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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 17, 2009 22:50:45 GMT 12
Would anyone here be interested in attending another Forum Gathering, along the lines of the one we held in January 2007, at Cambridge and nearby Rukuhia (Hamilton Airport)?
We would like to hold a get together on Sunday the 17th of January 2010.
Several things to entice you along will include:
- the chance to meet our forum moderator and personality Craig Brankin (Corsair67) who is flying all the way from his exile in Cranberia
- Hopefully a chance to see Bruce Cooke's homebuilt Avian Adventurer in the completed state. It was a big hit at the last meeting when we saw it being built. Hopefully it will be flying by then.
- We hope to also have a visit to the Rukuhia graveyard dump courtesy of Tony18 where he will allow you to have a fossic around for souvenirs
- I plan to approach a local chap who flew on Sunderlands and was in the Vietnam War (on bristols I believe) to see if he will give a talk. I know him well and expect he'll be happy to
- We'll once again have lunch and maybe watch a film or two in a local pub in Cambridge
- There are one or two other potential speakers I plan to track down and approach to give a bit of a talk to us too. I'll keep you posted on that
Who is keen? And have you any suggestions for making the event a success?
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Post by ErrolC on Oct 18, 2009 13:07:49 GMT 12
Sounds cool!!
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Post by ZacYates on Oct 20, 2009 6:19:31 GMT 12
Even though I'm trapped all the way down in Fonganui I may have to take you up on that offer, Dave! Will be a great chance to get to know some more forumites outside of an airshow.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 20, 2009 7:56:31 GMT 12
It will be a pilgrimage for you Zac, to the true home of the Fletcher and Cresco.
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Post by Naki on Oct 20, 2009 8:22:09 GMT 12
I'll be keen if I can get a pass from the boss.
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Post by camtech on Oct 20, 2009 11:29:32 GMT 12
Not sure of plans at this stage, but if I am in town, I'll be a starter for at least part of the day
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 20, 2009 11:50:37 GMT 12
Cool Les, it will be good to meet you. I hope you can make it.
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Post by yogi on Oct 21, 2009 17:43:26 GMT 12
Dave.
Would you be interested in adding a formal symposium element to the get together?
I wont be able to attend as I am in Dunedin and getting married exactly 1 month and three days after the meeting! ($)
I do however want to help urge people to take a more 'active' role in getting our strike squadron back. I think a serious discussion with a few people who are really clued up on this subject may be a good step.
Thoughts?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 21, 2009 20:09:18 GMT 12
I can't really see that it would be suited to this event. This event will run much like the previous one two years before, and so it's intended to be a rlaxed and fun day, and a way for forum members to meet and mingle without the distraction of an airshow like our other gatherings. There will be a couple of speakers with interesting topics etc but I personally don't feel that it's worthwhile devoting time to a formal discussion that will only be preaching to the converted when the whole purpose of the event is to have an informal, fun day.
What do others think? Maybe someone else can organise and host a seperate event for Yogi's idea?
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Post by yogi on Oct 21, 2009 21:11:50 GMT 12
I can't really see that it would be suited to this event. This event will run much like the previous one two years before, and so it's intended to be a rlaxed and fun day, and a way for forum members to meet and mingle without the distraction of an airshow like our other gatherings. There will be a couple of speakers with interesting topics etc but I personally don't feel that it's worthwhile devoting time to a formal discussion that will only be preaching to the converted when the whole purpose of the event is to have an informal, fun day. What do others think? Maybe someone else can organise and host a seperate event for Yogi's idea? Sounds fair enough to me dave |
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Post by Marcus on Oct 22, 2009 19:48:57 GMT 12
Hi Dave
Count me in!!! And please let me know if there is anything I can do to help?
Marcus
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Post by haughtney1 on Oct 22, 2009 21:16:26 GMT 12
Count me in if I'm about!
Not quite sure of my movements at the moment...I might still be in sunny Almaty....
Would be great to meet some of you, and put a few faces to the names!
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Post by Bruce on Oct 22, 2009 21:38:19 GMT 12
Are you going to bring the Falcon?  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 22, 2009 23:09:16 GMT 12
It will be nice to meet you too Haughtney if you can make it.
And good to catch you again Marcus. I'll keep our offer in mind if we need a hand.
To give some reminders of what we did last time at the Waikato Meet, we met up at the Waikato Aero Club rooms, mainly because some people were flying in (Yac 52, Cessna, something I;ve forgotten, and the mighty Thunder Mustang all flew in from elsewhere plus a couple came up from Wellington by Air New Zealand too!). Once we'd all gathered and had a meet and greet and look over the aricraft we adjorned down to Noel Kruse's hangar o have a look at his Ryan and his Pitts and hear an informative talk by him. We then went by convoy to Tamahere and visited Bruce Cooke's lovely aircraft then being built there. And after Bruce gave a good tour of the plane we went to Cambridge to the Prince Albert where we had the upstairs room. Some of you guys brought along models which made a really nice display, and local aviation artist John Chrisp had some of his wonderful artworks on show for us. He also gave a little talk about his art, despite being very shy about it. We enjoyed a really great talk from Simon and Chris about owning and flying the Thunder Mustang, and then we watched some rare videos. We had lunch and we had a raffle of donated items which raised money that went towards two good causes, the Dakota ZK-DAK's maintenance fund, and the Ashburton Aviation Museum's hangar fund. And generally we mixed and exchanged ideas and discussed aviation. Marcus bridle also had a couple of albums of Leo White photos on display. It was a really fantastic day and so I'm hoping we can achieve something similar this time around. So if you have ideas please let us know.
The symposium idea is I think just a bit too heavy and perhaps provocative for the nature of this event. But if someone wants to talk about their experiences flying combat jets rather than the politics behind it, that sort of thing would be welcome.
Cheers.
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Post by haughtney1 on Oct 22, 2009 23:26:42 GMT 12
Sadly Bruce...the Falcon now resides in Florida with a new owner, I'm back on the 757 and 767 for a little while.
Hopefully though, it now means I'm gonna be in NZ a lot more frequently.
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Post by hardyakka on Oct 25, 2009 9:33:18 GMT 12
Sounds good to me. I'm a starter.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 26, 2009 16:22:52 GMT 12
So far we have two people lined up to speak to us at the forum meet. Ray Tocker, a mate of mine from here in Cambridge and the local RSA President, is an ex-Flight Engineer who served on Catalinas in New Zealand and Fiji, and on Bristol Freighters in Singapore and Vietnam. He's keen to tell us a few stories if you're all interested. He is the chap who patched the hole in the bottom of the Sunderland after it hit the runway at Rongotai fifty years ago. I'm sure he'll gladly tell that story. Also our own Marcus (the South African one  ) has offered to talk a little about the South African nuclear weapons programme, and about their response to a Cuban invasion of Angola in 1988 including the aircraft involved. This is an area I have no knowledge of, and I'd bet most of us don't, so I think it could be an interesting one. |
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kiwikid
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 86
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Post by kiwikid on Oct 27, 2009 17:11:39 GMT 12
Sounds like a great day Dave. If it were possible, I wonder if there would be any interest in a visit to Pacific Aerospace - www.aerospace.co.nz/Last Xmas I was involved with the Hamilton Model Aero Club in putting on a static and flying display at their Xmas picnic on site and the staff seem to be a friendly bunch. Some pics below. They hauled out a 750XL and let us have a clamber through it. Does anyone have any contacts there? There may be some security/commercially sensative issues, but I'm sure if we directed them to the site and emphasised what a fine bunch of gentlemen avaiation enthusiasts we are they might be agreeable. I wouldn't mind paying a donation to their social club or such like for their trouble. Just a thought.       |
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Post by ZacYates on Oct 27, 2009 17:35:33 GMT 12
I for one would love to visit PAC |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 27, 2009 17:43:36 GMT 12
I'm not sure it will be possible to visit on a weekend. If anyone knows better, let us know. However Bruce and I looked into several options like this (including Alpha and CTC) for the last event in 2007, and had no joy at all. So it's very doubtful.
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) has offered to talk a little about the South African nuclear weapons programme, and about their response to a Cuban invasion of Angola in 1988 including the aircraft involved. This is an area I have no knowledge of, and I'd bet most of us don't, so I think it could be an interesting one.
