|
Post by yogi on Jan 19, 2010 18:19:15 GMT 12
great stuff, hey any of you guys find anything interesting on the dig?
|
|
|
Post by Marcus on Jan 19, 2010 19:08:41 GMT 12
I could name most of those - I just dont want to offend those whose names I have forgotten! (Dave would probably know though - hes better at remembering names than I am....) Marcus, I would love to see any video you have of CKE taxiing - I'd like to see / hear what it is like from outside! ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) Can name most of the chaps as well but also not sure of the spelling of the names... sorry gents.. Dave HELP please!!!!! I got nice footage of CKE taxing, she does sound good... I am just about finished editing the clip and should have it on YouTube by tomorrow afternoon.. Would you want a copy of the clip on DVD, will make and burn one for you? Go well everybody Marcus
|
|
|
Post by Bruce on Jan 19, 2010 19:28:12 GMT 12
Thanks Marcus, I'd love a copy to keep with the aircraft history. For those who weren't there, CKE has been sitting immobile for the last 12 months with engine electronics issues (Its powered by an EJ20 Subaru) and only taxiied for the very first time the day before, after some serious bug fixing in the weeks prior. I had told Dave not to expect it as it wasnt mobile and I didnt want people viewing it as a "derelict" aircraft, So it was quite a pleasant surprise and a great relief to me to be able to taxi it around and park it outside the club. It still has a few bugs to deal with (expected for a one - off machine) and it really a needs cleaning, but nice to have it there. BTW I'm the one leaning on the wing struts in the last pic! ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 20, 2010 11:17:03 GMT 12
Sorry for the late chip in here but I've been away filming fighter pilots in Auckland. ![](http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n128/marcduv/IMG_9905.jpg) Names to faces: Left to right: Mike Leet (willys43) Tony Stevenson (Tony18 - sorry I got your name wrong earlier in the thread Tony) Peter Lewis (flyernzl) David Atchinson (northcro) Steve Shirley (steve) Bernard Johnson (BernieJ, our guest speaker Canberra man) Craig Brankin (corsair67) Me (the short fat one who forgot to hold his guts in) Errol Cavit (ErrolC - behind me) Zac Yates (Zac Yates) Bruce Cooke (Bruce) Evan Yates (Hardyakka) Marcus Duvall (Marcus) Thanks to Mrs Shirley for taking the photo, and when we got to the Stables pub we were also joined by Les Bilcliff (camtech), David Love (speaker from Classic Flyers), Ray Tocker (Sunderland speaker from Cambridge) and Steve Rowe, my mate. I'd like to thank everyone for making it along and making the day a very enjoyable and fun event. It was great to meet a few new faces/old friends from the forum such as Steve Shirley and Les. The videos brought by Craig (on the flying boats in Australia) and by Peter (on the PL11) were fascinating and very entertaining and interesting. Thanks guys. I hope the wee taster of Barrie Reid's film footage that I showed also whetted appetites for many members to order the awesome DVD - it certainly sounded like Paul Jackson will be soon getting some orders. Rememebr the details of that film are here: rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Books&thread=8057&page=1A huge thank you too to all of our guest speakers, really great presentations with four varying and interesting topics. Thanks to Tony for the tour of the aircraft dump. I wasn't sure how that would go, but it seemed very warmly received all round. If someone had said to me over a year ago I'd be arranging a special meeting of grown men at an old rubbish dump and they'd enjoy fossicing around in the muck, I'd have told them they were crazy!! And a hearty congratulations to Bruce Cooke on the major milestone of being able to show us a living, breathing Avian. What a sweet purr it has, nothing like I imagined from its boy racer engine. Now that it's taxying I wish you well with the next big step. It was a real thrill and delight for me to find it sitting on the tarmac when I arrived and to see the smile and pride on your face, as I definately thought we were not going to see it turn up. We will certainly have to have another Waikato Forum Meet in the future and I don't think we'll leave it as long as two years till the next one this time. And perhaps January isn't the best time for everyone either so if you want to make suggestions of a good time of year and any new speakers, events, topics and whatever let me know. I know that Les has some interesting Andover tales to tell, so that will have to be part of the next one I reckon. Cheers everyone, I'm glad you all had fun and I hope maybe a few more memebrs can come along next time (despite the great turn out this time round). Maybe chewy is right that a symposium style two day event would be good. What do you reckon? Perhaps we could work some book launch or something into it.
|
|
|
Post by Marcus on Jan 20, 2010 18:12:39 GMT 12
Hi all Here is the vid I made of the day. Bruce, I will burn it to DVD for you. If you pm me I will drop it off at the uni for you. www.youtube.com/user/marcduv#p/a/u/0/xe7LeF7EduUWhen looking at it on YouTube the clip seems all jittery? On my PC it runs 100%, so assume the problem must be Youtube's? Regards Marcus
|
|
|
Post by Bruce on Jan 20, 2010 19:09:11 GMT 12
awesome! ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) (from an entirely unbiased viewpoint of course) PM sent
|
|
|
Post by lumpy on Jan 20, 2010 20:21:01 GMT 12
Sure looks like an awesome day had by all . I assume those rusty looking things recovered from the dump near the end of the video were sodium filled valves ?? ( going by the the comments about not hitting them too hard )
|
|
|
Post by Bruce on Jan 20, 2010 20:30:20 GMT 12
yeah allison and R2800 exhaust valves. Not sure if they were sodium filled or not! The really desirable ones are R2800 Inlet valves - nice and big, and with a concave face so they sit flat - they make great paperweights!
|
|
|
Post by lumpy on Jan 20, 2010 20:56:06 GMT 12
No idea about R2800 , but my understanding is that Allison exaust valves were indeed sodium filled , and required a level of caution .
|
|
|
Post by Andy Wright on Jan 21, 2010 0:30:31 GMT 12
Thanks for the names guys. It's great to put some faces to names although I'm regretting it with Corsair67 now...
Some people have all the fun. Highlight of my day was my copy of Ketchil arriving in the mail - mmm, Buffaloes and Hurris in Burma. Also found an affordable copy of Blenheims Over The Balkans so good day as it turns out but I digress...
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 21, 2010 14:08:02 GMT 12
The filming was actually really great fun Andy - Bill Miles (Med Seafire pilot), Jim Sheddan (Typhoon ace), Bob Glading (FAA Corsair pilot), Harvey Sweetman (Spitfire, Typhoon and Tempest ace) and Ken Lee (Spitfire pilot and instructor). A most enjoyable two days. Considering they came straight after the forum meet I have had a great few days of aviation stuff.
|
|
|
Post by baz62 on Jan 21, 2010 14:21:59 GMT 12
Youtube clip looked fine. Your Avian looks and sounds great Bruce, hope to see it in the flesh one day!
|
|
|
Post by hardyakka on Jan 21, 2010 20:41:49 GMT 12
Hey, Dave... Speaking of fighter pilots, in your research have you come across any kiwi airmen who flew the mighty Jug (P-47 Thunderbolt) during WWII? I understand they were mostly used in the European theatre and searching the web doesn't seem to reveal many hits.
|
|
|
Post by turboNZ on Jan 22, 2010 11:34:45 GMT 12
I had fun at last year's one, but couldn't make this one. Looks like you guys had a ball. I would have loved to have participated in the "rubbish dump scavenging" !!! Next years's one hopefully ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
|
|
|
Post by Peter Lewis on Jan 24, 2010 18:49:49 GMT 12
Those of you who were at the afternoon discussion sessions will know that we had a presentation of David Lowe on the upcoming Classic Flyers/SAA airshow at Tauranga.
At that time I queried David about the facilities that will be provided for those of us who could fly into the event by private aircraft rather than arriving by car. David asked me to send him an email voicing my concerns. I have now done this, and I am publicly posting this email here as well so that other interested members and hopefully organizers of other upcoming events can ponder on these points:
"Hello David, Thank you for attending the aviation meeting at Cambridge last weekend. We certainly appreciated your talk on the developments at Tauranga airfield and the details on what we can expect to see at the airshow on the 6th/7th February.
I did engage in some discussion with you over the facilities provided for those of us who may choose to travel to the event by private aircraft. This is particular bugbear of mine, having suffered from a number of bad experiences over the years.
My particular beef is the difference in treatment of those members of the public who arrive by car as against those who arrive by aircraft. The ground-bound travelers are able to park their car in a reasonably convenient parking area, and are then able to walk around the various exhibits. They are able to return to their vehicle at any time during the day to pick up or drop off raincoats, umbrellas, sunscreen, deckchairs, lunch, grandma or the kids. Should they even feel the urge, they can depart from the event at any time.
Contrast this with the treatment meted out to the poor airborne arrival. After landing, he is generally marshalled off to some far-distant corner of the airfield. Maybe he will have to trudge miles to the public enclosure, or perhaps the organizers have provided some shuttlebus service. Either way he will need to lug all his possessions and equipment that he could possibly need for the day with him, because invariably the visiting aircraft park is located directly underneath the display area and is therefore inaccessible for the rest of the day. Should it rain or be blazing hot, he will not be able to return to his aircraft to collect or drop off clothing at any time after he leaves it. I have walked the full length of several runaways alongside my wife, both burdened with chairs, cameras, polarfleeces, picnic rugs and golf umbrellas well aware that half of this load will not be needed but having no knowledge of which half. No man should have to suffer the resultant marital discord.
Whenever I have complained about this third-class treatment to officials at various events, I always have been met with total blank surprise. No-one seems to have ever given this any thought at all. I accept that the organizers of any event have the right to treat their customers as well or as poorly as they choose. If the organizing committee sit down and say “Right, let’s treat those who arrive at our event by private aircraft really really badly” then we can accept that decision and attend or stay away on that basis. However, and this does seem to be the case with your event, no thought or conscious decision ever seems to have been made in this regard.
I realize that it would be impossible to allow private aircraft to actually depart during the airshow, but surely arranging an area close to the public facilities where people can return to their aircraft at any time during the day should not be beyond impossible at this sort of event. Maybe this will even arrest the decline in the number of aircraft attending such events, and I would expect that a larger group of visiting aircraft would even add to the atmosphere of the show.
No doubt it is too late to make any variations to the arrangements for the current show, but I would ask that you and your committee consider these points when arranging future events.
As I would like other airshow organizers to ponder these points, I will also post this email at the Cambridge Forum. In your reply, please indicate if you wish me to post that publicly as well.
Finally, thank you again for your attendance last weekend, and I wish you well with your endeavors.
Regards, Peter Lewis
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 25, 2010 11:27:06 GMT 12
Hey, Dave... Speaking of fighter pilots, in your research have you come across any kiwi airmen who flew the mighty Jug (P-47 Thunderbolt) during WWII? I understand they were mostly used in the European theatre and searching the web doesn't seem to reveal many hits. Hi Evan, thus far I have never met any New Zealanders who flew or even worked on the P-47 Thunderbolt/Razorback. However I highly suspect that if any did, and it's probable, they would have been in a squadron in The Forgotten Air Force, in the India/Burma region.
|
|
|
Post by angelsonefive on Jan 25, 2010 15:23:26 GMT 12
I read somewhere that Tony Vanderpump made a familiarisation visit to the SEAC area during which he flew some ops in RAF Thunderbolts. Here is link which refers to S/L Vanderpump's visit to SEAC and also refers to other NZ pilots flying P-47's. www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-3RAF-c16.html#n355
|
|
|
Post by Peter Lewis on Jan 28, 2010 8:16:22 GMT 12
Following up on my post above, I have now received a response from David Love:
Peter,
Many thanks for your email. As I explained at the Forum, I was in hospital when most of the fundamental issues about land allocation were discussed in the middle of last year and thus could not give you an immediate definitive answer . Despite all the other work now reaching a crescendo, I have taken the time to research and review the particular problem you raised about visiting aircraft parking in an accessible position. Unfortunately the geography of the airfield militates against providing parking for you during the active airshow but not at other times. I feel you deserve to understand the reasoning behind this and am quite happy that you post my reply in entirety on your Forum’s website.
We have organised a “shuttle” truck (an antique fire engine, with passenger seating etc.) operating back and forth the whole time Saturday & Sunday, “on demand”, (apart from the 7 hours of display time on Sunday 7th). It will be almost a door to door setup – so there is very little walking for those involved. We hoped visiting pilots would see this as ‘extra care’ for them. Many (probably over half) of the public travelling in cars – will be walking a further distance than visiting pilots will have to, under our current plan. We thus don’t feel that aircraft owners are being “singled out” in this area. It’s a big site – and not everyone can be smack in the centre of it and aircraft, by their very operational nature, need more & secure space to park that invariably takes them further away from the public airshow area. We do however acknowledge car owners have access during the airshow itself. Most importantly, there are no areas closer, and as convenient to the airshow crowd line that could be used for visiting aircraft parking without significant inconvenience to other much larger groups of people, or compromising the airshow itself. The whole subject was thought about at length at the initial planning stage which resulted in the current plan which we believe is the optimal solution. I am sorry that I have been unable to give you the answer that you would like. We would like to believe we are making every one welcome, especially including visiting pilots. As always, airfield planners did not take the possibility of future large airshows into account in the original planning and we therefore have to make the best use of space for an event that only happens here every two years.
We do hope that the scope of the airshow we are putting on will recompense you for the inconvenience you feel and look forward to welcoming you to the event.
David Love
Chairman, ClassicFlyersNZ
For the Airshow Organising Committee
|
|
|
Post by Bruce on Jan 28, 2010 10:45:54 GMT 12
Peter (and any others) if you need a spot to dump surplus airshow paraphenalia, come and see me or my colleagues at the SAA display hangar. We can probably find a spot behind the scenes to store stuff - but it would be on an "own risk" basis.
|
|
|
Post by hardyakka on Jan 28, 2010 23:09:01 GMT 12
Thanks for the link angelsonefive. It looks like Squadron Leader J.M.Cranstone (originally from Wanganui) went on to lead one of the first RAF units to be equipped with American Thunderbolt fighters
Exactly the type of info I was looking for...
|
|