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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 9, 2019 11:52:47 GMT 12
Ray Pichon has pointed this out to me. We are wondering who the New Zealand pilot might have been that was crashed behind enemy lines and needed a prop for his Auster dropped from a Wirraway? Clues we have are it was Bougainville, the date is stated to be Christmas Day 1944. By that date the Avenger and Dauntless squadrons of the RNZAF had returned home to New Zealand so he was not target spotting for them. And I am not aware of Austers spotting for Corsairs. So what was he doing with an Auster? Was it borrowed? Loaned? Leased? Or was he attached to the RAAF? A member of the RAAF? The fact the AWM has tagged it as Royal New Zealand Air Force indicates he was RNZAF. Also did the rescue effort work? www.awm.gov.au/collection/C78007
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Post by baz62 on Oct 9, 2019 12:50:20 GMT 12
That's interesting. Presume he had the tools to change the prop. The RAAF had Auster MK IIIs in service but would be interesting as you say why a Kiwi was flying it.
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Post by ErrolC on Oct 9, 2019 13:31:01 GMT 12
Ray Pichon has pointed this out to me. We are wondering who the New Zealand pilot might have been that was crashed behind enemy lines and needed a prop for his Auster dropped from a Wirraway? Clues we have are it was Bougainville, the date is stated to be Christmas Day 1944. By that date the Avenger and Dauntless squadrons of the RNZAF had returned home to New Zealand so he was not target spotting for them. And I am not aware of Austers spotting for Corsairs. So what was he doing with an Auster? Was it borrowed? Loaned? Leased? Or was he attached to the RAAF? A member of the RAAF? The fact the AWM has tagged it as Royal New Zealand Air Force indicates he was RNZAF. Also did the rescue effort work? www.awm.gov.au/collection/C78007I wouldn't be surprised if the RNZAF tag was added on the basis of him being described in the wartime caption as being 'a New Zealand pilot'. Doesn't mean he was necessarily RNZAF. But a search found this strong candidate. Great story!! www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/austers-mil/austmilitaryausters.html Auster Mk.III c/n 459 ex NX535 A11-16 26.12.44 Based at Piva airstrip, Bougainville. Flying Officer Jim Russell departed at dawn for a rough airstrip cleared by natives at a village where injured RNZAF air gunner F/Sgt Neville Gardiner was being hidden. He was the sole survivor of 5 crew of a crashed RNZAF Ventura NZ4634. A11-16 landed but tipped on its nose and smashed the wooden propeller. A replacement propeller was dropped but was damaged when it hit the ground, a second propeller dropped successfully. Russell replaced the prop. 27.12.44 Crashed on takeoff Pusupa Village, Bougainville. Ran into soft ground during takeoff. Russell had placed wooden planks under the wheels to commence takeoff, but the weight of the patient and the soft surface stopped the aircraft becoming airborne before reaching fallen trees, so he ground-looped to the left and the plane hit obstructrions, ending up on its nose with wings ripped off. Pilot and patient received minor injuries. HQ immediately ordered the Auster to be burnt after removal of transportable components. Russell removed the two wheels, tail skid, magnetos, instrument panel and compass. The kindness of the villagers was rewarded with gifts of sections of metal frame tubing and fabric patches for lap-laps. Russell then flooded the cockpit with petrol and set the airframe alight, to leave nothing of use for Japanese troops in the vicinity. 28.10.44 {presumably 28.12.44} A party of 30 native carriers and 10 police boys set off from the village to the coast, carrying the injured Gardiner as well as the removed Auster parts. After 4 days walk through Japanese held territory, they reached a beach where they were collected by a barge ansd taken to Torokina. Gardiner recuperated in a US Navy hospital. Did they have a severe shortage of Auster wheels to carry them out? Also an account at www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/auster/A11-16.html
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 9, 2019 13:33:56 GMT 12
Wow, brilliant Errol!
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Post by ErrolC on Oct 9, 2019 13:44:00 GMT 12
I had to look on the second page of Google results for 'wirraway auster drop 1944', so I wasn't that clever :-) I've sent the AWM link to Pacific Wrecks.
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Post by errolmartyn on Oct 9, 2019 14:24:14 GMT 12
From Vol Two of my trilogy For Your Tomorrow - A record of New Zealanders who have died while serving with the RNZAF and Allied Air Services since 1915:
Wed 20 Dec 1944 SOUTH PACIFIC
Low-level supply drop to AIF troops in the Aita River area, NE Bougainville 1 Squadron, RNZAF (Green Island, Bismarck Archipelago) PV-1 Ventura NZ4634 - took off from Piva, Bougainville, but the supply dropping run, being flown up valley at 0850, was prolonged because of ‘hang ups’. The airspeed had dropped too much and when an attempt was made to climb out over a ridge NZ4634 stalled, struck the top and crashed in a stream bed on the other side. The captain and navigator died instantly and were buried at the scene next day. Flt Lt Scarlett and Wt Off Nuttall, both seriously injured, were carried by stretcher to the AIF Base Camp, but Scarlett died en route and Nuttall at 2230 of his burns. They were buried at Kusi village in a grove of napiak trees. All four were later reinterred at Bourail, New Caledonia. Badly injured air gunner Flt Sgt N R Gardiner became the sole survivor, later being attended to by Allied coastwatchers and then taken out on a stretcher by an Australian Army patrol. It had been intended to fly him out by light aircraft, a working party spending three days clearing a strip along a mountain ridge or it to operate from. However, the rescue aircraft was damaged on landing and, after repairs and with Gardiner on board, was deliberately slewed into some trees when it refused to leave the ground during the take-off run. Captain: NZ404444 Flt Lt Dennis Hugh HOBBS, RNZAF - Age 23. 1367hrs (253 solo on Ventura) Approximately 159th op. Navigator: NZ422427 Flt Sgt Frederick Dudley MURPHY, RNZAF - Age 32. 566hrs. Wireless Op: NZ412905 Flt Lt Robert Leslie SCARLETT, RNZAF - Age 24. Air Gunner: NZ421285 Wt Off Stanley Anzac NUTTALL, RNZAF - Age 29. 500hrs. Hobbs, on his third South Pacific tour, served in the Far East during the 1941-42 Malayan campaign and flew at least one operation there. His brother, Alan Murray Hobbs, died on 26 June 1943 while flying with 9 Sqn, RAF. Scarlett was also on his third South Pacific tour, and the others their second.
Errol
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 9, 2019 15:51:55 GMT 12
I was actually aware of the Ventura's crash and Neville Gardner's survival but I did not know about the Auster and Wirraway part of the story. Edit: Looking at the link ErrolC posted to the 2017 thread it appears I did know the Auster story. It's true what people say, I have forgotten more about aviation stories than what most people know...
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Post by davidd on Oct 9, 2019 15:59:03 GMT 12
There is also a published account in one the Australian Official Military (Army) histories of WW2 which I located about 2 weeks ago, which gives the Army officer's name, etc, and some of the circumstances. He was a member of No. 17 AOP Flight. Apparently airworthy Austers were at a premium at the time, as those aircraft chosen for service with the AOP flight were unfortunately covered in linen fabric which had seen too much of the sun, and was therefore severely weakened, and thus not fit for flying. I think they had to fly in a whole lot of new fabric and then cut and fit it to the airframes, string it all up and dope it, before the rest of the fleet could be used. A bit of poor work there by those in administration (and aircraft engineering) to send a/c like that all the way to Bougainville. David D
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Post by ErrolC on Oct 10, 2019 20:56:26 GMT 12
I've been exchanging emails with Justin Taylan of Pacific Wrecks. He'd like to add a little more detail if possible. Do we know Neville Gardiner's Service Number? Searching reveals that he was an old boy of New Plymouth Boys' High School. Was he from NP (the school had boarders)? Any extra details (including of the rescue party) in that Australian History would be appreciated as well I'm sure David D. Just noting an earlier thread here. rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/25949/crash-ventura-nz4634And there are a couple more photos in that 'Storepedo' sequence (and Christmas Dinner for the Aussies earlier in the sequence!) www.awm.gov.au/collection/C78006www.awm.gov.au/collection/C78008
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 10, 2019 21:52:27 GMT 12
Neville Robert Gardiner NZ433268
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 10, 2019 22:11:22 GMT 12
From the MANAWATU STANDARD, 15 JANUARY 1945:
MANY ADVENTURES
INJURED AIRMAN
RESCUE FROM JUNGLE
(N.Z. Press Association. —Copyright.) (R.N.Z.A.F. Official News service.) (9.30 a.m.) BOUGAINVILLE, Jan. 12
The sole survivor of a crash in enemy-occupied territory, Flight Serg. N. Gardiner, of New Plymouth, came through a series of remarkable adventures before being repatriated to New Zealand for medical treatment.
Gardiner, who is 20 years of age, was a turret gunner in a Ventura operating from a New Zealand air task force base which crashed in mountainous country on December 21. He suffered a broken leg and burns to the hands and neck. Details of the crash reached advanced troops, who searched for and found the injured New Zealander. He was later made as comfortable as possible at their camp, while a signal was sent off informing Allied Headquarters that the airman was in need of urgent medical attention.
Because it was judged that Gardiner's condition was such that he was in great danger of losing his life, an effort was made to evacuate him by air. This involved the task of constructing a landing strip along mountain ridge and no machinery was available. For three days, working in burning heat, parties toiled to clear away the jungle undergrowth and forest. It was a race against time, too, for there was no saying at what the enemy might come upon them.
In the meantime, a light plane was being converted to enable its use as an ambulance. Then word came through that the strip was open and the rescue aircraft took off. The pilot made a good landing, but had the bad luck to strike a rough patch of earth at the end of his run and the aircraft tipped over on its nose, damaging the propeller.
Another propeller was sent up by air and dropped on the landing 'strip, only to be broken by the impact of landing.
Meantime, Gardiner was making considerable progress towards recovery and enjoyed a Christmas dinner of turkey, plum pudding, a bottle of beer and some brandy. Three days later he was carried up the side of the mountain to the rescue aircraft, which had now been repaired.
However the aircraft would not leave the ground and was slewed by the pilot deliberately into some trees to avoid the risk of a serious crash with the injured man aboard, and both the pilot and the passenger came through with only minor bumps. Eventually it was decided that Gardiner should be transported to safety by litter, and the journey was made through rough mountainous jungle country, the coast being reached in four days. Then a short journey by sea brought the injured New Zealander to a base hospital, where he was given treatment preparatory to being evacuated to New Zealand.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 10, 2019 22:14:27 GMT 12
Neville died on the 16th of May 2005.
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Post by baronbeeza on Oct 11, 2019 21:00:08 GMT 12
I've been exchanging emails with Justin Taylan of Pacific Wrecks. He'd like to add a little more detail if possible. Do we know Neville Gardiner's Service Number? Searching reveals that he was an old boy of New Plymouth Boys' High School. Was he from NP (the school had boarders)? Any extra details (including of the rescue party) in that Australian History would be appreciated as well I'm sure David D. Just noting an earlier thread here. rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/25949/crash-ventura-nz4634And there are a couple more photos in that 'Storepedo' sequence (and Christmas Dinner for the Aussies earlier in the sequence!) www.awm.gov.au/collection/C78006www.awm.gov.au/collection/C78008I wrote on that previous thread. I have seen a full report written by the Australians that were involved. I will see if I can track down a copy from within the Scarlett family. It was an extremely detailed official report and I think from an Australian Intelligence unit.
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Post by davidd on Oct 12, 2019 9:00:12 GMT 12
The official Australian Army version of the above incident can be viewed on the Australian War Memorial web-site, under Second World War Official Histories, Australia in the War of 1939 - 45, Series I - Army.
The actual volume in question is:...
Volume VII - The Final Campaigns, Chapters 5 to 9.
As with all the other volumes, the index for this volume is thoughtfully included, so simply look up such subjects as the officer by name of Russel, Auster, No. 17 A.O.P. Flight, etc., particularly if they are in the chapters mentioned immediately above.
Also the accident report for the RNZAF Ventura provides details not included in other reports. Warning! This report contains "challenging" references! David D
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 12, 2019 9:20:56 GMT 12
What do you mean by the challenging references?
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