Goodbye 2018 - A Good Year - Hello 2019

[Dave Homewood]

Well as the year draws to a close in a few hours time I'd like to wish you all a very Happy New Year, and all the very best for 2019.

For me as I look back 2018 has been a pretty good year with a lot of wonderful highlights.

They include:

My First Tiger Moth Fly-In back in February. I went up with Bevan Dewes to it, and we stayed with Keith Skilling and Michelle Rhodes, a fantastic weekend.

The The Classic Flyers Forum Meet straight after that - it was a terrific event, in a fantastic venue. The speakers - Andrew Gormley, Des Underwood, W/C Brett Marshall, Bryan Cox, G/C John Mathewson, Roger Dalziell, Matt McLaughlin and Arthur Gatland were all excellent and it was a very packed room with people from all over New Zealand.

Warbirds Over Wanaka 2018 in April. My first time back to that airshow since 2006 and it was well worth going down for. It was not just the show though, it was the people - staying with the Brodie and the Dewes families, John Saunders, Taylor Moore, Kieran Lear, Mikaela Amrén, etc and meeting some real characters like the legendary Pete McCombe. The flying was great, the crash however was not so good to see right in front of me. Also absolute highlighs of that airshow were two flights I went on, the DH89 Dominie flight with Adam Butcher as pilot, thanks to Brian Greenwood. And the evening Chipmunk flight with Bevan Dewes. Both magic flights, thanks so much guys!

Forum Meet at Wigram in June, with another packed room and excellent speakers, 100 year old Spitfire pilot Phillip Stewart and legend Bryan Cox, plus Michelle Sim, Errol Martyn, Russell Brodie, Barry Lennox and very special guests, the NASA research pilots David C. Fedors and Paul Newton. Wigram has absolutely brilliant facilities, and we raised money for the Missing Wingman Trust

Bryan Cox's Tiger Moth Flight Thanks to the amazing people here on the forum I was able to be present to watch 93 year old veteran Bryan Cox fly Tiger Moth NZ1443 again, 75 years after he'd flown it in training. This took place at Russell Brodie's woderful Rangitata Island aerodrome. A huge highlight that was!

New Zealand Warbirds events at Ardmore It was wonderful to attend several events at Ardmore, the Warbirds screening of the Spitfire movie, with veteran John Wall, his daughter and Ian Bisset. And also the Warbirds Cocktail Party, and the fantastic Warbirds Open Day last month which I really enjoyed going to with my best mate Mike Cater.

The WONZ Christmas Party – The third WONZ Forum Meet (I've never arranged three big meets in one year before!!) hosted by the fantastic Fly DC-3 crew at Ardmore. Many thanks to Jessica and Geoff and all the Fly DC-3 crew, and to Pioneer and Avspecs for opening their hangars to us. And also our excellent speakers Allan Emett, Graeme Gleeson and Dick Ingham.

The WONZ Show has continued to produce shows this year, not so prolific as the last two years but I think I have still recorded and released a very interesting bunch of stories in 2018. We are now only three episodes away from the 200th Episode. I am not sure how the show has reached that milestone. I am also not so sure it is as popular as it once was as I get so little feedback these days that I never really know if people are still enjoying it. But I will continue to record stories and history that I think are worthwhile being told through the show, and hopefully people will still enjoy it through 2019.

I have also really enjoyed doing a lot of RNZAF Research this year into all sorts of topics, but the ones that stand out for me have been the RNZAF fighter squadrons, mostly the P-40 units; and I am very glad that I started the RNZAF P-40 Codes Matched To Serials page here on the forum as it has been most enlightening.

There are still a lot of gaps to fill yet - a lot of the new info I am finding comes from wartime logbooks, and I am very grateful to all those who have kindly copied logbooks for me this year after I made a plea. Some amazing stuff in them.

I am also really pleased with the information compiled so far on the thread I started for Kiwis who flew in the Battle of France. Amazing!

I'm also amazed still that I discovered two never previously known photos of the RNZAF P-40's that served in Tonga by poking around online archives

And just recently I discovered the White Nosed P-40's at Ardmore, which remains an amazing mystery!

I just love this stuff, I really do.

And one of my all time highlights this year was following my good friend Bevan Dewes as he progressed to solo the Harvard and then went on to fly the Curtiss P-40N. What a huge thrill to see that happen. I loved seeing his Chippy display at Wanaka this year, and I am now looking forward to seeing him displaying some heavier metal at our airshows in the years to come. I am sure it will happen.

Anyway, that was some of the highlights from my year. What were your aviation highlights?

Happy New Year everyone!!

[JollyGreenSlugg]

I've enjoyed following the remarkable Kiwi scene, proving that your per-capita historic aviation work has bettered most other countries. Listening to the podcast has also been terrific.

I've been happy to chase up the details of the five ex-Australian National Airways DC-3s to make it to you shores. Two survive, at Gisborne and Taupo.

Most of all, I've enjoyed fabulous conversations with some of you, and that's been great. Thank you, Dave, for your tireless efforts.

Cheers,
Matt

[Dave Homewood]

Looks like no-one else had a god year, Matt.

[Venomnut]

2018 was another fantastic year for the NZ warbird scene.


My biggest highlight, a dream of mine to acquire a Swiss Venom cockpit project finally came true - an aircraft type I've been obsessed with for the last 26 years.

Due to work commitments I was only able to attend 1 of the forum meets, the Tauranga one which was another fantastic event.
These are great events and I would recommend people making an effort to attend them.
The Ardmore open day was fantastic and made even more special with the double engine run on the Mossie.

I can't wait to see the P-39 and the next Mosquito fly, it will be a great way to start the new year.

Dave, thanks again for the huge amounts of time and effort you dedicate to the forum and podcasts, even if it's not said enough, it is truly appreciated.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 2019.

Cheers,

Jason.

[planecrazy]

Thank for all you do for us plane nuts Dave, great stuff! Highlights for me
plane spotting the many and varied types that visit my island home and
the bucket list aviation tour of the UK including the cherry on to of the
cream on top of the cake, attending Flying Legends 2018!

Flying Legends 2018, four Buchons, awesome!
rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/26913/flying-legends-2018?page=1

[dade]

Sorry Dave I was a bit busy wondering what to do with the left over ham, pudding, cream, nuts, cherries, etc, luckily the Sir James Cuvee Brut was not a problem.
So this last year was a year of getting Aircraft stories off my chest, in fact I only have left over food on it now.Here is too another year of happiness and best wishes to all and finding those lost stories in your memories and beautiful pictures planecrazy, also may your spelling carry you into new threads. My wishes at this moment is only to wish my pension extends to another Cuvee Brut. Oh and a new Aircraft Museum. Keep up the good work Dave.
DADE

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks chaps. You'll have to bring the Venom nose to a Forum Meet someday Jason.

By the way, just to clarify regarding the WONZ Show, when I wrote, "I am also not so sure it is as popular as it once was as I get so little feedback these days that I never really know if people are still enjoying it." I was not fishing for compliments, what I mean is in the early days there was a genuine enthusiasm and real buzz from listeners, I used to often get emails, PM's, Facebook messages and people in person saying how much they enjoyed such and such an episode and how it was great to hear such and such a guest, or story told. This does not happen much nowadays.

I don't know if it is a case that the novelty has warn off and it's now thought of just another part of life but people are still listening and enjoying. Or whether people have genuinely grown tired of it all and have stopped listening regularly. For a podcaster, particularly one like me where I do everything myself and have no marketing department and make no money from it, etc, the only think you thrive on is the feedback and comments. Every little comment goes a hell of a long way in boosting the morale and the enthusiasm for a podcaster, it really does. I know other podcasters feel exactly the same way, so I try to give feedback to podcasts I enjoy.

So, if you listen to an episode and you enjoy it, and you get a chance, let me know what you thought. Also, keep the ideas for future shows rolling in. I do try to cover subjects that are suggested to me if I can. And I do try to find interesting topics and people to interview.

Hard to believe the show has now been going for seven years!! There has been a lot of aviation stories recorded though the WONZ Show now.

[delticman]

Jan 1, 2019 20:29:47 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Thanks chaps. You'll have to bring the Venom nose to a Forum Meet someday Jason.

By the way, just to clarify regarding the WONZ Show, when I wrote, "I am also not so sure it is as popular as it once was as I get so little feedback these days that I never really know if people are still enjoying it." I was not fishing for compliments, what I mean is in the early days there was a genuine enthusiasm and real buzz from listeners, I used to often get emails, PM's, Facebook messages and people in person saying how much they enjoyed such and such an episode and how it was great to hear such and such a guest, or story told. This does not happen much nowadays.

I don't know if it is a case that the novelty has warn off and it's now thought of just another part of life but people are still listening and enjoying. Or whether people have genuinely grown tired of it all and have stopped listening regularly. For a podcaster, particularly one like me where I do everything myself and have no marketing department and make no money from it, etc, the only think you thrive on is the feedback and comments. Every little comment goes a hell of a long way in boosting the morale and the enthusiasm for a podcaster, it really does. I know other podcasters feel exactly the same way, so I try to give feedback to podcasts I enjoy.

So, if you listen to an episode and you enjoy it, and you get a chance, let me know what you thought. Also, keep the ideas for future shows rolling in. I do try to cover subjects that are suggested to me if I can. And I do try to find interesting topics and people to interview.

Hard to believe the show has now been going for seven years!! There has been a lot of aviation stories recorded though the WONZ Show now.

Can I just add a little note Dave. I don't know if it's something that has come from other social media but it seems no one has the time to say "Thanks" and press the reply button.

So a big "Thanks to Dave", that's Reply and Send.

Ray

[Dave Homewood]

Cheers Ray. You might be right, the Facebook era is upon us where it's all about instant gratification and then instantly moving on without taking the time to absorb what you just saw or heard. I enjoy Facebook but i also try to take the time for gentler things in life.

[isc]

Thanks one and all for a wonderful year. isc

[horicle]

For me the forum is an every day event. 2018 like every preceding year has added greatly to New Zealand's Aviation History. Don't worry about the forums future, lets just become a group that remembers to say thank you.

Thanks Dave

[Peter Lewis]

Highlight of my aviation year was my visit to Scandinavia.
Managed to get to a couple of Swedish aviation museums, but the Finnish Air Force Museum was the most challenging (in every sense).

Finally getting all my aeroplane stuff sorted in to one room in my shed should also be mentioned.

[alanw]

Happy New Year (albeit a bit belatedly) to Dave and the Forum

2018 Aviation wise, for me was more the terrific discussions had about
our Air Force especially WWII. I have learned more in 2018 than
previous years - Big Thanks in big way to Dave H and David D

I was finally able to obtain from my sister (who has the originals)
Kodak colour photos off my Dads slides taken at Lauthala Bay Fiji.
Unfortunately my current photo hosting site only displays as a link,
when I can figure out how to actually post a photo, I can share.

May 2019 be a continuation of that great forum esprit de corps

Regards

Alan

[baronbeeza]

[Dave Homewood]

I certainly cannot party like it was 1999 any more...

[Mustang51]

Neither can I however wishing all the best for 2019 and hope to see you guys at Masterton and Omaka