 😉
Cheers Les,
The RNZAF used the Canberra B(I)12, which was apparently much the same as the B(I)8 but had the addition of ejector seats.
I had always assumed that because it replaced the Vampire fighter-bombers, and was itself replaced by the Skyhawk which also filled that role, that the Canberra too had a fighter-bomber capability.
But you prompted me to look it up, and you’re correct, they were used purely as interdiction bombers it seems. We still had Vampires whilst the Canberra served so they must have been the sole fighter capability in the RNZAF at that time.
I guess since those were the days when we used to go off to Asia and fight in the British wars against terrorists there, the need for interdiction bombers was greater than our own defence.
Thanks for enlightening me Les.
Dave
Dave HomewoodCheers Papa Lima,
I just found it in another dictionary – and another meaning is ‘keep changing one’s mind’, so it really refers to most women. 🙂
Dave HomewoodI guess Dimbleby remembers the good old days when Canberras were fighter bombers.
And yes, in my opinion those blobby Nimrods are ugly. But ugly doesn’t mean ineffective. (Although I seem to recall NZ usually used to win the Fincastle Trophy when I was in the RNZAF, good ols Orion is the way to go – and they are not ugly)
Dave HomewoodCheers guys. I had believed that the Nimrods were phased out when the AWACs Sentry was bought. Pleased to see the old beasts are sill flying. 🙂
From that RAF website it seems like the ugly version with huge protuberances at each end like some mad tumourous growths no longer flies. I always used to wonder how it got off the ground; how the pilots could see while taxiing; and how on earth they could do that to the beautiful Comet!
Interesting to see on the RAF site that you giys still have Avro Tutors, De Havilland Dominees and Fairey Firelflies in the training wing. Sounds a bit like our Air Force :p
Of course that was purely tongue in cheek, but I am genuinely surprised to see such old planes as the Canberra, VC10 and the Tristar still going strong. Great to hear.
Dave HomewoodExcellent Mark. There’s more to work with than I’d imagined. I hope it eventually comes to something.
Dave HomewoodCool, I’ve been to Thetford a couple of times. Great place for fans to visit. Quite historic too in its own right. I had a pint in the Anchor and another in the Bell. Yes, I can imagine the goings on in those bars too after a days shooting, expecially in the days when Jimmy Beck was still with us.
I’m fortunate being able to call all the surviving cast, and the writers Perry and Croft, my mates thanks to the society, and it’s true what they say, they really are nice people. I wish I’d had the chance to share a few pints with Arthur Lowe and the others too, especially John Laurie (whom I’m writing a book about).
Have you been to the Dad’s Army museum within the Bressingham steam museum, not far from you?
My website about the society:
http://www.whispersfromwalmington.com/daasnz/
Dave
Dave HomewoodOh crud, that’s a stupid typo. Cheers Moggy.
I was getting mixed up with the Dad’s Army episode The Lion Has Phones, which is a pun on the real film The Lion Has Wings. I run the Dad’s Army society here in NZ, and typing that phrase was a force of habit.
By the way, it was a Scot who invented the phone, Alexander Graham Bell. I think he came up with it in Canada from memory.
Dave HomewoodBomber Command in Films, Radio and TV
I have just come across a book in the library called “RAF Bomber Command in Fact, Film and Fiction” (Sutton Publishing, 1996).
As well as sections on the real Bomber Command it also details all the films that Bomber Command was portrayed in, and all the TV programmes and Radio shows. Very interesting book indeed. A few of the films are not mentioned on the website as linked above by me. The book has has details of:
Films
The Lion Has Phones (1939)
Dangerous Moonlight (1941)
Target For Tonight (1941)
A Yank In The RAF (1941)
An Airman’s Letter To His mother (1941)
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
The Big Blocade (1942)
Flying Fortress (1942)
Millions Like Us (1943)
The Way To The Stars (1945)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Journey Together (1946)
Appointment In London (1953)
The Dam Busters
633 Squadron
Mosquito Squadron
Radio
Squadron ‘X” (British Forces Network, 17 May 1950, 39 mins, based on Guy Gibson’s ‘Enemy Coast Ahead)
Bomber – by Len Deighton (BBC Radio 4, 18 Feb 1995, 230 mins)
One Thousand bombers (BBC R3, 11 mar 1995, 30 mins, documentary)
Television
Pathfinders (1972-72, Thames TV)
The World At War – Part 12; “Whirlwind – Bombing Germany September 1939 – April 1944”
Dresden: Forgotten Anniverssary? (Channel 4, 13 Feb 1995)
Letters From A Bomber Pilot (Thames TV, 18 June 1995)
One of our Aircraft is No Longer Missing (BBC2, 30 Dec 1985, 40 mins, doco on loch Ness Wellington)
The Watchtower (BBC2, 2 Jan 1986, 30 mins, Supernatural tales from old bomber airfields, including East Kirkby – sounds great!!)
Forty Minutes: The Quest of Sergeant Miller (BBC2, 12 March 1987, 40 mins, doco on Sgt John Miller shot down in 102 Sqn Halifax on 28th June 1944)
Bomber Harris (BBC, 1989, drama, 90 mins, starring John Thaw as Harris. Was this good? Thaw was superb in everything)
The Valour and The Horror – (Canadian Broadcasting Company, 19 Jan 1992, doco)
The Dam Busters Raid (Channel 4, 3 Feb 1994, 60 mins, doco)
Bomber Command: Reaping the Whirlwind (C4, 10 Sep 1996, 55 mins)
There are some great sounding shows there, and many films I’ve never seen (I’ve only ever seen The Dam Busters and One of Our Aircraft is Missing 🙁 ).
If anyone wants more details on any of these let me know and I’ll go back to the library.
Three radio shows I’d love to track down about aircraft/pilots are as follows:
The Road To Biggin Hill (adaptation of Vincent Orange’s book on Johnny Checketts, RNZAF ace.)
The Life Of A Hurricane (BBC, aired 29 Jan 1942, starred John Laurie)
Birth of a Bomber (BBC, no air date known by BBC, probably wartime, starring John Laurie).
I found out about the latter two as i’m writing a book on John Laurie, the Scottish actor. They are both held in the BBC archives but I doubt we’ll ever hear them. They may have been docos and John the narrator.
The other one is mentioned in Johnnie Checketts’ This Is Your Life – I’d LOVE to hear that show/series
Dave HomewoodCheers Cees,
I was sceptical from the beginning. I thought it had to be a hoax. There was far too much information which is a dead giveaway.
While reading it I was waiting to see if the ‘S’ Squadron commander was a Wing Commander D. Bader. 🙂
Cheers
Dave
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