Cheers for that.
Did a quick ‘wild card’ search but couldn’t find it.

I .. WILL .. be re-checking the data-base at work tomorrow night.

Whitley Para’s also came out through a hole in the bottom – Whitley teeth rings a bell if you were the 9th? out???

Thanks for the post, Snapper.

Always in their debt and our right to say so is testimony to their sacrifice.

Sea Hurricanes rings a bell with me..
I wondered if it was possibly North Africa as well.

Cheers Phil and the rest of you for an interesting discussion.

Tony

Sorry for the delay – had a spot of leave..
Referring to the robust nature of the “Queen”, taken from RNZAF: A Short History by Geoffrey Bentley;
“~ NZ5804 was lost fairly early in its life in an accident at Darwin. Losing engine power on takeoff, Squadron Leader K B Smith was forced to put 04 back on the runway at 130 knots. She tore off the runway, down a ditch, up a hill, over the road, through a 12 inch waterpipe and onto a railway track. Keith Smith, the Darwinite said in their best bantering fashion, had caused more damage than the Japanese in the whole of World War II!
Yet this strong aeroplane, though it was a total loss, neither burned nor broke up. No one was hurt, which speaks volumes for the safety aspects of the rearward-facing seats. In the long years that the Hastings flew in the RNZAF there was not a single fatality. An enviable record.
Even at sea this remarkable aircraft was very forgiving. An RAF Hastings in a flight across the Mediterranean ended up in the ocean. A very senior officer on board stepped into the emergency dinghy without even wetting his feet and still wearing his service dress cap. ‘Very good for discipline’ he commented.
On another occasion an RAF Hastings ploughed into the sea off Gan in a rain-storm. Wheels down, full flap, approach power on, it smacked into the Indian Ocean and came to a solid halt. Believing their aircraft to be on a reef the occupants did not rush to evacuate and even re-entered the plane to put cameras and other valuables on the rack away from the water. However as the fuselage appeared to be slowly filling, they reluctantly climbed into their dinghies and backed away. As they did the aircraft sank in 200 feet of water.
So the Hastings Legend grew.”

Any details available regarding the 2nd photo?
Where?
When?
Unit?

Looks almost like some Sand & Stone schemes in that lot

Macfire,

Attached is a shot of NZ5804 obviously taken before its demise on 09/09/55 but I do not know where. I worked on all the other three RNZAF Hastings, first at Dishforth and then at Thorney Island, whilst with 242 OCU. They used to fly them over for servicing and I can recall spending hours polishing the bare metal skin.

Glyn

Thanks Glyn,
Great shot. I figured it was a line-up for the race with KLM’s DC-6A PH-TGA in the background.

From memory, a couple of points. I will check these out and confirm;

’04: The Aussies reckoned that she caused more damage to Darwin than the entire Japanese bombing effort. crashing through the airfield fence, across a road, railway line and gas main.
Due to the rearward-facing seats nobody received any major injuries and I can’t remember the quoted G force deceleration but it was substantial.
There was an article in an RNZAF flight safety mag showing the, reasonably intact, airframe.

The C.3 had more powerful engines (note no spinners) and the crews apparently used to win a few beers of their RAF counterparts with the extra capabilities of the aircraft. I will dig out the quote, I think I can still fine it and post.

Cheers for the pic.

In Albert’s pic, doesn’t the sheer size of the beast makes her look like a predator?

Imagine this, only on the deck…)

SUPERB