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Post by pjw4118 on Apr 3, 2024 12:43:21 GMT 12
Thanks to all the photographers who gave us a llok at the show we couldnt attend. Keep them coming
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Post by pjw4118 on Feb 15, 2024 10:27:16 GMT 12
Great to see, I have been there several times but never noticed the history underfoot, the Navy was still there on my first visit.
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Post by pjw4118 on Feb 15, 2024 10:25:28 GMT 12
Thanks for recording some of our military history, amazing what is left if you look.
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Post by pjw4118 on Nov 14, 2023 10:50:57 GMT 12
I found the answer in Bee Dawsons book Lacaula Bay it was 250 by 1959 plus 100 locally employed workers. The book is a good read.
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Post by pjw4118 on Nov 14, 2023 10:25:19 GMT 12
Yes I have a copy , a great read. I tried to track the subject down and from the description of recc flights n a Hudson , only A Breckon fits and he survived. Strange .
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Post by pjw4118 on Nov 4, 2023 12:24:55 GMT 12
I am writing a piece about " BunnY ' Burrows who served as a navigator on Stirlings , Lancasters and finished his war with 487 squadron on Mosquitos. Post war he stayed on with the rNZAF and as a S/L was psoetd to Lacaula Bay in the late 1950s as OC Admin , in his words a cushy numbr. So at that timme what was the muster of RNZAF and local staff ?
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Post by pjw4118 on Nov 4, 2023 12:20:25 GMT 12
Thanks for that info , with three aircraft the posting must have been rather relaxed .
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Post by pjw4118 on Oct 31, 2023 12:47:34 GMT 12
Many moons ago I had my first air experience flight with the ATC aboard a DC6 from Whenuapai. At the time the three aircraft looked very smart and still with airline seats. My question is what did the RNZAF actually use them for as they were not a Hastings style freighter nor a Bristol ?
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Post by pjw4118 on Sept 13, 2023 10:08:33 GMT 12
Theres also Bryan Currie who flew PR Mosquitos with 544 squadron.
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Post by pjw4118 on Sept 13, 2023 10:06:53 GMT 12
Thanks , an amazing resource and many hours of searching to come .
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Post by pjw4118 on Aug 30, 2023 13:28:07 GMT 12
Jack Shorthouse is another. He flew PR Spitfires after returning from France in 1940 until posted to Canada as an instructor
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Post by pjw4118 on Aug 18, 2023 10:15:20 GMT 12
The annual NZBCA memorial service will be held this Sunday ( 20th) at 10.30 in the Hall of Memories , Auckland War Memorial Museum . All welcome .
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Post by pjw4118 on Aug 16, 2023 14:43:38 GMT 12
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Post by pjw4118 on Aug 16, 2023 14:36:12 GMT 12
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Post by pjw4118 on Apr 16, 2023 16:24:58 GMT 12
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Post by pjw4118 on Jan 10, 2023 10:02:18 GMT 12
Its the aircraft flown by Noel Sutherland DFC wih 190 squadron and is one of a number of photos copied from his album in 2015. Noels DFC was awarded for after his third run over Arnhem ,only three of the squadrons 12 Stirlings made it back. I wrote a detailed article on Noel published in the Aero Historian Vol 60 #2. The serial of Easy is not recorded in Noels logbook.
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Post by pjw4118 on Jan 9, 2023 13:25:03 GMT 12
Ernest had trained as a pilot in Miami under the Arnold scheme until Pearl Harbour when he was re mustered as a BA in Canada with the promise to continue pilot training after his first tour. Shot down on his 21 st op with 7 squadro , the promise wasnt fulfilled. Ernest spent almost 2 years in Sagan.
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Post by pjw4118 on Nov 12, 2022 15:12:58 GMT 12
Theres also Bill Mackley DFC* ( NZ39926). He flew with 58 squadron ( Linton on Ouse ) on Whitleys from Sept 1940 till June 1941 flying Whitley N1469 GE-H. Bill was awarded a DFC at the end of his tour which had included solo raids to Berlin . Bill returned to NZ and was posted to 2 GR Squadron in Nelson. Later he was trained on flying boats and moved to 6 squadron on Guadacanal . In Jan 1944 he flew a Catalina ( NZ4013) to rescue a 10 man B24 crew who had ditched near Java . With 17 now aboard and in rough seas , Bill managed to take off and eventually land at Havalo Bay . Bill received a bar to his DFC for this rescue mission . Post war Bill joined NAC becoming a senior captain and the NZ representative in the Air Navigators Guild.
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Post by pjw4118 on Aug 2, 2022 13:50:41 GMT 12
Dave , Bill had a conversion course onto jets with the T 33 as part of his secondment to MATS. He had been involved at Air Ministry in looking at Hercules and the need for the Belfast and was sent to evaluate pure jets as military transports.
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Post by pjw4118 on Aug 2, 2022 12:14:39 GMT 12
Hi reinlisted with the RAF in 1948 as a Mosquito Pilot (along with another 20 or so ex WWII pilots) and here is the correct page from his logbook (Bill Simpson)
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