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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 5, 2007 22:23:18 GMT 12
The de Havilland Devon is now something of an underated workhorse of the RNZAF I guess. It lacks the glamour of the likes of the Mosquito or Hudson, and not as nice to look at as an Andover or Golden Eagle. Thus not a lot seems to have been written about it.
I have several questions.
One, I read in a 1976 Wings magazine of the withdrawal of several Devons from service to storage, but at that time No. 40 Squadron was to retain its Devon. What role did the Devon play in the Squadron? Was it a light transport for VIP, like No. 42 Sqn's examples? Or was it just a hack for continuity training, etc? And does anyone know what colour scheme it wore?
There were so many different Devon paint schemes. When I was at 4TTS there were six instructional airframe ones there and almost all had unique schemes. I recall one in a dark blue and white, one in a lighter blue and white, two or three in the dove grey/international orange, and one in silver.
Did the different schemes all refer to different roles - pilot trainer, NATTS, Signals and VIP? Or were they perhaps all just retired at different times? And generally were they all painted the same colours at any time or was it common to see mixed schemes on a tarmac (like say the Andovers)?
Another query, how many still serve with the RNZAF now? There were six and Woodbourne and four from memory at Wigram (or was it two?) when I was in. Plus the RNZAF Museum's one. Do they still retain all of them?
How many are currently flyable? What is happening to the lovely silver and yellow one that crashed at Ohakea last year? Will it be restored?
Also, NZ1812 is reported on Ivan's adf.serials page as being bought for Motat in 1983, but stored at Wanaka. Is it still owned by Motat? Or was it sold on?
The page also says NZ1830 became INST192 for No. 3TTS. That has to be a mistake? Why would chefs, typists, tele ops and suppliers have needed an instructional airframe? It must mean 2TTS
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Post by mumbles on Jan 5, 2007 22:49:12 GMT 12
There were at least four Devons in the training Hangar at Woodbourne when I went through it early last year, still being used as instructional airframes. One light blue, one dark blue, the rest in grey/red from memory. Technically potentially flyable, but unlikely to be made so.
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Post by phasselgren on Jan 6, 2007 5:51:40 GMT 12
The June 2004 issue of Journal of the Aviation Historical Society of New Zealand has Devon in RNZAF as it´s theme. You can order it from AHSNZ Sales, P O Box 33-085, Petone, Mail: ronbrazier@paradise.net.nz
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Post by flyjoe180 on Jan 6, 2007 8:10:52 GMT 12
The crashed Devon ZK-UDO was ben written of completely and replaced by that syndicate with a Dove (if my memory serves me right). The colour schemes did relate to different roles. As I read it, the white/blue schemes were used for transport and general duties (VIP etc), and the orange colour schemes (from various eras) were used on navigation and pilot trainers. I've got some photos somewhere of the WB Devons inside and out, I'll dig them out later (I'll be away until later in January).
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Post by beagle on Jan 6, 2007 20:07:04 GMT 12
Dave, from the Wigram Runway thread, The last Devon flight for NATTS at Wigram was on 18th April 1980, and the last Devon in flying service with the RNZAF was withdrawn in august 1991.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 6, 2007 21:02:14 GMT 12
August 1991? Where was that based? Do you mean 1981?
That's very sad about ZK-UDO. It didn't look too bad I thought. Surely a museum could use it for static or parts at least. I hope it won't be scrapped altogether.
Where has the Dove come from? Is it one of the two ex-RNZAF ones? Or from abroad?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 6, 2007 22:13:06 GMT 12
I have checked NZ Wings and it was 31st of August 1981, the last Devon flight was NZ1822 flying from No. 42 Squadron at Ohakea to Woodbourne for storage, breaking an almost unbroken 62 years of de Havilland operations with the air forces of NZ. A photo shows it in close formation with its replacement, Golden Eagle NZ7941.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Jan 7, 2007 10:55:18 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 7, 2007 11:14:20 GMT 12
Correct me if I'm wrong but I'd imagine that was a very cheap buy at $55,000? Nice one.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Jan 7, 2007 11:19:06 GMT 12
They dont appear to cost much, in fact you can buy a Devon typically for less than a light twin trainer. The cost of running them is quite significant though, and that is probably their biggest downside.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 7, 2007 11:23:54 GMT 12
Yes, I can understand that. I wonder if anyone's considered fitting more economical engines without destroying the look of the aircraft, or would that be sacrilage?
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Post by flyjoe180 on Jan 7, 2007 11:26:52 GMT 12
To the purists probably sacrilage. Practically I think some Doves overseas have been fitted with Lycomings. I know some Herons were. A couple of turbines (small PT6 or something like that) would be good too.
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Post by Bruce on Jan 7, 2007 12:14:43 GMT 12
Its not just the Gypsy queen engines, there are hundreds of little bits and pieces on a Devon / Dove that are an absolute nightmare to source. At Gulf Aeronautics we used to look after all 3 Doves then flying in NZ (KTT, UDO and RNG) and they were regularly stranded outside the Hangar waiting for some special bit of hardware to get them going again, and that was with access to the huge spares holding the the syndicates had obtained from the RNZAF. the "Donut" Brake bags for the pneumatic brakes were particularly problematical. The other thing is the airframe is largely glued together (Redux Bonded) rather than rivetted, which is quite tricky to repair should corrosion etc be found (this is the main reason UDO would be uneconomical to rebuild). That said, they were not any more troublesome than any similar aircraft of that age, such as an Aztec for example. Drip trays were essential as they were forever oozing oil from the engines, plus residue caught up in most other nooks and crannys. My Boss reckoned they were the finest converters of fuel into oil ever produced, as the oil levels never seemed to go down despite the huge puddles forming underneith. If they were sitting for a few weeks, Ardmore would dissappear in a smoke cloud when they started up. I did like them though, there were a lot of sensible design features, and they were well made. There were plenty of generous access hatches, and the view from both the cabin and the cockpit was great. The Pilots seats were very comfortable. The Gypsy queens normally ran etremely smoothly and reliably. There was the engine falure on UDO when a cylinder head detached and departed via the lower cowl, and I was on a test flight in RNG when we shut down one engine, and due to a rigging misadjustment the prop wouldnt feather - and neither would the engine restart! We lots a lot of altutude before it finally got going again (And I wont mention how many people were aboard for the test flight!)
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Post by xr6turbo1 on Jan 7, 2007 12:33:41 GMT 12
Here are a couple of Devon photos, I have photos of all of the Woodbourne based ones but am not sure where the photos are. The top three here are UDO and KTT at the bottom. I really liked UDO, very fine example indeed.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 7, 2007 12:48:50 GMT 12
Great photos Gavin. UDO looks very atmosperic in the golden sunlight.
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Post by phil82 on Jan 7, 2007 16:56:53 GMT 12
The Devon performance on one engine was not good! There were at least two written off in accidents due to that very reason one on a Nav training exercise down south which killed everyone on board, [early 60s?]and another I recall was at Wigram. In that instance the aircraft turned back toward the airfield on one engine, but came in via a crash gate, not quite clearing the boundary!
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Post by phil82 on Jan 7, 2007 19:48:18 GMT 12
In the USA Riley Aeronautics offered conversions of the Dove with two 300kW (400hp) Lycoming IO720 flat eight piston engines. The conversion is known as the Riley 400, and aside from the engines, customers could fit a swept back tail, a new instrument panel and a steel spar crapped wing. The first Riley 400 flew in 1963.
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Post by planecrazy4 on Feb 23, 2011 10:51:37 GMT 12
If anyone is interested devon nz1802 and nz1812 are both stored in Tauranga at the classic flyers museum however nz1812 is not on display
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jaybee
Squadron Leader
Posts: 122
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Post by jaybee on Feb 24, 2011 18:20:02 GMT 12
Thanks for the photos of NZ1821 / UDO. For what its worth, the whole airframe of NZ1821 / UDO was twisted in the accident, a wing 'broken' and was basically stripped before disposal. I currently own the cockpit section and am in the lengthy process of restoring the cockpit to what it would have looked like in the 1960s.
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Post by oj on Feb 24, 2011 20:52:15 GMT 12
I had a special relationship with the Devon that turned back at Wigram during asymmetric training (or it might have been a genuine engine failure, I can't remember).
Anyway, I had just been posted to Wigram in early 1963 to do my Electrical Mech's course at 2TTS (EM19). The day of the forced-landing was wet and drizzly. The pilot was Flt Lt Swap. Nobody hurt, little damage that I could see. The landing was in a pea-crop paddock on the aerodrome perimeter, opposite the base, on the cross runway vector. The well-ploughed paddock with its crop of peas was the ideal soft-spot to cake onto it transpired. It was in the vicinity of the Wigram Gliding Club Hangar.
Anyway, 2TTS barracks were "volunteered" to guard the aircraft overnight (from what?). I somehow drew the graveyard shift. There were only two guards at a time (we were all just ex-sproggs, fresh out of Boy-School). There was no transport laid on. We had to walk from the barracks in wet-weather gear and rain to the flight-line, then across the airfield in the almost total darkness to the aircraft.
There was no floodlight set up, not even a flare pot to mark the spot. We had to sit out of the rain in a Bedford van that was pointing at the Devon. It was boring, miserable, constant drizzle and we were not given any rations. I think there might have been one visit from the Provost in his Landrover just to check on us. We had our own torches from our toolkits as our only comfort.
It was pathetic really. The system was that we were to sit silently in the cab of the van and occasionally wave our torches toward the target. If we wanted to see more or heard a noise we were to flick the headlights on, and we did this a few times (there was no noise). Did they think there might be local peasants coming out on this bleak night to flog stuff of the bird?
There were no rifles to intimidate any souvenir-hunters and we were not permitted to start or drive the van. No radios and of course no phone of any sort. I guess we would have to use morse-code and "aldis" the headlights if we got into trouble? And who would see?
In the morning I think we did get transport to go back when the regular personnel arrived. Not one of my favourite Wigram experiences!
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