RNZAF Musuem Ohakea Tribute Page

[Dave Homewood]

With the excellent photos which Phil has kindly sent to me, which arrived this afternoon, I have been putting together a page for my website as a tribute to the RNZAF Musuem Ohakea Wing.

Phil's photos are fantastic and they really bring home the exellence of the musuem.

See here
www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/RNZAF%20Museum%20Ohkaea.htm

I have a number of questions however that I'd like to ask in the hope I can add more info to the page:

- First of all, does anyone here know who the Warrant Officer was that started the Ohakea collection in 1976?

- What date in May 1993 did the museum reopen?

- Am I right in labelling those engines as a Merlin and a Goblin?

- Is that a section of C-47 near the engines? Or is it just a mock-up?

- Has anyone got a photo of the C-47 that used to sit outside the musuem? In fact photos of it in both colour schemes would be great please.

- Can someone give me the history of tat Harvard? I'm sure someone told me it was ex-SAAF. Have they got the wings etc? When did it get to the musuem?

- When was the last of the aviation auctions? Was it an annual thing right up till this year? I believe they were running it annually for a while.

- What is the serial number of the Vampire fuselage section?

- When was Henry Fanshawe busted back down to Flight Lieutenant? He was promoted to Sqn ldr when i was in the RNZAF! What did he do wrong? :-)

Also, is he being posted to Wigram now? Or will he go back onto active service? I'd love to write a book about his years in the RNZAF.

- What is the history of the Skyhawk simulator? Was it actually used for pilot training by one of the Ohakea squadrons? Or is it purely a mock-up? And is it based on a real aircraft's cockpit or just fibreglass?

- I have left gaps under the photos of the ejection seats and weaponry. Can our resident Armourers please fill in the details of what everything is please?

- Is that indeed the cafe that I have labelled, or is that the staff room?

- Has anyone got some history of the Strikemaster and the Skyhawk replica that I can add to the site?

- Have you any other photos you'd like to contribute, or any corrections or additions to this page? Thanks.

And a huge thanks to Phil for the photos!

[phil]

I apologise for not supplying more (well any!) info with my photos. Yes it is a corner of the cafe, the map, flag and plaques are all from 75 sqn.

I think there is a bit of a story associated with the large A4 model. Hopefully if someone (Don?) knows for sure they can confirm or deny this. I heard it was built by an ex-75 sqn pilot that was leter killed in an accident flying a Harvard, his widow donated it to the SQN. This might be complete fiction, but was the story I was told back in about '98 when it turned up in the hangar one day. It is very detailed, with moving undercarriage, control surfaces, canopy etc. Very detailed cockpit.

The armament items that I can identify: in _DSC0743a.jpg you have an ESCAPAC IG3 seat from the A4 Skyhawk, the seat with the pilot in it is a Martin Baker PB4 form the blunty. (I'm sure Glen will pipe in with the exact designation, it was before my time).

In front you have a 5 inch Zuni rocket, fired from a 4 shot pod carried by the A4 in it's earlier years. I'm not sure what year it went out of service, but I don't thin they were used on Kahu aircraft so it was probably early '80s.

Sectioned Colt 20mm Mk12 Mod 4 cannon from the Skyhawk.

In _DSC0746a.jpg (second armament photo) you have the same items and the following:

on the right of the photo you can see the nose of the sectioned Aero 20 B rack, as fitted to stations 1 and 5 of the A4, the same rack was also fitted to stns 2 and 4, but in a different fairing. In front of the nose of the zuni can be seen lying down the sectioned Aero 7 rack that was the center line (stn 3) on the A4. I am unsure of the designation of the three smaller rockets. The 11x14 black and white photos on the wall are of Fred Kinvig and '07, after he banged out over Bulls.

_DSC0730a.jpg: at the right is a Seacat missile used by the navy. on the left is a Canberra seat(?) Glen will need to id that one. In the centre towards the back can be seen the CFG Constant Frequency Generator (or constantly failing generator) from the A4, Don will be able to tell us all about that.

I think the wrecked engine might belong to NZ6203.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Phil. I have added these comments to me page but won't upload them to the web till others make their contributions.

[skyhawkdon]

Dave, I'm working on a detailed response to your queries about the history of Skyhawk NZ6257 and single seat Skyhawk cockpit. I'll post it over the weekend along with some photos of the build of NZ6257. I think what you are doing here with this tribute to the Ohakea Museum is fantastic.

[corsair67]

Fantastic page, Dave, and fantastic photos, Phil.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Don, I look forward to the information, and thanks to you and to Craig for the compliments and encouragement. One of these days I'll finish the rest of the RNZAF Museum section too...

[skyhawkdon]

Dave what email address shall I use to send the info and photos to you?

[Dave Homewood]

[e-mail]

Thanks Don.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks to the awesome help from Phil and Don I have updated the page with lots more information and corrections, and more photos from Don. Cheers guys!

www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/RNZAF%20Museum%20Ohkaea.htm

[flyjoe180]

Very good work Dave, I enjoyed reading your new pages on the museum.

[FlyNavy]

Dave,
Great tribute page to all those hard working contributors to the Museum over many years. Thanks for your work (& the others) on your tribute page. Great story there about how the TA-4K was made.
Phil.

[xr6turbo1]

flyjoe180 said:

Very good work Dave, I enjoyed reading your new pages on the museum.

Yip, same there

[Dave Homewood]

My pleasure chaps. I plan to continue building up the Wigram pages too.

Does anyone have other copies of RNZAF Musuem News?

[Dave Homewood]

OK, new to the RNZAF Museum Section today are also:

A Brief History of the RNZAF Musuem
www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/RNZAF%20Museum%20History.htm

RNZAF Musuem Staff and Volunteers
www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/RNZAF%20Museum%20Staff.htm

[Kereru]

Well done Dave, looks great.

Colin

[skyhawkdon]

Dave - some more detail to go with some of Phil's photos...

The severely compressed jet engine sitting outside on the yellow trolley is a Pratt & Wittney J-52 P-8B from Skyhawk NZ6203 which crashed near Marton in 1996, after the engine failed due to a broken oil line (Flt Lt Antony Frazer ejected safely). The engine was the largest recognisable piece of the aircraft left (there is a good photo of the crater left by '03 in Topped Gun on page 111). A number of smaller bits of aluminium wreakage from the aircraft were subsequently sold for $2 each as a fund raiser by the Ohakea Museum. A sign on the outside of the box stated "genuine Skyhawk parts"!

The CFG is in the see thru case behind the Seacat missile. The other item on the stand between the CFG and the Canberra ejection seat is a sectioned Skyhawk Fuel Control Unit.

The large radio controlled Skyhawk model used to hang in the 75 Sqn SNCO's crew room. It was donated to the Sqn after the person who built it passed away. I don't believe it ever flew. It was extremely detailed for a radio controlled model.

[skyhawkdon]

Dave - another volunteer at the Ohakea Museum was Alan Peck. Alan is a GSH at Ohakea and has probably put in more voluneer time there than anyone else. He could be found there most weekends, where-as my contributions were much less regular! Peter Calkin's wife Margaret was also there working in the Cafe and behind the scenes right from its opening until its closing this month. Her and Peter lived for that Museum and put their hearts and souls into it - a great couple. Another long term staff member was Glenda (don't remember her sir name - hopefully Glen does?). Therese should have the names of all the Wigram and Ohakea staff for your web site.

[phil]

Alan was actually employed there, not a volunteer.

[Peter Lewis]

admin said:

OK, new to the RNZAF Museum Section today are also:

A Brief History of the RNZAF Musuem
www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/RNZAF%20Museum%20History.htm

Just for the record - and without intending to beat my own drum - the original impetus for the preservation of RNZAF aircraft within the service came from the mid-1970s announcement of the planned withdrawal of the C-47. These aircraft, it was announced, would then all be sold by public tender.
The Auckland branch committeee of AHSNZ (Dave Atcheson, Peter Layne and myself) then approached the national committee of AHSNZ with the idea that one of these historic aircraft should be retained by the RNZAF to form the nucleus of a museum. This idea was rejected by the national committee.
The three of us, as individuals, then started a letter-writing campaign to all MPs, some newspapers, and defence-force heads of departments promoting the idea of such a museum based at Wigram (being the most historic place). We suggested the retention of NZ3551 as the centre-piece, as this was the aircraft used by the Queen during the 1953 royal tour.
The idea gained traction, and this aircraft was retained.
I am aware that many other people have done far more than us for the museum over the years, but the the germ of the proposal was from Auckland.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks eveyone for that extra info. I'll do an update sometime soon.