Post by xbaggy on Mar 25, 2009 19:50:15 GMT 12
While I was a baggy Mechanic at Woodbourne, round 1968-69, I had the good fortune to meet the late Pete Coleman, through a good friend who worked for the Marlborough Electric Power Board.
Pete worked for the MEPB as a Caretaker/Operator of their small Hydro Electric dam on the Waihopai River. I think that the shifts were in weeks rather than days. I visited Pete once at the powerhouse, and it was a pretty lonely existence.
On his time off, Pete lived with his mother in Blenheim, at whose place he had a lot of Mustang pieces stored. He also owned a section behind Omaka Airfield about 2-3 km down Ben Morven Road, off Old Renwick Road opposite Bells Road.
On a Terrace above the road he had a shed in two parts. The front half was fixed, with slots in the side into which the wings of 2427 fitted. The back half was on wheels which was wheeled up to cover the aft section.
I became quite good friends with Pete over a Period of time, and spent some time talking Mustangs and tinkering. Pete was also a good friend of John Smith in Mapua, but unfortunately I never met him.
The Mobil Mustang was doing the rounds at the time, but Pete was not tempted to restore his Mustang to flying status.
At the time I was working in the Skin Bay at No 1 RD, and actually put a spare rudder through the system and reconditioned it, no question asked. I found that the construction of the Mustang rudder, was very similar to Harvard control surfaces, which were our bread and butter at the time.
When Pete bought 27, he was lucky to get it before the wings were cut off. Most of the remaining Mustangs had the wings cut off outboard of the undercarriage, so that they could be towed by road into Blenheim, and broken up for scrap. Pete reckoned that he had enough bits for 2 Mustangs, (including engines) but the second had the wings cut off.
Pete decided that we were going to attempt to start and 27 so we spent some time putting things back together, as it had been partially disassembled. I remember hooking up two big truck batteries, and Pete turning over the motor while still in the shed. We had already fueled it. and had fuel pressure and Pete couldnt resist flicking the mag switch. The result was two big fireballs hanging in the shed, with the two of us cinging away from them.
The following photos show the results:-
Before start
Started with self on the wing
As you can see the noise attracted a few locals. The tail was deliberately pointed towards Woodbourne.
After the run. Prop seals were a bit dry.
In the background of the last photo (beside Pete's car) you can see the shed that split in two. You can also see the slots that the wings fitted into.
After this time Pete became preoccupied with building his house on the section. I went up there one day and he had done the foundations, and the floor joists were down.
Then he told me of his latest project. New Zealand Rail were tendering off their seam locos, and he had won a tender for a Ja Loco.This eventually arrived at the section and I visited him a couple of times while he was working on it. This was about the time that I left Woodbourne, but I did hear that he dug a tunnel into the section behind his house, to store the engine and he used to run it out on rails, and steam it up.
It is ironic that later I worked for the Helicopter Line, in which Sir Tim Wallace played a big part who eventually bought NZ 2427.
Pete worked for the MEPB as a Caretaker/Operator of their small Hydro Electric dam on the Waihopai River. I think that the shifts were in weeks rather than days. I visited Pete once at the powerhouse, and it was a pretty lonely existence.
On his time off, Pete lived with his mother in Blenheim, at whose place he had a lot of Mustang pieces stored. He also owned a section behind Omaka Airfield about 2-3 km down Ben Morven Road, off Old Renwick Road opposite Bells Road.
On a Terrace above the road he had a shed in two parts. The front half was fixed, with slots in the side into which the wings of 2427 fitted. The back half was on wheels which was wheeled up to cover the aft section.
I became quite good friends with Pete over a Period of time, and spent some time talking Mustangs and tinkering. Pete was also a good friend of John Smith in Mapua, but unfortunately I never met him.
The Mobil Mustang was doing the rounds at the time, but Pete was not tempted to restore his Mustang to flying status.
At the time I was working in the Skin Bay at No 1 RD, and actually put a spare rudder through the system and reconditioned it, no question asked. I found that the construction of the Mustang rudder, was very similar to Harvard control surfaces, which were our bread and butter at the time.
When Pete bought 27, he was lucky to get it before the wings were cut off. Most of the remaining Mustangs had the wings cut off outboard of the undercarriage, so that they could be towed by road into Blenheim, and broken up for scrap. Pete reckoned that he had enough bits for 2 Mustangs, (including engines) but the second had the wings cut off.
Pete decided that we were going to attempt to start and 27 so we spent some time putting things back together, as it had been partially disassembled. I remember hooking up two big truck batteries, and Pete turning over the motor while still in the shed. We had already fueled it. and had fuel pressure and Pete couldnt resist flicking the mag switch. The result was two big fireballs hanging in the shed, with the two of us cinging away from them.
The following photos show the results:-
Before start
Started with self on the wing
As you can see the noise attracted a few locals. The tail was deliberately pointed towards Woodbourne.
After the run. Prop seals were a bit dry.
In the background of the last photo (beside Pete's car) you can see the shed that split in two. You can also see the slots that the wings fitted into.
After this time Pete became preoccupied with building his house on the section. I went up there one day and he had done the foundations, and the floor joists were down.
Then he told me of his latest project. New Zealand Rail were tendering off their seam locos, and he had won a tender for a Ja Loco.This eventually arrived at the section and I visited him a couple of times while he was working on it. This was about the time that I left Woodbourne, but I did hear that he dug a tunnel into the section behind his house, to store the engine and he used to run it out on rails, and steam it up.
It is ironic that later I worked for the Helicopter Line, in which Sir Tim Wallace played a big part who eventually bought NZ 2427.
