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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 18, 2013 22:37:32 GMT 12
Nice! We loved Bovington; one of the better military museums I reckon! I wanted to go to Kubinka as well, but our time in Europe ran out!!
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 18, 2013 22:32:53 GMT 12
... it's in here somewhere, chaps!! Found! Even when we KNEW where it was, it took quite some finding, making me believe that if NZ5517 is to be found, it'll be by accident! In a big cargo net Smoke for the helo... ... the cavalry arrive! .. and out it goes, leaving us to walk the 3 and a bit hours out! ... the guys who went in. Concorde at Chch airport. NASAs flying telescope - a C141A - was there too, and I got a look through that!
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 18, 2013 22:19:36 GMT 12
... on a Hercules, I happened to be there. You fellas have no doubt seen this a/c since this day but I haven't... Anyway, spot the looney.. ... C-130 disgorging the wreckage. ... tail number ... most of the interior that I saw was in this sort of shape. ... wing centre section??
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 18, 2013 22:13:21 GMT 12
Last few...
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 17, 2013 18:16:54 GMT 12
Pardon? That's a big call....
We lived in Gisborne for a while and called in here on the off chance that someone would be around. Someone was and my sister in law - a PPL holder with an avid interest in civil aviation in NZ - and I were shown around. They, like every other organisation like this in the country, are always short funded and short handed and are doing their very best to get this up and running in decent surroundings.
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 17, 2013 18:09:51 GMT 12
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 10, 2013 22:36:10 GMT 12
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 9, 2013 12:35:34 GMT 12
A long long time ago, I was lucky enough to go for a flight on the Canterbury Goose... ... this was what we were given at check in ... Goose on the beach in Akaroa ... take off. This was probably the fight I've ever been on, and that includes being an airborne washing machine when the pilot was doing serious aerobatics! The feeling of taking off from water in a small flying boat was really strange and unbelievably noisy as the aircraft got up onto the step... I've found pix from our Auster hunt in Little Malaya and from the Wigram the day the Dauntless arrived from the islands... anyone interested?
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 7, 2013 10:32:43 GMT 12
That first lot brings back memories of charging about Little Malaya looking for an Auster that had been parked in a tree in the 50s(?). Found what was left of it and, should I find the photos, I'll post them!
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 6, 2013 18:35:04 GMT 12
Hiya fellas... I'm scanning in old photies and came across these two.. ... both taken 88/89 at Wigram. What was the gold Skyhawk about, can anyone remember?? That Argosy was epic!!
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 5, 2013 12:11:55 GMT 12
Not presently in a band, or even playing solo gigs, but I was a semi-professional for about 30 years.... Mainly in Otago, but in Christchurch and in Australia for a while over the years...
Guitars mostly - six, 12, bass and lap steel - but keys on occasion and sang. The only vids I have were done in Stewart Island in about 1994 and are pretty awful quality, and the only stuff I ever recorded professionally in a studio is a CD of covers that was done as a taster for prospective clients! There was plenty of tapes made from the mixing desk, but none survive....
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 4, 2013 20:01:58 GMT 12
I think were only about 100 made, and the only survivor is this one. The production ones had Armstrong Siddeley Python turboprops, from memory...
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 4, 2013 15:35:18 GMT 12
OK.... here's mock up or two... Preferences, people?? To all those who posted pix of a/c in a banked turn, thank you, but I couldn't get them right for the project! Sorry... The Corsair will probably be airbushed by a local magician, but the headstock will be waterslide decals.
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 4, 2013 14:53:17 GMT 12
Terrifc pictures, yes, would like to see more! Great museum, hope you enjoyed it. The fourth pic down of the carrier scene reads, Attacker nose just visible, Sea Vampire, Buccaneer S.1, Buccaneer S.2, Wessex and Sea Hawk, though Ha; dead right; faulty memory!! I have to say, though, that the Wyvern really did it for me; such an enormous airplane with that contra-rotating prop and RR engine; i kept going back to it and just standing there looking at it!!
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 4, 2013 12:55:16 GMT 12
Hiya lads... Dave, if this is in the wrong place, I apologise... .... when we lived in the UK we tripped around a bit and made it to Yeovilton, which was very good indeed... Spit replica at Southhampton Airport. We were on the runway behind the Lancaster and the Hurricane and saw - and heard! - them both take off!! Dalek in the restoration hangar!! Wildcat behind the glass in the restoration hangar Flight deck simulation; Sea Vampire, Sea Vixen and Buccaneer visible. VERY effective flight deck landing on simulation! Noisy.. YES!! Buccaneer Phantom II Ahhhhh.... nice! This was flown into the station, and wheeled straight into the museum!! Sea Fury Sopwith Pup Cockpit of Concorde 02. We saw a few Concordes in the UK... this one, one at Manchester Airport and another one someplace else; can't remember where presently! We saw the bird that flew into Christchurch many years ago, as well!! What a beast!! Westland Wyvern; this one never flown and has the only Rolls Royce Eagle engine left, an H24, 3500HP piece of kit.. ... and here it is!! I have many more but most feature a child or wife, and you blokes don't want to see that, eh!!
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Post by corsair5517 on Jan 3, 2013 17:49:42 GMT 12
Hee hee hee.... Yes they do!! Oh, to be 21 again, eh!
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Post by corsair5517 on Dec 31, 2012 19:20:17 GMT 12
Ahhh... found this one that I made for the family 4 years ago when he went to WOW... .. he's sat on the wing, 2nd from the left...
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Post by corsair5517 on Dec 31, 2012 12:30:15 GMT 12
Obviously things have changed at the museum since I volunteered there in the late eighties; I wouldn't have crossed the road to pee on the museum management if they were on fire back then - loads of empire building going on to the detriment of the fine work being done on the hangar floor by as good a bunch of people as I have ever worked with! I well remember the Disney Corsair fiasco.... I remember a colleague presenting hard won information about the possible resting place of NZ5517 and being ignored.... I remember well the dig in Kaiapoi for Avro 626 wreckage where the AF was obstructive and the Army fell over backwards to help.... I'm glad that this malaise has stopped and that there is more progressive thinking happening; the Wigram complex holds a special place in my heart, too....
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Post by corsair5517 on Dec 30, 2012 23:46:04 GMT 12
Hey up, fellas... I suppose you've all got the Pilots manual for the F4U, and most probably have the US training film about the same? Anyway, all of our stuff has arrived from NZ and in it I found a DVD with the training film and the Pilots Notes. I'm prepared to burn one copy to send to someone in NZ who could then burn copies for those who are interested; Have today posted duplicates of the DVD to those who have asked for them. Thank you for doing that! I hope it's enjoyed.... John
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Post by corsair5517 on Dec 30, 2012 23:32:07 GMT 12
I think it's the pretty standard young NZ pilot story.... he joined up in 42 and was put into the Army as the Air Force was backed up with personnel. He was selected early on as a potential sniper as his 600 yard scores with open-sighted Lee Enfield were apparently very good indeed.... Anyway, the Air Force beckoned eventually and he went off to ab initio training in NZ - Taieri, I think, and then to Canada for advanced training where he finished top of his course and got his picture in the local rag! Back to NZ and into the pool and eventually to 15 Sqn. 21/2 tours at the sharp end and at he end of hostilities flew his Corsair from Santos back to Rukuhia and walked away. He didn't apply for his PPL nor did he put his hand up to stay in post-war which I think he regrets a little to this day! He is still alive and kicking and occasionally lets me into his world with reminisces; as a kid I knew very little of his war service and details from his time in the Islands still take my breath away.... the sheer youth of these kids, the conditions and the distances they flew over open ocean.... In San Francisco on the way back, knowing where he would be serving, he bought a little .38 pistol as a last ditch weapon and the sense of purpose in so young a man staggers me.. Incidentally, he had that and his service weapon in a cupboard for many years and only sold them to Elios in Dunedin not too long ago!! When up in the Australian lines, he mentioned to the diggers that he'd quite like a carbine to take home. The Aussies told him that they thought there was a couple about 25 yards out in front from a stoush the previous night... Dad thought "Whacko!" And was about to sally forth with pistol in hand when the digger rather laconically remarked that he wasn't sure the Japs had decamped too far.... Dad's still waiting for his Arisaka...
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