Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 11, 2007 20:06:15 GMT 12
From the Marlborough Express here
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/marlboroughexpress/4017656a6563.html
John's lifetime aviation interest is set to soar
By TREFOR MOSS - The Marlborough Express | Thursday, 5 April 2007
At this weekend's Classic Fighters it will be the stories behind the aircraft as much as their speed and power that will have people enthralled.
And if you take a small detour via the Aviation Heritage Centre you will hear a few more stories courtesy of a man with as much aviation history as any of the planes.
John Sandilands works as a guide at the Aviation Heritage Centre, having first answered the call for volunteers after losing his wife three months ago and feeling "anxious to keep busy".
"I'd say that this place is pretty unique," he says of the Centre, where he shows visitors around the exhibits with the philosophy of "talking to people before they talk to me".
Given his background in the RAF and the RNZAF, it's hard to imagine being in much better hands.
Originally from Scotland but now a long-time Blenheim resident, John's long association with aeroplanes began during World War 2 in 1943 when he joined the RAF.
"I actually joined when I was underage," he admits. "I was only 16. I made myself a year and a quarter older than I really was. Nobody ever discovered it.
"But when I joined the air force here in New Zealand I gave them the right age."
He still looks back on that first posting, at RAF Fairlop outside London, as his most memorable.
"I went straight to work on Typhoons," he smiles.
"The rocket-firing Typhoons were the only aircraft that ever really impressed me - they were big, bluff, dangerous-looking aircraft."
After the war, John went on to serve in Norway, "checking on the surrender of the German navy", then Egypt and Zimbabwe, or Southern Rhodesia as it was known at the time.
He ended up in New Zealand more or less by accident.
With his RAF contract due to expire in 1949, John decided that he "didn't want to go back to Civvy Street in Britain because at that time it was a very austere, bleak and miserable place".
He interviewed with the Royal Australian Air Force but wasn't keen.
"That same day I was walking along the Strand when I saw a little plaque at the bottom of a stairway that said 'RNZAF Headquarters, London'.
"I went in, asked if they were recruiting and they said yes."
As an avionics expert who did much of his work on the ground, John was occasionally envious of the pilots.
"During the war everyone wanted to fly," he recalls.
"I actually volunteered to be an air gunner, but the officer who interviewed me turned me down. I don't know why - I think it was because I was only 17 and looked even younger.
"I think now that he probably saved my life because of course there was a very high rate of attrition among air crews."
There was plenty of danger to be had down on the ground, however. "It was sometimes more dangerous staying in Britain," he says, "when your aircraft base was being bombed."
Amazingly, it would be more than 60 years before John's flying ambitions would truly be realised.
"I never thought that my wife was keen on me flying," he explains.
"I had a few narrow scrapes in Borneo during the confrontation with Indonesia.
"We also lived right by the airfield in Singapore.
"One day we were going down the runway in a Canberra jet bomber when a large bug hit us and shut down all our airspeed readings, so we aborted take-off and ended up off the runway past the overshoot area and up a small hill.
"It was scary - and my wife, who knew I was going out in a Canberra, saw the whole thing."
So it came as a surprise when John's wife suggested at his 80th birthday party last year that he might want to get into the cockpit after hearing that the Marlborough Aero Club had just bought a new Tecnam Sierra aircraft.
Since his friends had all chipped in for his birthday and he was unsure what to spend the money on, he decided to give it a try.
A year on, he is still taking flying lessons and has not been especially fazed by getting behind the controls.
"Of course I was already pretty au fait with flying, it was just the landing and take-off," he says.
"Landing is very tricky, judging the last 10 feet.
"When you can see the blades of grass and not just a green mass, you're about right."
Maybe at the next Classic Fighters show, the crowds will be seeing John in the air as well as at the Heritage Centre.
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/marlboroughexpress/4017656a6563.html
John's lifetime aviation interest is set to soar
By TREFOR MOSS - The Marlborough Express | Thursday, 5 April 2007
At this weekend's Classic Fighters it will be the stories behind the aircraft as much as their speed and power that will have people enthralled.
And if you take a small detour via the Aviation Heritage Centre you will hear a few more stories courtesy of a man with as much aviation history as any of the planes.
John Sandilands works as a guide at the Aviation Heritage Centre, having first answered the call for volunteers after losing his wife three months ago and feeling "anxious to keep busy".
"I'd say that this place is pretty unique," he says of the Centre, where he shows visitors around the exhibits with the philosophy of "talking to people before they talk to me".
Given his background in the RAF and the RNZAF, it's hard to imagine being in much better hands.
Originally from Scotland but now a long-time Blenheim resident, John's long association with aeroplanes began during World War 2 in 1943 when he joined the RAF.
"I actually joined when I was underage," he admits. "I was only 16. I made myself a year and a quarter older than I really was. Nobody ever discovered it.
"But when I joined the air force here in New Zealand I gave them the right age."
He still looks back on that first posting, at RAF Fairlop outside London, as his most memorable.
"I went straight to work on Typhoons," he smiles.
"The rocket-firing Typhoons were the only aircraft that ever really impressed me - they were big, bluff, dangerous-looking aircraft."
After the war, John went on to serve in Norway, "checking on the surrender of the German navy", then Egypt and Zimbabwe, or Southern Rhodesia as it was known at the time.
He ended up in New Zealand more or less by accident.
With his RAF contract due to expire in 1949, John decided that he "didn't want to go back to Civvy Street in Britain because at that time it was a very austere, bleak and miserable place".
He interviewed with the Royal Australian Air Force but wasn't keen.
"That same day I was walking along the Strand when I saw a little plaque at the bottom of a stairway that said 'RNZAF Headquarters, London'.
"I went in, asked if they were recruiting and they said yes."
As an avionics expert who did much of his work on the ground, John was occasionally envious of the pilots.
"During the war everyone wanted to fly," he recalls.
"I actually volunteered to be an air gunner, but the officer who interviewed me turned me down. I don't know why - I think it was because I was only 17 and looked even younger.
"I think now that he probably saved my life because of course there was a very high rate of attrition among air crews."
There was plenty of danger to be had down on the ground, however. "It was sometimes more dangerous staying in Britain," he says, "when your aircraft base was being bombed."
Amazingly, it would be more than 60 years before John's flying ambitions would truly be realised.
"I never thought that my wife was keen on me flying," he explains.
"I had a few narrow scrapes in Borneo during the confrontation with Indonesia.
"We also lived right by the airfield in Singapore.
"One day we were going down the runway in a Canberra jet bomber when a large bug hit us and shut down all our airspeed readings, so we aborted take-off and ended up off the runway past the overshoot area and up a small hill.
"It was scary - and my wife, who knew I was going out in a Canberra, saw the whole thing."
So it came as a surprise when John's wife suggested at his 80th birthday party last year that he might want to get into the cockpit after hearing that the Marlborough Aero Club had just bought a new Tecnam Sierra aircraft.
Since his friends had all chipped in for his birthday and he was unsure what to spend the money on, he decided to give it a try.
A year on, he is still taking flying lessons and has not been especially fazed by getting behind the controls.
"Of course I was already pretty au fait with flying, it was just the landing and take-off," he says.
"Landing is very tricky, judging the last 10 feet.
"When you can see the blades of grass and not just a green mass, you're about right."
Maybe at the next Classic Fighters show, the crowds will be seeing John in the air as well as at the Heritage Centre.
