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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 17, 2010 21:21:22 GMT 12
Here's a great 'What If' for the modellers, the RNZAf apparently considered buying 50 Australian-built Aermacchi MB326 trainers including 24 of them with the more powerful Viper engine, back in 1967, at a cost of $18 million according to this article: news.google.co.nz/newspapers?id=BtsQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YpMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1316,1392518&dq=royal-new-zealand-air-force&hl=en There must have been a genuine interest to have exact figures of numbers and cost, etc |
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Post by beagle on Mar 17, 2010 21:41:06 GMT 12
OMG, 50 training aircraft. Bring that Minister of Defence forward in time.
Then again, how would we find 50 instructors, let alone 50 trainees.
As a kid we had one of those 1966 HR Holdens, ours was a stationwagon and was full of rust.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 17, 2010 21:49:52 GMT 12
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Post by skyhawkdon on Mar 18, 2010 6:40:17 GMT 12
I don't know where they got 50 from, as when we ordered the Strikemaster we initially only ordered 10 of them! Even 24 would have been too many. Sounds like salesman talk to me!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 18, 2010 9:27:13 GMT 12
Yes that does seem odd but the fact that half were to be ground attack versions it makes you wonder if the fairly rich Government of 1967 was considering forming a seperate intermediate training squadron.
I wonder what the 10 Strikemasters cost compared with just $18 million for 50 Maachis.
Is it possible the old arm-twisitng of Buy British scuppered a good deal?
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Post by tbf25o4 on Mar 18, 2010 11:10:38 GMT 12
An RAAF Macchi MB326 was brought over to New Zealand and assembled at Rongotai and flew for a couple of weeks being evaluated by RNZAF personnel in 1968. I have photos of it somewhere
Paul
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Post by skyhawkdon on Mar 18, 2010 11:12:11 GMT 12
In 1967 the focus was on the Canberra replacement, which was having difficulty with funding (we were by no means rich in 1967!). Initially a single type was proposed for both the Canberra (bomber/strike) and Vampire (fighter) replacement. The Skyhawk was a compromise that fitted within the budget! In 1967 NZ changed from pounds to NZ$ and immediately after conversion the NZ$ was severely devalued which had a significant impact on budgets for projects like these which required overseas funds.
As previously discussed the US gave us cheap finance to "buy American". I suspect the British might have done the same with the Strikemaster? If we had bought Macchi 326s I suspect we would have had no cheap finance.
The Aussies also tried (very hard) to get NZ to buy the licience built Mirage III as the Canberra replacement from their production line. But financing was coming from the US and only US aircraft could be bought with the money. Plus the Mirage had been assessed by the RNZAF and deemed unsuitable for NZs needs.
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Post by yak2 on Mar 18, 2010 11:48:37 GMT 12
As a kid we had one of those 1966 HR Holdens, ours was a stationwagon and was full of rust. Why would we trust you with our aircraft if you can't look after our cars  RNZAF fortunate the MB 326 offer wasn't taken up. The wings kept falling off the RAAF ones  |
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Post by skyhawkdon on Mar 18, 2010 11:58:40 GMT 12
The Strikemaster was no better... we just found the cracks before the wings came off!
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Post by rubberduck on Mar 18, 2010 13:51:21 GMT 12
The South African Air Force used the MB326, renamed Impala, to great effect in the CAS and tactical strike roles in Namibia and Angola. Not exactly a dud plane, and the pre-rainbow SAAF were anything but amateurs.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 18, 2010 21:57:30 GMT 12
Why would we trust you with our aircraft if you can't look after our cars Just as an aside, but in those days Holdens were actually made in New Zealand too, at Levin I think it was. Along with also being made in South Africa, Pakistan, Trinidad, Inonesia and the Phillipines as well as Australia. Do we still build Holdens in NZ now? I think they're all imports aren't they? |
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Post by Naki on Mar 18, 2010 22:12:18 GMT 12
We only assembled them ..we didnt build them (other than the odd part).
No cars are assembled here anymore. I have one of the last assembled cars here by any company -a 1998 Honda Accord. From 1999 they were imported built up from Thailand.
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Post by yak2 on Mar 18, 2010 22:14:58 GMT 12
They were exported then in CKD (kits) to NZ, South Africa and Indonesia. At the mo, only real Holden is the Commodore line. The rest are rebadged imports, although some such as the Cruise were designed at Fisherman's Bend (Melb). 'tis a changed world and industry.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2015 13:40:47 GMT 12
Here's a great 'What If' for the modellers I'm a little behind on this one, Dave, but here you go! Finished earlier in the year, a lovely little thing that looks rather good with Kiwis and camo on!  You might just be able to make out the practice bombs under the wing, pinched from a Harrier kit. The roundels are from a Ventura sheet, the rest is either the kit (stencils) or spares box. |
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Post by Ian Warren on Oct 1, 2015 21:40:25 GMT 12
 Good on ya Zac , left right forward backward thinking  the 339 was prettier looking tho ... Edit: I still do wonder why buy aircraft harderly fly them then outside company's seem to make more money from them 
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Good on ya Zac , left right forward backward thinking 
the 339 was prettier looking tho ... 
