Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 22, 2009 21:02:10 GMT 12
Many of you know that I have been away for a couple of weeks, on a trip that took me to the three main centres of NZ to research for my book project on the General Reconnaissance and Bomber Reconnaissance squadrons of the RNZAF.
I got back last night and I reckon some of you might be interested in a short report on how I got on.
I left home on the 6th of July 2009 headed for Auckland on an Intercity bus. That was about the lowlight of the trip (as it usually is). As soon as I arrived in central Auckland I made for the Auckland City Library in Lorne Street. My first research mission was to look up their microfilmed archive of the Auckland Star newspaper from the 1938-1940 era. I was hoping to find some reports in this paper about the Auckland Territorial Squadron and later Auckland General Reconnaissance Squadron (as it became when war broke out). I had some key dates of known events listed and looked them up in the Star. I'd already found that the other major Auckland paper of that time (and still going unlike the Star), the New Zealand Herald, had little in the way of reports as far as I can see. I hoped the Star would reveal more. Sadly this was not the case. The Star had less than the Herald and the few articles I did find were virtually identical to its opposition paper's reports, which lead me to believe (and I've since confirmed) they were from RNZAF press reports rather than individual journalism.
However all was not lost. I made two wonderful discoveries in the Auckland Library. The first was while looking through the Auckland Star issues I noticed that throughout 1938 and 1939, and I have no doubt probably other years, every Saturday the Star had a full page dedicated to the stories and memories of war veterans. Mainly WWI veterans but also some earlier war vets too seemed to write articles, send in snippets of memories, send in photos, and respond to previous articles with their own personal follow ups. This must be one of the most incredible finds for researchers looking for first hand NZ WWI veteran memoires. I wonder if any of the top WWI researchers are even aware of these obscure pages in a long defunct newspaper stored away in the library. I'd love to see all these extracted and compiled, as is, into a book, that would be brilliant. I wonder who owns the copyright to the Star these days.
The other grand find there was someone had kindly photocopied and donated these copies of all twelve issues of the incredibly rare magazine The Airman to the library. This was the station magazine of RNZAF Stations Whenuapai and Hobsonville covering Dec 1940-Nov 1941. It was the earliest known station magazine written in the RNZAF, and to find a whole set is like hens' teeth. I nearly bought the whole set a few years back on TradeMe before some w*nker sniped me about three minutes before the end of the auction (after I'd been the sole bidder for a week). I was prepared then to pay up to $150. Now I have the full set (inculding an orginal copy of No. 2 which I've had some time) thanks to the magic of the digital camera.
Time came to move on, and I got a bus to the Auckland Domestic Airport, where I discovered the mindboggling thing that you now have to check in your own bags - a concept that hasn't permiated to the provences yet it seems as I still had the usual old style of service in Hamilton and Blenheim back at Easter. I still have not grasped why they have chosen to go this way. It scared me a bit but luckily a nice lady from Air NZ helped me through it. I guess it's all about cutting staff and responsibility levels for Air NZ?
My plane it turned out was a Boeing 737 - brilliant. I had been hoping like hell it would be as it had been about 16 years or more since I flew in one and I wanted to do so before they are withdrawn in the near future. Why don't they tell you on your ticket what type of plane the flight will be in?
The flight was great, I'd forgotten how much of a rocket ship those things are, thrust back into your seat with a really steep take off. Great!! And the in-flight entertainment is really novel, from the safety briefing now done by nude and body painted staff (like in the adverts) to the trivia questions and answers that test your mind and kill the time. I was amazed to get a nice light meal, well really a snack but good. And to also see they serve alcohol! I have never seen that on a domestic flight. I only had an L&P but it was nice to know there was free beer!
On arrival in Christchurch I was met by Don Simms (skyhawkdon) as I was staying for my time in that wonderful city with Don and his wife Sharee. They made me very comfortable and welcome the whole time, and as you can imagine it was great to talk aeroplanes with Don. I saw some amazing Skyhawk footage and photos while I was there too.
On the Tuesday I visited the Air Force Museum of New Zealand and had a real good look round the new displays. The museum looks amazing now, really stunning with its new display hall. The improvements have really brought the museum up to the 21st Century. I was initially reluctant when i heard that the displays were to change but now see they're a wonderful breath of fresh air. The new display cases will allow for different exhibits to rotate around every 18 months I'm told. I think it's wonderful that this new layout includes some personal stories of individuals who've served and some who're still serving, and not all are the notable types you read about in books. There are many interesting previously unknown stories too. Well done to the team who have done such a great job.
I popped into the museum almost every day of my ten days there, as it's now free to do so, and I was staying right at Wigram so it was damned handy. The staff began to recognise me and I was becoming a regular! But it was great to pop in like this because each day I saw something new, and I got to meet a number of the volunteers who in most cases only do one day a week. There are still many interesting veterans giving up their time to show people round there, which is fantastic.
I enjoyed a very good tour of the restoration hangar and storage hangar, which I found to be the best of these tours I've done so far, thanks to our guide Allan Gee. I ran into my ex-Safety and Surface mate Barf who works on the permanent restoration staff there who peeled me off the tour at the end and took my back behind the scenes for a more indepth look and photography session for my website and book projects. Thanks Barf!! The work on the Oxford and Kittyhawk are progressing very well, and the lovely Vildebeest is slower due to both engineering and staffing problems (a couple of the volunteers, both in their 80's, are ill with cancer I'm told, and one of the key men, the Flight Sergeant, is away for five months on an attachment to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight!!!) But I did get to meet another of the volunteers who works on it and he said they're making slow progress, as did Barf. Photos will be posted later, probably on my website.
As to the actual research, I cannot say enough for the archive staff. I was amazed by the amount of material that the archive has, even on fairly unknown and specialised topics. I am totally indebted to Michelle Sim who was fantastic in her assisting me with my research. It is so wonderful to go to an archive and be able to discuss the topic you're researching with someone who works there who ACTUALLY knows what you're talking about and cares. It's so refreshing. Michelle said she's a huge fan of RNZAF history and aviation, and it showed. She's really super at her job, she knew exactly what I wanted and needed and was happy to find it for me. Thanks Michelle.
I also finally got to meet Matthew O'Sullivan there, the photo archivist. No doubt many of you have dealt with him in the past. He too has a vast knowledge and interest. It was great to put a face to the name. Sadly he was flat out and I never got a chance to talk much, nor to delve into his photographic archives. But I guess that will come later in my book project.
A real thrill too was to meet and spend some time with the emminent researcher David Duxbury. I had met him ever so briefly nearly 20 years ago, but in the past few years David has been a wonder in helping me with my research via email. He's a walking talking encyclopedia of all things RNZAF (and it seems many other Air Forces). A thoroughly interesting guy to talk with and spend time with, it was difficult at times to tear myself away from our conversation so he and I could get on with our respective researching.
I will say here and now, if you are researching anything about the RNZAF and other NZ military aviation matters, the team at Wigram's archives are the best place to start. They're really fantastic. The files alone that I have gained from them will most definately boost my books' text in both accuracy and size in an immeasurable way.
I was able to look at the personal logbooks of many of the men whom for the past few years I have been writing about, real heroes to me. And a story I must tell you is I arrived on the Friday morning and Michelle said "I've found this old scrapbook, it's full of old newspaper cuttings. I've not see it before but it appears to be about your era, it may be helpful." So I took a look. Sure enough, there were a huge amount of interesting cuttings in there from the 1930's (it went through to the 1960's but most of it covered the 1930's) which were pertanent to my research, so I snapped away with the camera. Then I began to realise this beautifully kept scrapbook was more significant than I'd first though. There were some original documents in it with the scrapbook owner's name on - a Union Airways ticket made out to him, an invitation from the acting-Prime Minister to attend a party, and the clincher, the actual letter of notification from the Air Secretary Tom Barrow, informing him that he'd been appointed the Chief of Air Staff of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. That's right, this scrapbook had belonged to Sir Ralph Cochrane!! I was gobsmacked, he was the architect of the RNZAF, the man who pulled it up by the bootstraps from a tiny embarrassment to make it modern and practical entity in the 1930's. He is an Air Force GOD!! And now his methodical collecting of news items about the RNZAF from papers all across the country was, over seventy years later, helping my project to record the history of some of the squadrons that he himself created. I asked Michelle if she knew who's it was, she said no, an when I pointed out the evidence that it was Sir Ralph's own, she was as chuffed as me I think.
After enjoying a week and a half of beautiful Christchurch, and the hospitality of the Musuem, and Don and Sharee, and the forum meet that is detailed elsewhere, I boarded another Boeing 737 and flew to Wellington. My intention was to delve again into the National Archive for more info for the project.
If anyone has read this far without falling asleep and wants to read more about the Wellington leg, post a reply and I'll type it up soonish.
I got back last night and I reckon some of you might be interested in a short report on how I got on.
I left home on the 6th of July 2009 headed for Auckland on an Intercity bus. That was about the lowlight of the trip (as it usually is). As soon as I arrived in central Auckland I made for the Auckland City Library in Lorne Street. My first research mission was to look up their microfilmed archive of the Auckland Star newspaper from the 1938-1940 era. I was hoping to find some reports in this paper about the Auckland Territorial Squadron and later Auckland General Reconnaissance Squadron (as it became when war broke out). I had some key dates of known events listed and looked them up in the Star. I'd already found that the other major Auckland paper of that time (and still going unlike the Star), the New Zealand Herald, had little in the way of reports as far as I can see. I hoped the Star would reveal more. Sadly this was not the case. The Star had less than the Herald and the few articles I did find were virtually identical to its opposition paper's reports, which lead me to believe (and I've since confirmed) they were from RNZAF press reports rather than individual journalism.
However all was not lost. I made two wonderful discoveries in the Auckland Library. The first was while looking through the Auckland Star issues I noticed that throughout 1938 and 1939, and I have no doubt probably other years, every Saturday the Star had a full page dedicated to the stories and memories of war veterans. Mainly WWI veterans but also some earlier war vets too seemed to write articles, send in snippets of memories, send in photos, and respond to previous articles with their own personal follow ups. This must be one of the most incredible finds for researchers looking for first hand NZ WWI veteran memoires. I wonder if any of the top WWI researchers are even aware of these obscure pages in a long defunct newspaper stored away in the library. I'd love to see all these extracted and compiled, as is, into a book, that would be brilliant. I wonder who owns the copyright to the Star these days.
The other grand find there was someone had kindly photocopied and donated these copies of all twelve issues of the incredibly rare magazine The Airman to the library. This was the station magazine of RNZAF Stations Whenuapai and Hobsonville covering Dec 1940-Nov 1941. It was the earliest known station magazine written in the RNZAF, and to find a whole set is like hens' teeth. I nearly bought the whole set a few years back on TradeMe before some w*nker sniped me about three minutes before the end of the auction (after I'd been the sole bidder for a week). I was prepared then to pay up to $150. Now I have the full set (inculding an orginal copy of No. 2 which I've had some time) thanks to the magic of the digital camera.
Time came to move on, and I got a bus to the Auckland Domestic Airport, where I discovered the mindboggling thing that you now have to check in your own bags - a concept that hasn't permiated to the provences yet it seems as I still had the usual old style of service in Hamilton and Blenheim back at Easter. I still have not grasped why they have chosen to go this way. It scared me a bit but luckily a nice lady from Air NZ helped me through it. I guess it's all about cutting staff and responsibility levels for Air NZ?
My plane it turned out was a Boeing 737 - brilliant. I had been hoping like hell it would be as it had been about 16 years or more since I flew in one and I wanted to do so before they are withdrawn in the near future. Why don't they tell you on your ticket what type of plane the flight will be in?
The flight was great, I'd forgotten how much of a rocket ship those things are, thrust back into your seat with a really steep take off. Great!! And the in-flight entertainment is really novel, from the safety briefing now done by nude and body painted staff (like in the adverts) to the trivia questions and answers that test your mind and kill the time. I was amazed to get a nice light meal, well really a snack but good. And to also see they serve alcohol! I have never seen that on a domestic flight. I only had an L&P but it was nice to know there was free beer!
On arrival in Christchurch I was met by Don Simms (skyhawkdon) as I was staying for my time in that wonderful city with Don and his wife Sharee. They made me very comfortable and welcome the whole time, and as you can imagine it was great to talk aeroplanes with Don. I saw some amazing Skyhawk footage and photos while I was there too.
On the Tuesday I visited the Air Force Museum of New Zealand and had a real good look round the new displays. The museum looks amazing now, really stunning with its new display hall. The improvements have really brought the museum up to the 21st Century. I was initially reluctant when i heard that the displays were to change but now see they're a wonderful breath of fresh air. The new display cases will allow for different exhibits to rotate around every 18 months I'm told. I think it's wonderful that this new layout includes some personal stories of individuals who've served and some who're still serving, and not all are the notable types you read about in books. There are many interesting previously unknown stories too. Well done to the team who have done such a great job.
I popped into the museum almost every day of my ten days there, as it's now free to do so, and I was staying right at Wigram so it was damned handy. The staff began to recognise me and I was becoming a regular! But it was great to pop in like this because each day I saw something new, and I got to meet a number of the volunteers who in most cases only do one day a week. There are still many interesting veterans giving up their time to show people round there, which is fantastic.
I enjoyed a very good tour of the restoration hangar and storage hangar, which I found to be the best of these tours I've done so far, thanks to our guide Allan Gee. I ran into my ex-Safety and Surface mate Barf who works on the permanent restoration staff there who peeled me off the tour at the end and took my back behind the scenes for a more indepth look and photography session for my website and book projects. Thanks Barf!! The work on the Oxford and Kittyhawk are progressing very well, and the lovely Vildebeest is slower due to both engineering and staffing problems (a couple of the volunteers, both in their 80's, are ill with cancer I'm told, and one of the key men, the Flight Sergeant, is away for five months on an attachment to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight!!!) But I did get to meet another of the volunteers who works on it and he said they're making slow progress, as did Barf. Photos will be posted later, probably on my website.
As to the actual research, I cannot say enough for the archive staff. I was amazed by the amount of material that the archive has, even on fairly unknown and specialised topics. I am totally indebted to Michelle Sim who was fantastic in her assisting me with my research. It is so wonderful to go to an archive and be able to discuss the topic you're researching with someone who works there who ACTUALLY knows what you're talking about and cares. It's so refreshing. Michelle said she's a huge fan of RNZAF history and aviation, and it showed. She's really super at her job, she knew exactly what I wanted and needed and was happy to find it for me. Thanks Michelle.
I also finally got to meet Matthew O'Sullivan there, the photo archivist. No doubt many of you have dealt with him in the past. He too has a vast knowledge and interest. It was great to put a face to the name. Sadly he was flat out and I never got a chance to talk much, nor to delve into his photographic archives. But I guess that will come later in my book project.
A real thrill too was to meet and spend some time with the emminent researcher David Duxbury. I had met him ever so briefly nearly 20 years ago, but in the past few years David has been a wonder in helping me with my research via email. He's a walking talking encyclopedia of all things RNZAF (and it seems many other Air Forces). A thoroughly interesting guy to talk with and spend time with, it was difficult at times to tear myself away from our conversation so he and I could get on with our respective researching.
I will say here and now, if you are researching anything about the RNZAF and other NZ military aviation matters, the team at Wigram's archives are the best place to start. They're really fantastic. The files alone that I have gained from them will most definately boost my books' text in both accuracy and size in an immeasurable way.
I was able to look at the personal logbooks of many of the men whom for the past few years I have been writing about, real heroes to me. And a story I must tell you is I arrived on the Friday morning and Michelle said "I've found this old scrapbook, it's full of old newspaper cuttings. I've not see it before but it appears to be about your era, it may be helpful." So I took a look. Sure enough, there were a huge amount of interesting cuttings in there from the 1930's (it went through to the 1960's but most of it covered the 1930's) which were pertanent to my research, so I snapped away with the camera. Then I began to realise this beautifully kept scrapbook was more significant than I'd first though. There were some original documents in it with the scrapbook owner's name on - a Union Airways ticket made out to him, an invitation from the acting-Prime Minister to attend a party, and the clincher, the actual letter of notification from the Air Secretary Tom Barrow, informing him that he'd been appointed the Chief of Air Staff of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. That's right, this scrapbook had belonged to Sir Ralph Cochrane!! I was gobsmacked, he was the architect of the RNZAF, the man who pulled it up by the bootstraps from a tiny embarrassment to make it modern and practical entity in the 1930's. He is an Air Force GOD!! And now his methodical collecting of news items about the RNZAF from papers all across the country was, over seventy years later, helping my project to record the history of some of the squadrons that he himself created. I asked Michelle if she knew who's it was, she said no, an when I pointed out the evidence that it was Sir Ralph's own, she was as chuffed as me I think.
After enjoying a week and a half of beautiful Christchurch, and the hospitality of the Musuem, and Don and Sharee, and the forum meet that is detailed elsewhere, I boarded another Boeing 737 and flew to Wellington. My intention was to delve again into the National Archive for more info for the project.
If anyone has read this far without falling asleep and wants to read more about the Wellington leg, post a reply and I'll type it up soonish.
;D
