"Home's The Caper" and "Paddy's Mistake"

[Dave Homewood]

This is cropped from a photo I have scanned from Bill Edhouse's collection. Bill took the photo with an aerial camera rather than his usual box brownie so it's a nice quality. It shows No. 25 Squadron Douglas Dauntless's NZ5054 (which bore the name 'Home's The Caper" and NZ5056 (Paddy's Mistake) in close formation tucked up next to Bill's escorting No. 1 BR Squadron Ventura.

In the full photo, which may appear in my book, a third unidentified Dauntless is seen trailing behind and it's evident that a huge tropical storm is in the distance. The date is sometime between the 20th of February 1944 and the 2nd April 1944 when NZ5054 was written off.

[alanw]

Dave

Those are cool! Thanks for posting

Any idea where they are headed, with the
fuel tanks and no bombs?

Interesting to note that the rear plexiglass is attached,
I'd guess the guns are tucked away, so the crew
must not be expecting any Japanese to be making
an appearance

The gunner/observer in NZ5056 looks rugged up
for cold weather also (wonder if his sun glasses
are Ray-Ban )

Alan

[Dave Homewood]

It may have been a ferry flight or it may be on the way home from a strike i guess - I have photographed Bill's logbook but it's on my sister's camera and I have to wait till she downloads it to disc for me. I'll try to find it. However I think he escorcted the SBD's quite often so it maybe be a tough one. We'll see.

[Dave Homewood]

Here's a closer look at those cool aircrew chaps. I have always thought the Dauntless was one of our coolest looking aircraft!

[silverfox]

I think you are probably right that it was a transfer flight rather than an operational mission.

This is the first time I've seen a photo of the P-40 type tanks on an SDB and Peter C Smith refers to them in his 'Jungle Dive Bombers' book as only being used on ferry flights.

Great photo thanks for sharing.

[alanw]

Hi Dave

Just noticed something, that I didn't pick
up previously, both SBD's have the small US Navy
tail wheels and not the larger pneumatic tyre,

So I am wondering if the crews are collecting the
aircraft from a Navy/Marine supply depot to fly
back to 25 SUs base at Piva, Or, the tail wheel just not been
changed over yet. Interesting.

The SBD is really nice aircraft, really graceful lines,
yet sturdy and tough

I have a 1/32 one waiting to build in my stash- will be
built as NZ5060 (Donald Duck carrying a bomb)

Regards

Alan

[corsair67]

Yes, that is an amazing photo, and one of the best that I have seen of the Dauntless in RNZAF service.

And yes, those sunnies could certainly be Ray Bans!

[Dave Homewood]

Alan, I would very much doubt that they have just picked up these aircraft from the US depot, as they are fully marked in RNZAF markings (something done by No. 25 SU) and also wearing their noseart already (something applied by the New Zealand crews). They obviously operated a while before they changed the wheel.

I have looked at Bill's logbook, and given that No. 25 Squadron equipped with these SBD-5's on the 11th of February 1944, and what was left of the squadron left for home on the 20th of May 1944, I cannot see any flight in Bill's book where he was in a Ventura escorting the squadron. He only had a handful of flights in Feb 1944 and none in March, while in April and May No. 1 BR Squadron was back in NZ. So if this was taken on one of the flights he did in February, he's not specifically written in that he was escorting Dauntless. This is not a surprise though as he fully admitted to me he hated writing his logbook and was minimilist in his notes. The flights he didwere between Munda and Henderson Field, an X-Ray patrol and then on the 15th of Feb they went to Santo - the first leg of the flight back to NZ. They left Santo for Whenuapai on the 16th. No. 25 Squadron was indeed at Santo then, not moving to Piva till March 6th.

So I suspect that Bill didn't take this photo. It is quite possibly taken by someone else in the squadron however, on another aircraft that may have come home in the second wave (the Ventura Squadrons always moved from place to place in two waves, often three days apart) and maybe they got a flight in with the Squadron. Not sure. If not, if this is taken during the transit from Santo to Piva, it is probably from an aircraft of the replacement Ventura squadron which from memory was No. 2 (BR) Squadron.

Anyway, for argument's sake here is the full sized photo. It is pretty neat I reckon.

[baz62]

Yes I've also liked the lines of the Dauntless. Nice knowing one that served with the RNZAF survives airworthy in the US (exNZ5062)

[shorty]

Baz, I don't think it's airworthy, it was in the Planes of Fame collection at Chino. I posted a photo of it (sans wings) sometime ago. The photo was taken October 85.

[Dave Homewood]

There is indeed an airworthy ex-RNZAF one there Shorty, NZ5062 but in US colours. See it here:
forum.planetalk.net/viewtopic.php?t=539&highlight=chino+dauntless

[Andy Wright]

It would be nice - US/NZ bilateral relations and all that - if one of the many SBDs recovered from the Great Lakes was donated to NZ. They certainly look like great airworthy restoration prospects.

[camtech]

Speaking of preserved Dauntlesses, what has happened to NZ5037, which was originally on display at the Air Force Museum, but not on display when I visited very briefly in January?
The original display was excellent, showing the aircraft as found in the jungle.

[Dave Homewood]

My understanding is they have it in storage Les. I've never had the opportunity to see it on display, though I did see the sad wreckage before it was ever displayed, stored at RNZAF Weedons.