RNZAF Canberras B (I) 12

[mrb]

Hi folks

I was reffered here by a fellow modeller .........I am actually planning to build an RNZAF canberra ........the ones which flew during the Malayan Emergency .........Cannot seem to get the right belly colour........some say silver, some say off white.......and some say grey..........

Any pointers and confirmation will be much appricated...........planning to use the kit decals in the 1/48 Airfix kit...........and gunze paints........any reference to gunze numbers will be much appricated.........

Cheers
Mr b

Title altered by Moderator to reflect correct mark of Canberra

[silverfox]

The RNZAF Canberra B(I) 12 were delivered in overall High Speed Silver and repainted in Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green like contemporary RAF aircraft on the uppersides only in the mid sixties. As fair as I can find out the undersides remained silver.

[ZacYates]

I was meant to post with the same question, Mr B! My boss at work has asked me to find out what schemes the Canberras wore in Kiwi service as he thought Airfix's suggestions were "inaccurate".....fair call I guess as he worked on them during their RNZAF service! He remembers it as a "f'ing great aircraft to work on".

[mrb]

Thanks guys

Rgds
Mr b

[shorty]

The B(I)12s weren't used during the Malayan emergency, 75 sqn (who??) flew leased B2s.
14 Sqn (Yay!) flew the B (I)12s during the Indonesian confrontation
You also need to change your thread header to B (I) 12 as we never had B (I) 8. The 12 was the export version and came without the belly gun pack.

[mrb]

Thanks Shorty

I am learning.......am new to them Canberras.........So no gun pod.........any other things to omit/add on the airfix kit ? .......I know there is an additional arieal .........picked that from the Canberra website.........

Thanks for the correct theater of OPS as well......

Best Regards
Mr B

[barnstormer]

Here are some of 75 Squadron's Canberra B.2s at Tengah, (with a USAF B-57 on the right.) But it looks like there are at least 3 different paint schemes on the B.2 that are lined up here. Also there is a notation on the negative envelope that mentions: for Ex "josstick." A term unfamiliar to me. Makes me smile to see all the eager photographers scurrying about..

[barnstormer]

As to markings/stencils etc...As you can see, there are stencils EVERYwhere. Sorry I could not Zoom in enough to get markings any more clear..This just gives an idea of the number on the 75 Sqn B.2s.

[barnstormer]

Back on topic, the B.(I) 12. Although these are both black and white photos, you can see there are two distinctly different schemes on them. Both are RNZAF 14 Sqn and the second one is from 1970

[mrb]

I am really learning the canberras in RNZAF service.........thanks guys..........so even a silver finish will not be wrong........interesting...........

Best Regards
Mr B

[furd]

Re the B-57 on the 75 Sqn Tengah Flight Line, I recall the occasion well as I was one of the ground crew on the line at the time. The Sqn hosted a detachment of USAF B-57's from Clark Air Base in the Philippines for a week or so. A few months later the Sqn reciprocated with a deployment to Clark Air base which I had the good fortune to be part of. I cannot recall the date but it would have been late 1960 and certainly after the end of the Malayan Emergency on the 31 July of the same year. The Ex " Josstick" would have been the exercise name of the deployment.

[barnstormer]

Jul 11, 2009 13:59:22 GMT 12 mrb said:

I am really learning the canberras in RNZAF service.........thanks guys.
Best Regards
Mr B

And I am learning, Also, Mr.B. I suppose that is why most of us come to these forums.

Furd,
Thank you so much for filling in more pieces of the puzzle for me. So,then, nearly 50 years ago, now. I hope it brought back some pleasant memories.

[Dave Homewood]

The RNZAF Canberras are perhaps our most under-remembered and under-celebrated jets, and there must be a lot we can all learn from the people here who served on and with them. Before this forum came along I knew next to buggar all about them, I now know a little bit more thanks to people like Phil82, 14liney, Shorty, etc. But I'd love to learn more about the Canberra in RNZAF service, and I'd especially like to see more close up walk-around type photos - they are so damned rare compared with the Vampire, Skyhawk, Maachi and Strikemaster. Does anyone here have nice close ups? Maybe someone should start a thread on Canberras in the Walkaround section?

[shorty]

I have a bunch of Canberra photos to put in my stash thread sometime soon.
They are only underremebered by those people who were unfortunate to get stuck on the Sh*tehawks and missed the real Air Force
(Ducks for cover now!)

[Dave Homewood]

Ooh, to the naughty step with you Shorty... ;D

I'll have to go back through the stash again, were there really clear close ups useful to modellers? Most photos we see are just far away flightline shots like the one with the B-57 above. As it happens, I think the RNZAF's Canberras looked far better than those American tandem seat ones, they're so ugly.

[shorty]

Try these for size.
They have been posted elsewhere on the forum but to save hunting here they are again

[phil82]

If anyone knows John Seward, ex-Canberra Nav, he has put together an excellent site on the Canberra but the link is unfortunately on my old computer and not retrievable at present. I'm sure he lives in Wellington, but isn't in the Wellington phone book.

[flyjoe180]

Is that John Seward, former Commandant NZ Cadet Forces? I remember him well, one of the more memorable commandants as he had a big moustache and looked very Air Force.

[shorty]

He was a Canberra Nav in my time (as was Pat Neville), John was the Air Force PRO for a while, last talking to him at WOW about 6 years ago

[tbf25o4]

John Hewson Seward lives in whitby and works for Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand
He was never the Air Force PRO but was the Defence media spokesperson
Ex Canberra nav, B170 and Andover nav.
Paul