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Post by obiwan27 on Feb 15, 2011 20:04:21 GMT 12
A copy of what the original thread topic was about.
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Post by oggie2620 on Feb 16, 2011 11:08:41 GMT 12
lol fair enough machpants, I can take a hint ;-) I've ordered my copy from the publishers today. Yep I just caved and ordered my copy too LOL!!! I loved the very witty of getting us back to where we should be ;D I know they are more interested in WW2 Commonwealth but I have also put the details on CFWW2 Forum as its still commonwealth linked.... Dee
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Post by baz62 on Feb 16, 2011 17:43:26 GMT 12
lol fair enough machpants, I can take a hint ;-) I've ordered my copy from the publishers today. Ordered a copy of what? A copy of what the original thread topic was about. Comedian............at least i realised you were using your razor wit Corsair!
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Post by kiwiscanfly on Feb 21, 2011 14:19:53 GMT 12
Congrats on the Book Don When I'm back in NZ i'll be getting it Obiwan don't bother sending it to the PM send it to the new defense minister after the election.....get him on side nice and early
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Post by oggie2620 on Feb 21, 2011 21:38:00 GMT 12
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Post by Officer Crabtree on Feb 21, 2011 22:51:21 GMT 12
I wish the RNZAF had jets-ah well, off to either France or Britain for me when I'm seventeen. I'll keep in touch! Other thing to ad to my list for Omaka-BUY THAT BOOK!
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Post by skyhawkdon on Feb 22, 2011 6:44:06 GMT 12
Thanks Dee, but it looks like they only do WWII era books. Our one is post WWII/modern.
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Post by skyhawkdon on Feb 22, 2011 6:45:52 GMT 12
I wish the RNZAF had jets-ah well, off to either France or Britain for me when I'm seventeen. I'll keep in touch! Other thing to ad to my list for Omaka-BUY THAT BOOK! Unfortunately we won't have the books back from the printers in time for Omaka. But they will be readily available from all the usual outlets (except maybe Whitcoulls and Borders!) from late June hopefully.
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Post by Officer Crabtree on Feb 22, 2011 14:51:22 GMT 12
More time to save up money!
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E.T.
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 78
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Post by E.T. on Mar 22, 2011 20:18:20 GMT 12
E.T. reporting in and what a blast from the past this book will be Don!!! I hope you spelled my name right - not buying a copy unless you have?!! ;D Found the board while looking for photo's of a Skyhawk forward hell hole. Didn't find the photo I was looking for but found a whole lot of memories instead so thanks all for that! Particularly liked an old thread about the Kahu "boxes" that PAC made. The comment made by someone about the Audio Junction Box being "difficult" to fit was an understatement and they should have tried it before it was relocated forward a few inches - I remember stuffing the pins in one of those looong connectors trying to fit it blind head down with my feet around the ejector handle during Kahu Flight Test program. During Flight test we had that box in and out a lot but during operational use it probably never got touched . . . Ah - happy days! I was looking for the hell hole photo to help explain to the uninitiated what it was like to be jammed up in there trying to re-seat the 3-phase HRC fuses with the jet running during a sortie launch. The H&S crowd would probably have kittens these days! Anyone interested in the story can find it at: www.feedbooks.com/userbook/19649/i-m-alivePilot was unnamed there, but from memory it was Toddy. Not too many people I'd go inside the engine bay powered up for but Toddy was one of them! And anyone who loved the A4 enough to see it resurrected from the mothballs and used in anger (even if it's only a story) can see that one at almost the same place: www.feedbooks.com/userbook/18551/planning-armageddonFor those who knew me, I'm still in Chch and working with the venerable Mr Alexander of 14 & Huey fame. I will probably never have enough time to be a diligent reader/poster here but hopefully will be able to check in from time to time. Ah Don one question for the book - did you find and include the "Eternal Darkness Centre" series of cartoons that appeared during the Kahu introduction days? They were classic and should be presented in all their glory for the world to see. The book would be worth a buy just for them if you did! cheers all E.T. (George McNeur) One-Time AvTech
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Post by skyhawkdon on Mar 23, 2011 6:44:08 GMT 12
Hey George, great to hear from ya! I've got a few photos of people working in the FWD Hell Hole so I'll post them here when I get a chance. Some of them will be in the book too. I wish I had that fuse story of yours a few months ago - I would have put it in the book! I've got lots of similar memories of highly competent people doing what would be today considered to be too risky. We (the RNZAF) had an edge and that was what made us so good compared to the others.
Yes I have got some cartoons from that era and would like to use them in the book but like everything I have more stuff to put in it than room! Do you know who drew them? I was thinking it was Bill Taylor but not sure. Some of them were classics! I'm not sure that we are talking about the same cartoons, so I'll post one of mine here and see if that rings a bell.
The book launch has been delayed by the earthquake as it was almost finished being laid out when the earthquake struck and the guy who is doing it has lost his home and you probably understand being from Chch what it has been like here the last month! I spent several hours with him last night adding some more photos to it. Man it is looking good.
We should get together some time. Give me a call! 03 3493232 (H). I'm at Wigram.
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E.T.
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 78
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Post by E.T. on Mar 23, 2011 17:40:14 GMT 12
You're at Wigram as in living, or just visiting? We're in Halswell - very convenient to Wigram - feel free to look in the phone book and drop around if in the neighbourhood.
Understand about the house situation - ours is supposedly going to get pushed down one day but until they decide when, we continue to stay here and survive!
The cartoons I'm not sure exactly who did them - it may have been Bill but he was always cagey about the who because of the "sensitive" nature of where the borax was being pointed! They certainly came out of the EDC that was set up to do the new Kahu manuals and were all "signed" as being from the "Eternal Darkness Centre" as I recall. The style was distinctive though - usually pilots helmets with expressive faces. One of the classics I recall was the pair of helmets in a T-Bird, one labelled CO2 one CO75 (c/w moustaches) night-flight taxi and the last picture of the strip the heads are all of a sudden on a lean to the side and both helmets have the same speech bubble "You have control!!!" relating to the time the jet drove off the taxiway in the dark!
Maybe if you've got them all, they could warrant their own book - you can do almost anything these days with e-books. If you do have them, let me know and it could be my next project to find out about self publishing e-picture books!
For other stories, if you're focussed on competent people then you probably don't have the one about the time they installed a data logger in a pannier to record strain guage measurements and wired the power to it from the wrong connector view with the result that when they switched over to "Flight" power, the power wire shorted, vapourised and caused a load of padding (foam) to melt and turn to smoke. The only time I got to use the figure 8 fire sign for real and watch the fire boys nearly roll the engine coming out of the station and turning onto the flight line! The guilty parties (Eng O and CPL tweet) will remain nameless to protect the guilty (but it wasn't the usual suspects)! :-)
Noting your number. cheers
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Post by Calum on Mar 23, 2011 19:41:26 GMT 12
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E.T.
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 78
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Post by E.T. on Mar 23, 2011 21:34:14 GMT 12
Hey Calum - believe it or not I searched I think almost all your pages and didn't see one! Found some undercarriage bay shots, and shots with the hell hole doors open but none looking up into the engine bay. The closest I got was to use your shots with the engine out and describe it from there.
Happy memories though! cheers
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Post by harvard1041 on Mar 23, 2011 22:15:00 GMT 12
Looking forward to the book - and as many stories as you can Don !
Recall those cartoons mentioned quite well - and I think you'll find Bill in the EDC may well have had a 'hand' in them ... but the ideas etc came from a few of us - he he
Actually might be one of those Eng Off you mentioned there ... certainly was a viable option looked at to put a lot of gear in the hump ( and - Yes - T Birds can have humps ) instead of the nose which was way too heavy for the existing structure ... hence the use of the data logger and strain gauges. Believe the jet sufferred Sta 64 cracking etc in service... I was super keen to put many of the large boxes in the hump - better location for cooling, wiring, CofG, access etc ... instead of the 'heavy nose & heavy tail' option chosen ...ancient history now.
Looking forward to the book.
Rgds Hvd1041
PS - I was Mechanical so wasn't me that fried the wire !
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Post by skyhawkdon on Mar 24, 2011 7:01:30 GMT 12
I live at Wigram ET - Awatea Gardens.
I haven't got all the cartoons but have quite a few, including that one you mention ;D It doesn't look like we will be able to use many in the book as to make them readable they take up too much space. Would love to track down the rest of them. I seem to remember there was a booklet made up with them in? Did you know Bill Taylor died a couple of years ago? The big C (melanoma).
I remember that day (night!) well and the near fire in the pannier in the hell hole. I have great memories of those days on 2 Sqn. It was definitely "the best damn Squadron in the RNZAF" at the time and some of the best times of my life. Will never forget the hector Tui night shifts - finished off with a 20 litre "plastic" of beer! ;D
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 24, 2011 9:38:54 GMT 12
Nah, Tech Squadron in Wigram was the best squadron in the RNZAF. For those of us not associated with Skyhawks that closely, where on the aircraft was a hell hole? Drinking beer on the night shift??
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Post by skyhawkdon on Mar 24, 2011 11:22:35 GMT 12
Nah, Tech Squadron in Wigram was the best squadron in the RNZAF. For those of us not associated with Skyhawks that closely, where on the aircraft was a hell hole? Drinking beer on the night shift?? There were a few hell holes on the Skyhawk. Forward and aft. Basically access panels into the interior engine bay. The forward ones were where the gunnies loaded the 20mm ammo cans, but there was also a lot of framie and avionics gear crammed in there (including the engine!). The aft hell hole was where the aircraft was pressure refuelled from and again was the main access point to a lot of framie and avionics kit. We only drank beers after the night shift had finished Dave. Occassionally we would be heading home just as the day shift arrived
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E.T.
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 78
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Post by E.T. on Mar 24, 2011 17:51:36 GMT 12
Definitely AFTER night shift work was completed Dave ;-)
Hector Tui - there's a name I haven't thought of for a while! I recall one of those night shifts where we decided we were going to connect the joe room table top to the ceiling with a pyramid of empty cans. To make it more interesting the rule was you could only go up one level when another layer all around the outside of the previous layers had been done. We were quite confident but hadn't done the math very well and eventually went back to something more traditional. We still had to take the ceiling tile out to allow the peak of the pyramid to project through!
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Post by skyhawkdon on Mar 24, 2011 20:22:21 GMT 12
You realise ET that you and WAH! (and a few others) taught me everything I know, including all those bad drinking habits Great memories.
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