petera
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 88
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Post by petera on May 9, 2008 17:59:43 GMT 12
I stumbled on these shots in an album, passing through the US last week. Following posting on the Flypast Forum in the UK, DH as asked me to stick them in here for your interest. PeterA
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Post by Peter Lewis on May 9, 2008 21:42:27 GMT 12
Harvard - at Morrinsville? if so, NZ1102 ZK-AKM - Stan Smith - Dairy Flat?
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Post by lumpy on May 9, 2008 22:15:35 GMT 12
Thats about the coolest playground slide Ive ever seen . I remember playing on the Vampire at the local playground when I was a kid , surplus planes must have been very cheap ( I shudder to think what it would cost just to mount a Harvard , like in the picture now days )
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Post by Bruce on May 9, 2008 23:09:16 GMT 12
I think the Playground Harvard is the Pahiatua example before its yellow paint job. I recall the Morrinsville harvard as a kid. It didnt have a slide, it was mounted much lower and the access ladder was on the LH side, as you could climb into the baggage locker. NZ1102 would be a Mark IIA* or Mark III, whereas the aircraft in the picture is a Mark II - recognisable by the vertical frame on the rearmost canopy section. Does anyone have a picture of the Morrinsville Playground machine at all - I was really young when I visited it!
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Post by sputnik767 on May 10, 2008 20:59:36 GMT 12
I can remember playing in the Motat avenger when in was in the playground at Rotorua.... They were hard and dangerous missions but we always got through, but only just... I would love to see a picture of it in the playground if anyone has one.....
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 11, 2008 13:27:25 GMT 12
It is Pahiatua
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Post by hairy on May 11, 2008 14:01:01 GMT 12
Sorry Dave, I have to disagree, the Pahiatua Harvard is in a park with State highway 2 passing each side which can not be seen in the old photo, also the mounting and attitude is different and the Pahiatua Harvard does not have swings under the starboard wing. Other possiblities are; NZ946 in a playground in Methven. NZ980 in a playground in Tauranga. In the second shot Stan Smith is in the rear cockpit, the buildings behind were replaced with a new hangar about 1986/87ish.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 11, 2008 14:18:24 GMT 12
Well, I'm not certain now.
The swings could easily have been removed and maybe it was remounted when it was restored a few years back?
The houses behind did make me wonder but I thought it might be the angle of the photo.
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Post by hairy on May 11, 2008 15:09:24 GMT 12
I think the restoration a few years back was purely cosmetic judging by corrosion in the airframe. The wing mounting flanges look like silver Weetbix, it would not supprise me to hear a wing has fallen off. Also I do not think it is NZ980 in Tauranga as I have just found a pic. on page 106 in Leslie Hunts Veteran and Vintage Aircraft (enlarged edition) and it shows NZ980 mounted on its mainwheels with the tailwheel raised in the air on a stand with a ladder into the rear cockpit, interestingly the rudder appears to be off a Ceres.
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Post by stu on May 11, 2008 15:31:00 GMT 12
Angle of the aircraft and position of hills in the background (Pahiatua would have the mountan range on the right) ...... ? Sleuth away
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Post by FlyNavy on May 11, 2008 16:05:32 GMT 12
How high did you have to jump Stu to get that piccie?
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Post by stu on May 11, 2008 16:15:37 GMT 12
How high did you have to jump Stu to get that piccie? Hmmm .... as I'm currently sitting in a studio control room that's partly underground I'm sure there's something deep and ironically meaningful I could come up with if I hadn't disengaged my brain in order to cope with the tripe that we pump out of here
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Post by Bruce on May 11, 2008 16:29:33 GMT 12
Methven then? there are some hills behind Methven!
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Post by b10m on May 12, 2008 0:37:06 GMT 12
I would pump for Pahiatua. There is a range of hills between there and the East Coast. Also the trees in ther background look the same in both photos. I remember this Harvard being there before and after the paint job.
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Post by 14liney on May 12, 2008 6:45:49 GMT 12
Harvard - at Morrinsville? if so, NZ1102 ZK-AKM - Stan Smith - Dairy Flat? It doesn't look like Morrinsville to me and those buildings in the background look like wartime air force buildings.
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Post by sniff on May 12, 2008 7:26:08 GMT 12
Not being a frequent user of State Highway 2 until recently, some Pahiatua history would help solve this.
Did the road always split, with a large central park area? Because if you look at Harvard 'old paint job,' there is no road off the starboard wing.
Also, Parks and Gardens would have had to have access to a number of Harvard spares, note the cowl compared with Harvard 'yellow'. Also the prop, which is not from a Harvard - no counterweights.
Another clue to solving this is the high security fence behind the port wing, reminiscent of a secure military style facility.
Does that help jog any memories?
I am not convinced that Harvard 'old paint job' is at Pahiatua.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 12:50:33 GMT 12
Peter, who's photo album did they come from? Maybe they might recall where they took the photo?
This is getting more and more curious, what seemed cut and dry is now up in the air.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 13:34:43 GMT 12
At last I have located my own Pahiatua Harvard slide photos which were taken in February 2004, sorry they're not all cleaned up and stuff with photoshop, the scanner wasn't too good when I did these off prints. Note the low fence and the position of the gate entrance look the same. However if it is the same aircraft it has been remounted, and the cowl changed and propellor fitted. The ladder looks the same but the slide is different. A new 1970's house has been built behind it in front of the older buildings. The swing sets have been removed to make way for the sign, etc. I'm not coinvinced the road isn't there. It was probably narrower back then, and just not seen on this angle as it would have been sunk down, like in my shots. There are far too many similarities to discount Pahiatua but too many differences to be certain.
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Post by John L on May 12, 2008 17:41:09 GMT 12
AKM - Dairy Flat, early 80's.
If that is the Pahiatua Harvard (which I'm not convinced it is), they must have done a mammoth clean up on it between then and the early 90's, when I first saw it, looking much as it is now.....
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Post by b10m on May 12, 2008 19:49:10 GMT 12
As long as I can remember passing thru Pahiaitua the road has always been split. Although I am not at all sure if in fact it was 2way on both roads. I am sure its the Pahiatua playground. I used to drive buses thru there in the early 80s. When I lived in Palmerston North
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