Some of Dad's memoribilia...

[corsair5517]

I'm not 100% sure where to put this, but here we go anyway; shift it as you see fit, Dave! My father is now in care - he's 98 in 2 weeks - and stuff like this has come out of the woodwork...

DSC_3843 by John Stokes, on Flickr

...August 1990, Journal six. Anyone remember this organisation? Does it still exist?

DSC_3844 by John Stokes, on Flickr

DSC_3845 by John Stokes, on Flickr

What, I hear you ask, did these brawny, red-blooded 22year olds do during their time in the service in between enagaging with the wily Japanese?? Well, my dad built models... balsa wood models...

DSC_3846 by John Stokes, on Flickr

Got all excited seeing this on the box...

DSC_3847 by John Stokes, on Flickr

...but alas, it was not a Corsair! I do remember him telling me he'd built one, as well as a Hurricane but they have been lost or binned many years ago now; I suspect they were gifts for younger cousins still in NZ.

DSC_3851 by John Stokes, on Flickr

However, this was the model in the box...

DSC_3852 by John Stokes, on Flickr

Complete with 70 year old decals!

Untitled by John Stokes, on Flickr

Instruction sheets for a Hurricane and the Mustang as well as a general guide to aeroplane parts and what they do.

DSC_3850 by John Stokes, on Flickr

DSC_3849 by John Stokes, on Flickr

DSC_3848 by John Stokes, on Flickr

[Dave Homewood]

Interesting old kits.

I have moved it to the Preserved Aviation in New Zealand board John, as it is pretty much a preserved collection of history.

The NZFPA journals were great. I tried to get the association going again but sadly there are so few fighter pilots left it never really got off the ground.

[corsair5517]

Was it a long-lived organisation, Dave? I had no idea that Dad was a member, if indeed he was such, and not merely slightly interested.

Is that book of any interest to anyone; I don't really want it and if someone would like it...

I thought the kit was a bit interesting; when you look at what scale modelling is now and what it was in 1945... it's going to a friend of mine in Dunedin who is a very good modeller and who has a sense of history!!

[Dave Homewood]

The NZFPA was founded by John Houlton DFC in, from memory, 1986, and it lasted till the early 2000's when the then secretary Bryan Cox moved to Aussie and no-one took it over.