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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 23, 2012 23:13:24 GMT 12
So what do people think? Was the crated wings and engine maybe from a Triplane?
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Post by shorty on May 24, 2012 17:26:42 GMT 12
Her is a more substantive rumour for all the Woody valley guys to check out (and it's a first hand account) From Wally Ingham's book, "We Also Served" pp 140-141, referring to the days immediately following VJ day. "During this time the rest of us were put to work removing all American Lend-Lease equipment from the stores. This was dumped in a huge hole immediately behind one of the flight hangars. The hole had been dug by a Public Works Department bulldozer, and it was so large that complete Harvard mainplanes could be and were tossed in with reckless abandon - to cover piles of American hardware, aircraft parts, engine parts and brand new tool kits still in their original greaseproof wrappings."
What we need is an aerial view of Woodbourne at that time so we can ascertain which hangar and where the hole was.
This rumour sort of fit's in with others I have heard so -Good luck!
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Post by ZacYates on May 24, 2012 18:39:50 GMT 12
Something I heard a while back (2004-05) which may be worth reposting. When I was doing work experience at the Wanganui Chronicle I heard talk of a "Spitfire" "somewhere up the [Whanganui] river". Anyone have any thoughts? I rubbished it in my head, but perhaps it was a P-40?
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 24, 2012 19:03:12 GMT 12
Is Fielding up the river?
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Post by ZacYates on May 24, 2012 19:22:04 GMT 12
:-P Uh, no.
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Post by AussieBob on May 24, 2012 23:25:36 GMT 12
A little after VJ Day, and the grass would have grown a little covering up some holes in the ground, but an aerial of Woodbourne taken Dec 1950 beta.natlib.govt.nz/records/22752915There are a couple of others on the natlib website
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 25, 2012 0:21:58 GMT 12
Shorty, Wally is still alive and well, you could ask him which hangar it was. His email is 30squadron@clear.net.nz
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Post by Tony on May 25, 2012 7:52:43 GMT 12
Were there flight hangars at Fairhall?
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Post by lumpy on May 25, 2012 12:32:59 GMT 12
Were there flight hangars at Fairhall? There were ( and there still is one I think ) hangars there .I would have thought it more likely any burying would have occoured over there , rather on the mian base .( in fact I think its common knowledge that aircraft have been burned , broken up , disposed of etc( and probabaly buried ) on that site .
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Post by Tony on May 25, 2012 14:33:06 GMT 12
Were there flight hangars at Fairhall? There were ( and there still is one I think ) hangars there .I would have thought it more likely any burying would have occoured over there , rather on the mian base .( in fact I think its common knowledge that aircraft have been burned , broken up , disposed of etc( and probabaly buried ) on that site . Yeah That is what I was wondering
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Post by shorty on May 26, 2012 16:03:58 GMT 12
Given the rest of the books style I would have thought he would have stated Fairhall if that was where he was referring to. When did Fairhall close down? Someone closed to Woodbourne than me can follow it up.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 2, 2012 20:56:02 GMT 12
Well, well, well, this is fascinating: paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=FS19190624.2.33&srpos=7&e=01-11-1918--12-1940--10--1-byDA---0german+aeroplane+museum--Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 3820, 24 June 1919, Page 2 HAUL FROM THE GERMANS. THOUSANDS OF WAR TROPHIES. The Waimana, which arrived at Auckland yesterday with troops, had on board thousands of war trophies, including samples of practically every German lighting device. There are 22 field guns, including one 135 millimetre piece that was captured near Welsh Ridge, on September 29. 7 4.2 howitzers, hundreds of machine guns, bundles of rifles, a trench mortar aud its fittings (including the bed, extra barrel, and elevator), several crates of aeroplane wings, and an aeroplane engine, hospital beds, barrack beds, trench clubs, body armour, dug-out frames, gas masks, smoke screen producers and numberless other objects. It is understood that those trophies are intended for the Dominion Museum. There is a big article here about the return of the Waimana with the war trophies here: paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19190623.2.53&srpos=43&e=01-04-1919--12-1928--10-AS-41-byDA---0Waimana--Sadly it doesn't elaborate any futher on what the aircraft parts were of, and if they were a disassembled but complete aircraft. Here's the extract from the article on the war trophies: "THOUSANDS OF WAR TROPHIES. The Waimana has returned with a unique cargo of thousands of war trophies, including samples of practically every German fighting device. There are 22 field guns, including one 135 millimetre piece that was captured by Col. S. S. Allen's battalion near Welsh Ridge on September 29. Other items are:— Seven 4.2 howitzers, hundreds of machine guns, bundles of rifles, a trench mortar, and its fit tin ss (including the bed. extra. t barrel and elevator)., several crates of, t aeroplane wings, and an aeroplane! engine, hospital beds, barracks beds, trench clubs, body armour* dugout frames, gae masks, smoke-screen prot ducere, and numberless other, objects. It I is understood that these trophies are in! tended for a Dominion War Museum."
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 12, 2012 0:45:05 GMT 12
Four or five years ago I was in Mapua, having visited a certain Mr.Smith, to get myself a drink at the local store. At the time I was driving a van with the rather distictive signwriting of the Young Farmer of the Year Competition (Shameless plug time, TV1, July 12 ;D) and this old bloke asked me if I was in the area with the competition, so I told him I was not and that I had been to visit John Smith. He then told me that around about the time when John got his well known Mosquito he saw him putting a second Mossie into a shed on a neighbouring farm. Well I filed this into the back of my head where I put stories that fall into the "implausible, but interesting" file. Where it would have stayed untill a couple of months later I was talking to a well known (and respected - it doesn't always go together) vintage aircraft identity. I told him what I had been told and his reaction was suprising, he told me that when he was a kid living in the Nelson/Richmond area he saw Johns Mossie go past on a truck and was absolutly positive that there was two fuselages. After being told repeatedly over the years "rubbish there is only one" he gave up telling the story, untill that is I told him mine. Aparantly what I told him was the first time in all those years that he had heard anything to support what he had seen. Hmmmmmmmmm Well, well, I just happened on this article which confirms that John Smith did purchase two Mosquitoes, to use one good wing and one good fuselage! www.aviationnews.co.nz/news/9/28/How-much-is-a-Mosquito/I quote: "Given a single day to remove the aircraft before the air force destroyed them, the rather crude methods used were understandable. This was the same day that Mapua’s John Smith collected his Mosquito. He was wanting a complete example, but there was no way he could properly dismantle and remove one in a day. But the air force was immovable. Anything left at the end of the day was going to be torched. His only option was to remove the wings outboard of the fuselage with a chainsaw. This would mean he didn’t have a complete Mosquito. No problem. There were plenty more Mosquitoes where that one came from, so he was allowed to go to another aircraft and this time chop up a fuselage, so he had a complete wing and a very large Mosquito kitset to take home."
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Post by pjw4118 on Dec 12, 2012 16:09:23 GMT 12
Tony , I posted quite a few photos of Fairhall a while back which shows the hangars. One survives.Having had a good look around with the owner there are a lot of treasures there but he didnt mention anything other than the Oxford scrapping.
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kiwiwreckdiver
Squadron Leader
Still military and aviation history mad
Posts: 116
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Post by kiwiwreckdiver on Mar 6, 2013 12:46:04 GMT 12
Dose anyone know how to get in touch with Tony Stevenson the younge guy digging around Hamilton airport?
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Post by TS on Mar 6, 2013 13:35:13 GMT 12
Hi KWD send him a PM via the forum his username is Tonys18, hope that helps?
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Post by John L on Mar 7, 2013 20:37:57 GMT 12
Well, well, I just happened on this article which confirms that John Smith did purchase two Mosquitoes, to use one good wing and one good fuselage! www.aviationnews.co.nz/news/9/28/How-much-is-a-Mosquito/Given a single day to remove the aircraft before the air force destroyed them, the rather crude methods used were understandable. This was the same day that Mapua�s John Smith collected his Mosquito. He was wanting a complete example, but there was no way he could properly dismantle and remove one in a day. But the air force was immovable. Anything left at the end of the day was going to be torched. His only option was to remove the wings outboard of the fuselage with a chainsaw. This would mean he didn�t have a complete Mosquito. No problem. There were plenty more Mosquitoes where that one came from, so he was allowed to go to another aircraft and this time chop up a fuselage, so he had a complete wing and a very large Mosquito kitset to take home." So, does this mean John's Mosquito is, in fact, complete? An intact fuselageand intact wing?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 7, 2013 21:06:54 GMT 12
I am not sure but it would seem to imply this, eh.
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Post by dazz on Mar 7, 2013 23:44:16 GMT 12
And that there may be another Fuse, or at least parts thereof 'in a barn'.....somewhere...
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Post by John L on Mar 8, 2013 21:56:09 GMT 12
Interesting - I'd always assumed John had just respliced the outer wings back on to make it complete. If there is a complete wing on it................
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