Corsairs and Boomerangs.

[clint]

Not sure if these have been posted before (apologies if they have) but I found a couple of Australian War Memorial films on Youtube featuring RNZAF Corsairs. No sound though I'm afraid.





This one also features some P-40's;

[Dave Homewood]

Bloody brilliant. Is that Harry Wigley with the pipe in the first film?

[baz62]

Aug 11, 2017 16:14:59 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Is that Harry Wigley with the pipe in the first film?

That does look like him doesn't it? Very clear film, love the way they smack the back of the rounds to get them in the link. Presume its a rubber hammer?

[planecrazy]

Great clips, interesting seeing the damage in the last one.

[davidd]

Certainly looks very much like Harry Wigley in that first video - he was the CO of Field Headquarters at Piva in 1945, so he didn't normally fly by this time. And despite the video titles, the first and second videos were both shot at the Piva complex inland from Torokina, and not at Torokina as the title implies. Torokina was right beside the beach along its full length, and palm tress (the remains of a plantation) originally covered much of the area on which the strip was built; the survivors of these are also quite visible. However dense forest was still present along the inland side of strip. However the third film definitely is taken at Torokina, and this shows the resident aircraft at the time, NZ P-40s plus USAAF P-39s and P-38s, as well as USMC F4Us. Towards the end of this third video (which is somewhat spoilt by somebody "squeezing" the original format to make all the aircraft, trucks, and men look far too long and wide, but way too low, the men appearing to be dwarfs!) there are some good aerial views of Torokina (the one parallel to the ocean beach!), plus, a little further on, the Piva complex (two parallel runways, plus extensive dispersal areas) is also shown from the air, with the hills rising steeply just inland, with clouds shrouding the tops. These were pretty rough looking fields at the time, but they became a little more civilised later in the war. The US Navy CBs are pretty prominent in the Torokina film, as the construction work was still underway, and maintenance was a ceaseless task. The bulldozers and "Jimmy" trucks (GMC's) are a constant reminder of this.
David D

[Dave Homewood]

Would the refueling truck have been Seabee? Or USAAF? It seemed really odd seeing that bloke with a full beard. Would he be a Navy Seabee?

Of course, you're quite right David that the Corsair strip is Piva. The smoking volcano was a good clue.

[davidd]

Dave,
I imagine that the bearded fellow refuelling the P-39s was probably Navy, although in the forward areas you probably got some of the more extreme regulations about personal appearance might be relaxed to a certain extent. There were an awful lot of trucks at work on those three videos (and I looked at another one which popped up, taken at Vella Lavella, which may have confused things a bit), but there were probably US Navy/USMC and USAAF trucks, etc., at practically all locations. The system used at operational bases in the Pacific is rather unclear to me, but remember that such basic "assets" as trucks, and drivers, accommodation and dining halls/kitchens, fuel farms and the supply system, telephone lines, as well as fire fighting services often seem to have evolved into having one of the US services nominally in charge at each facility or base, with each service "lodger" being obligated to provide a certain number of personnel to help man these services. MT was often "pooled" and each service in residence could submit requests for various vehicles required, depending on what was available. The RNZAF heavily relied on this system, and had on loan the larger part of its MT fleet in the forward area, although there were also a few genuine RNZAF vehicles present (including the odd fire fighting vehicle), sent up from NZ. However the vast bulk of them actually belonged to the US forces, although those on issue to the RNZAF from the MT pools were generally maintained by the RNZAF, and they were allocated NZ numbers, and we maintained individual vehicle records (presume on RNZAF forms) for our own purposes. These vehicles were NOT Lend-Lease property, and had to be handed back if required, although they generally remained with the RNZAF until they no longer required them. The same system was used for marine craft, with 6 Sqdn (Catalinas) being very reliant on these vessels, and seemed to have them shipped forward to their subsequent bases if this was possible. Some of these vessels were handed over to NZ at the end of the war, although these may have also been vessels already located at Lauthala Bay, but previously used by the Americans. Most of the vehicles and some of the saw benches operated by our Islands Works squadrons were issued under similar local arrangements, and there were sometimes cases of "loan" vehicles being stolen by other American units just prior to that unit being shipped to a more advanced location. Another type of pooling assets was the famous SCAT pool of C-47s maintained at Espiritu Santo and Guadalcanal from late 1942 till well into 1944, manned by aircrew of all US services, with each service supplying all aircraft available. I imagine the servicing crews were equally mixed.
David D

[Dave Homewood]

I recall talking with an RNZAF MT Driver who was with, from memory, No. 12 Servicing Unit servicing Venturas, who told me when the war ended they were instructed by the Americans to push all their vehicles, plus all their tools and workshop buildings, off a cliff at the end of the runway as there was no way the US forces wanted to transport it all back to the USA. He said they spent a week bushing buildings and vehicles off this cliff and watching it disappear into the surf below. I think he was at Jacquinot Bay, cannot quite recall. it was a very forward base anyway. He reckoned it was heartbreaking as a lot of the tools and vehicles were new.

[clint]

Here is another one I found with what is described as some members of an Indian Anti Aircraft Regiment looking over some allied aircraft on Bougainville. NZ Corsairs are near the end;

[Dave Homewood]

I never realised there were Indians on Bougainville, great clip.

[Mustang51]

Pity there was not just a tiny bit of movement of the cameraman to the right when the shot of the Wirraway was taken. I am almost sure it is "BF-F" A20-653, our Wirraway at Temora. I cannot make out the lower section of the "F" in the view of the starboard side and the fact that the fabric in that area is angled over the aluminium stringers in the removeable panel could be disguising the lower arm of an "E". We know it was on Bougainville. Damn !!!