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Post by chinapilot on Jul 31, 2010 0:34:08 GMT 12
Thanks...Looking at Google Earth it might be 'Main Drain' before the tree growth...it was definitely a straight stretch of a 'canal'...
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Post by chinapilot on Jul 30, 2010 21:41:59 GMT 12
Sorry - Lousy photo.. Those were the days when you did a few circuits and off you went by yourself...the instructor took it for me. It was the blind leading the blind but great fun Somewhere around Christchurch [can't for the life of me remember where] 1970 Wonder if the small boy on the right decided then that aviation was the way to go??
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Post by chinapilot on Jul 23, 2010 20:01:37 GMT 12
Dave- Indeed an amazing photo. Thanks for posting it.
The Walsh's are all but forgotten now but their legacy is the thousands of later generation Kiwis who followed them into the air.
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Post by chinapilot on Jul 22, 2010 22:35:03 GMT 12
Just a few minutes from my strip in Somerset is Downside School... Alan McCracken was killed, unfortunately along with 9 schoolboys as well as 14 badly injured, when his Sea Hurricane hit some trees and plowed into the crowd watching a cricket match near the red stand on May 15th 1943... Even though the war was in full swing there was an enquiry which censured the leader of this formation of two and can be Googled. I believe a memorial to all killed that day was recently unveiled.
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Post by chinapilot on Jul 22, 2010 22:14:09 GMT 12
Occasionally over here you see something that's relevant to Kiwis... Harrowbeer to the Baie des Anges is about 120nm so suspect they were going to Brest which is only a few miles further...
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Post by chinapilot on Jul 19, 2010 0:03:20 GMT 12
I can even remember the 'Banana Lady' ad
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 21, 2010 0:26:27 GMT 12
Interesting thread - the role of the B-17s in the early stages of the Pacific war is often overlooked. Obviously the censor had been at work on the first photo or a new CO didn't 'approve of that kind of thing' One of the better ones I've seen [albeit clad in a sarong unfortunately ]was a 528thBS B-24 'Carrot Top'...my late father in law flew it on a couple of missions when he was converting to them before going back to fly the RAAF's new ones.
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 21, 2010 0:11:43 GMT 12
Think it's on the Wellington AC thread
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 17, 2010 20:23:02 GMT 12
Dave, a few years ago I was doing some research into the USAAF in China in WWII. I was able to visit and correspond with many of the veterans.
Sometimes, the pilot and co-pilot would have completely different recollections of the same mission and some claimed to be on a particular mission when the records clearly indicated they were not...
Think Bryan is still around, he's a great guy and would probably love a phone call to talk about it.
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 17, 2010 20:12:32 GMT 12
The boy on the right in the photo I posted appears to be my Uncle [comparing with family photos etc] in Rongotai College uniform who evidently was always at the field, later on he got a Box Brownie and photographed many aircraft at Rongotai in the '30s... Looks like two different accidents...prop is smashed on flyernzl's photo. Interesting that most of the boys are barefooted...
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 17, 2010 0:24:10 GMT 12
Thanks for that ...looks like two seperate accidents?
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 15, 2010 1:13:50 GMT 12
interesting reading all the comments...
When the 1st Marine Battalion sailed for Tawara [ex Guadalcanal]they had been in Wellington about 18 months [excellent book written about it but have forgotten it's title].
Losses were so high that casualty notices were put in the Evening Post as they left behind a plethora of wives, girlfriends, children and just friends. My mother lost a 'friend' there.
Later on, after working in PNG and the Solomons & visiting a lot of the battlefields I was impressed with the series as the jungle fighting must have been like that...
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 15, 2010 0:41:44 GMT 12
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 15, 2010 0:30:37 GMT 12
Idly going through the net one night came across this image taken at Rongotai..can anyone put a date on it?
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 14, 2010 23:37:07 GMT 12
It's a mantra even in a non-amphib floatplane to say to yourself 'this is a water landing with wheels up"..sounds poncy but might have saved a few write offs...
Anyone got a scan of BLL on the beach at Nelson that I mentioned earlier?
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 10, 2010 22:35:01 GMT 12
Great thread! Payload on those early amphib/float 180s wasn't too brilliant...but this '53 model goes great on floats and is one of the few avialable for solo hire in the States..[in Florida a few months ago] Would be great to see a scan of the photo of BLL I mentioned earlier...
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 10, 2010 4:23:15 GMT 12
One of Bryan Cox's books has the list. Why not call him?
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 9, 2010 22:54:00 GMT 12
I was just thinking that the Victa/C180/Agricola etc threads are terrific but what about the guys/girls that flew them...
WAC is a great example..in the '60s through it's doors strode personalities like 'Gibby' Gibson, Tony Glowacki, Arthur Bradshaw in his Proctor not to mention the eclectic mixture of instructors that must have been unique in NZ at that time, Joe Sue, Noel Winiata, Robbie Hensen with Bill Coulter and Bruce James as CFIs at different times.
Keith Trillo and Brian Souter were regulars and became mentors to many before the term became known...this was a boom time for the club with many people getting their PPLs in those days.
Most of the part time instructors went on to fly with NAC and used to fly the 'Sports Post' run...this was to Blenheim and Nelson...the papers arrived late on the Saturday night and as a reward for loading them there was a ride the next day in what was then some sophisticated equipment - an Aztec and C205s.
The engineering was looked after by Ivan East along with Seth Bird, Doug Guthrie and Frank Johnston...Franks stories of flying in Papua New Guinea ignited the desire for me to go there which was in the early '70s.
Warren Harding was the Club captain for most of the '60s - a great guy who organised socials and got the bar up and going.
I was lucky enough as a teenager to fuel and clean the aircraft in return for flying. A friendly place typical of aero clubs at that time with others ready and willing with advice and encouragement.
My son just went through the process of the CPL/IR in the UK and I was surprised that there are no 'old boys' hanging around with sage advice anymore - just brisk business attitudes with no camaraderie...
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Post by chinapilot on Jun 4, 2010 9:27:59 GMT 12
Good one tomarse! Those old Kodachromes are beautiful...[everyone who sees it thinks it's my son :-)]
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Post by chinapilot on May 18, 2010 5:15:13 GMT 12
Over in the UK and have just been to 'Dickie' Bird's funeral who was the designer. His son-in-law is a good friend but broke with tradition and owns a Super Cub :-) Three Austers from Eggesford flew over the crematorium in formation and mention was made in the eulogy of the Agricola's attempt to break into the NZ market.
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