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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 7, 2019 12:09:33 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 9, 2020 16:19:17 GMT 12
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Post by skyhawkdon on Apr 10, 2020 10:26:38 GMT 12
Seeing the Friendship in that state is really sad...
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Post by pjw4118 on Aug 17, 2021 20:14:39 GMT 12
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axelford
Squadron Leader
I have visited 13 Plane wreck sites and counting, happy to help with info!
Posts: 120
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Post by axelford on Aug 17, 2021 21:23:32 GMT 12
Awesome photos, glad to see it isn't in a worse state. Still a shame that many components are wasting away outside and have not been reattached. Plus I worry that some short cuts have been taken in the joints, namely those nails (cause corrosion perhaps?). At least this is keeping the main fuselage fairly safe.
While you were there was there any word of further plans?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 17, 2021 22:23:31 GMT 12
Great shots there Peter and Karola!
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Post by planecrazy on Aug 18, 2021 7:30:00 GMT 12
Wow great photos, pleasing to see her saved, love these threads that tell a story with a happy ending! Hope we didn't mind a mini hi-jack here? A sister, brother, cousin of this machine also end up on the beach on an island this time well west of New Zealand in 1965. VH-BRF, "Islander" ex NZ 4108 was washed from her morning and end up on the beach of the lagoon on Lord Howe Island. A local guy found her late at night walking home from the bowling club, banged his head on the bottom of the tail as it was above the road! Group of locals being used as a counter weight as work is done on getting her level. On the beach for around ten days returned to service and flew with Ansett Flying Boat Services until 1974, now with Kermit Weeks in the States.
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Post by pjw4118 on Aug 18, 2021 9:38:01 GMT 12
Axelford , a strange thing about the Chathams is that you rarely see the locals ( except in the pub and most of those are ex pat fishermen) so even though there were 30 of us wandering round the Sunderland , nobody came out to talk , so I cant give you any news. One question unanswered was comment that during wartime there were coastwatchers stationed there and that Catalinas had landed in the lagoon . Does anybody have details?
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Post by delticman on Aug 18, 2021 10:14:53 GMT 12
Try this post by Steve Lowe 3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-rnzaf-pioneering-air-services-to.htmlThings about the Chats have always interested me, starting with coastal shipping and then the helicopters from Wanganui. It's certainly strange that there was no airfield until the end of the Sunderland's but then like Lord Howe it was just too far for a light aircraft. In later years, there was another airstrip , the racecourse at Te One but that's another story.
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Post by emron on Aug 20, 2021 18:23:57 GMT 12
Axelford , a strange thing about the Chathams is that you rarely see the locals ( except in the pub and most of those are ex pat fishermen) so even though there were 30 of us wandering round the Sunderland , nobody came out to talk , so I cant give you any news. One question unanswered was comment that during wartime there were coastwatchers stationed there and that Catalinas had landed in the lagoon . Does anybody have details? Great photos Peter, I particularly like the one of the bow compartment. That seems to be the only place that has some of it’s fixtures still remaining. If the lockdown goes on for too long I might even attempt a mock up of the nose gun position that it gives good detail of. Even if just a cardboard cut out until I can get some accurate measurements. There’s nothing left of this equipment in MOTAT’s NZ4115 as it was deleted long ago and nowhere to refit it. They share the same gun adaptors and ammunition reels as the turrets and there are leftovers that I could use later. I’ve been doing some reading for you and here are some answers: The sinking of the Holmwood prompted the P.W.D. to urgently develop the flying boat facility at Te Whanga Lagoon, using the local workforce. But the base was only used once during WW2 when ZK-AMA made a brief stop-over on 19 April 1941 while on oceanic patrol in the area. There was only time for the local crew to practice refuelling from their barge before the flying boat departed. Catalinas never landed there during the war, their first visit was in 1946. Also in 1941 the New Zealand Naval Board established a network of coast watching stations across the South Pacific, including the Chatham Islands. A camp was set up at Matakatau Hill above Waitangi and manned by Army personnel there, up until when the operation was closed down in July 1944. Radio contact with Wellington continued throughout the war via the nearby radio station ZLC operated by civilian Post and Telegraph staff.
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Post by Peter Lewis on Aug 20, 2021 22:51:01 GMT 12
Details of the Chathams marine alighting area, from 1947 Whites
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Post by davidd on Aug 21, 2021 9:50:59 GMT 12
Hudsons from New Zealand occasionally paid visits to the Chathams, but never landed due to the complete lack of an aerodrome. From memory the first flights (all operational) were routine anti-sub patrols in about 1941/42. Postwar, Hudsons from Wigram (Air Navigation School) also overflew the Chathams during navigation exercises, and dropped newspapers on occasions, about 1947 or 1948 I think. Last of the NZ Hudsons were withdrawn from service shortly afterwards, and were eventually disposed of. David D
Checked out details of the early Hudson flight to the Chathams, date was 31st January 1942, crew comprised the CO of 2 GR Squadron (S/L R J Cohen), from Nelson, duration of sortie, 6.5 hours.
The postwar flights from Wigram included two aircraft from ANS, Wigram on 17th May 1946, on a night-flying exercise. One of the aircraft was forced to divert to Taieri due to inclement weather.
On 3rd December, 1947, two Hudsons sortied from Wigram, partially as an unexpected medical supply flight, although primary purpose was another routine navigational training flight. A small load of medical supplies was parachuted safely to the resident doctor, Dr. D J Paterson, who had requested them. These are the only such flights recorded in the Wigram Operations Record Book, although it is possible that other, purely routine flights were carried out.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 21, 2021 10:13:28 GMT 12
When I was in the RNZAF in the early 1990's the Orions were doing the same thing, airdropping loads using 1942-stamped silk parachutes with newspapers and other things (bulked out usually with People and Picture magazines) to the DOC workers stuck out in godforsaken places like Raoul Island and the Auckland Islands. Before the days of the internet these occasional airdrops must have been quite a big day for the DOC staff. I wonder if that still happens or do they just get their news of the outside world online now.
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Post by pjw4118 on Aug 26, 2021 11:19:58 GMT 12
Thanks gentlemen, I knew I could rely on the Forum dwellers . Ron I took the Sunderland shots in maximum DPI and can email any you need , about 10 MB each.
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Post by emron on Aug 27, 2021 14:37:45 GMT 12
Peter, I'd appreciate a copy of the bow compartment interior one. PM sent.
I've made some preliminary drawings of the gun positions already and am working on full scale mockups of some of the parts now.
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Post by Richard Wesley on Sept 14, 2021 22:37:26 GMT 12
Yes, quite amazing to have at least a good number of the fittings there for the four forward firing machine guns. I thought all of this area would have been pretty fully stripped the some way the turrets were?
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Post by emron on Sept 15, 2021 14:45:02 GMT 12
Most of the lower deck and the tail turret had already been submerged for over a week before the Air Force salvage party arrived later in November. They concentrated on the more valuable parts remaining above high tide mark, so only the front turret was removed by them when NZ4111 was still out in the lagoon. The locals cut the tail turret off once the fuselage was later hauled ashore in March 1960. There’s a good sequence of photos over on the Seawings Forum showing the complete bow gunnery layout aboard Sunderland ML824 at the RAF Museum, including detail and position of the ammunition boxes.
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Post by emron on Oct 2, 2021 13:53:28 GMT 12
“Press” 12-November-1951
ICE CREAM FOR CHATHAMS QUANTITY CARRIED BY FLYING-BOAT HEAVY CONSIGNMENT OF MAIL
(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 11.
The ice-cream starved children of the Chatham Islands swarmed to the beach of the lagoon when the flying-boat Aranui, carrying crates of Eskimo pies, landed there on Saturday.
Tasman Empire Airways officials said to-night that the children mobbed the storekeeper as soon as the ice-cream was ferried from the aircraft to the shore. Some bought up to one pounds worth. The beach was soon littered with wrappings.
Flying-boats under contract to the Government visit the Chatham Islands six times a year. Apart from an occasional Catalina of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, they are the only aircraft to call there.
The Aranui, which left Auckland at 4.45 a.m. on Saturday, carried 1150lb of mail and parcels, an average of more than 2lb a head for the island’s 500 inhabitants. Also on board, apart from the ice-cream, were sausages, fruit and early tomatoes. The aircraft returned to Auckland at 9.30 p.m. on Saturday.
Captain D.W.G. Keesing, the pilot of the Aranui, entered into the spirit of the occasion by flying an “ice-cream flag” in addition to his mail and quarantine flags, when landing on the lagoon.
The next treat for the island’s children will be at Christmas, when the flying-boat will carry a distinguished passenger – Santa Claus.
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Post by AussieBob on Oct 2, 2021 15:00:54 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 2, 2021 15:14:59 GMT 12
Wonderful!
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