Slippery Sam

[Dave Homewood]

There has been debate over the colour of the words on the nose of Ventura NZ4512 "Slippery Sam", of No. 10 Servicing Unit. Some say the lettering was red with white shading, others reckon it was yellow with white shading.

Well I have this photo of the aeroplane also taken at Whenuapai. I'm sure this was taken at a different time from when other published photos were taken, note the nose cone is much less sloppily painted.

And do, what colour are the letters now? Definately no white shading that's for sure.


Left to right are Ian Page DFM (Pilot), Bob Blanchard, Bob Tillsley and Pappy Holmes. Absent is Stan Nuttall.

A close up from the same photo:


The lettering looks black to me.

[kiwicop]

Thats a great photo of the crew, you don't see many Ventura crew photos like that. I have a big interest in Ventura operations and always on the look out for more photos.

[pjw4118]

'Here's two shots from the album of Bob Tilsley'

[pjw4118]

Looking at the colour photo again, what is that thing they are lifting?. It looks like a carpet bag. Lots of grins on the faces too , booze?

[baz62]

So high-lighted lettering later on then? Looks good though. Why Slippery Sam?

[Bruce]

Just a caution on the colour photo though - this does appear to be a colourised black and White print - the inside of the engine cowls and the shadow areas suggest this. depending on who did the colourisation, and what info they had when they did it, It may not be accurate.

[Dave Homewood]

The coloured photo is not coloured, it was colourised in recent times (not by me I might add). What they are lifting is a 500lb bomb that had loads of notes stuck on it from NZ. They did a promotion through a magazine or newspaper asking people to send their thoughts to the Japanese and the notes were pasted onto at least one bomb and delivered to them.

It is not at all clear though Baz if the highlighting was later on. When looking at shots of the aircraft taken in October 1943 before they left for their first tour the highlighting is there, the b&w shot that Peter posted is an example. The shot I posted is also Whenuapai and may be after their tour in 1944. Stan Nuttall is missing, he was killed in the islands. Not sure if that is why he was missing from the crew shot though mas I don't know the exact date of the shot I got. There's one taken the same time but different angle in Bob Tilsley's collection and book too.

Slippery Sam was a card game that pilot Ian Page particularly loved to play on the station, and the object of it was to get three '2's which was the highest hand. Hence the three '2' cards as well.

[kiwicop]

W/O NUTTALL killed in the following circumstances;
Bu49580. Assembled at Oahu and BOC with Unit 45, Hamilton on 15 June 1944. To No. 1 Squadron. Crashed near the Aita River on 20 December 1944. The aircraft was supply dropping when it failed to climb out of a valley and stalled into a ridge. Flight Lieutenant Dennis Hobbs, Flight Sergeant Fred Murphy, Flight Lieutenant Robert Scarlett and Warrant Officer Stanley Nuttall killed. Flight Sergeant N. Gardiner injured.

Perhaps he was filling in on another crew?

[pjw4118]

Dave here's the other view you mentioned



I rand Bob and he tells me the photos were coloured by the team that produced Pacific Twins.

Here is the other coloured photo.



Bob recalls Stan Nuttall as their gunner but was killed on Bonganville. L Martyn records the crash of NZ4634 on 20/12/44, all but one dying.

[Dave Homewood]

The last photo is also colourised, not original colour, of course.

[errolmartyn]

Feb 13, 2012 15:55:29 GMT 12 kiwicop said:

W/O NUTTALL killed in the following circumstances;
Bu49580. Assembled at Oahu and BOC with Unit 45, Hamilton on 15 June 1944. To No. 1 Squadron. Crashed near the Aita River on 20 December 1944. The aircraft was supply dropping when it failed to climb out of a valley and stalled into a ridge. Flight Lieutenant Dennis Hobbs, Flight Sergeant Fred Murphy, Flight Lieutenant Robert Scarlett and Warrant Officer Stanley Nuttall killed. Flight Sergeant N. Gardiner injured.

Perhaps he was filling in on another crew?

Further details on this event via my For Your Tomorrow, Vol Two: fates 1943-1998:

Wed 20 Dec 1944
SOUTH PACIFIC

Low-level supply drop to AIF troops in the Aita River area, NE Bougainville
1 Squadron, RNZAF (Green Island, Bismarck Archipelago)PV-1 Ventura NZ4634 - took off from Piva, Bougainville, but the supply dropping run, being flown up valley at 0850, was prolonged because of ‘hang ups’. The airspeed had dropped too much and when an attempt was made to climb out over a ridge NZ4634 stalled, struck the top and crashed in a stream bed on the other side. The captain and navigator died instantly and were buried at the scene next day. Flt Lt Scarlett and Wt Off Nuttall, both seriously injured, were carried by stretcher to the AIF Base Camp, but Scarlett died en route and Nuttall at 2230 of his burns. They were buried at Kusi village in a grove of napiak trees. All four were later reinterred at Bourail, New Caledonia. Badly injured air gunner Flt Sgt N R Gardiner became the sole survivor, later being attended to by Allied coastwatchers and then taken out on a stretcher by an Australian Army patrol. It had been intended to fly him out by light aircraft, a working party spending three days clearing a strip along a mountain ridge or it to operate from. However, the rescue aircraft was damaged on landing and, after repairs and with Gardiner on board, was deliberately slewed into some trees when it refused to leave the ground during the take-off run.
Captain: NZ404444 Flt Lt Dennis Hugh HOBBS, RNZAF - Age 23. 1367hrs (253 solo on Ventura) Approximately 159th op.
Navigator: NZ422427 Flt Sgt Frederick Dudley MURPHY, RNZAF - Age 32. 566hrs.
Wireless Op: NZ412905 Flt Lt Robert Leslie SCARLETT, RNZAF - Age 24.
Air Gunner: NZ421285 Wt Off Stanley Anzac NUTTALL, RNZAF - Age 29. 500hrs.
Hobbs, on his third South Pacific tour, served in the Far East during the 1941-42 Malayan campaign and flew at least one operation there. His brother, Alan Murray Hobbs, died on 26 June 1943 while flying with 9 Sqn, RAF.
Scarlett was also on his third South Pacific tour, and the others their second.

Errol