Exercise Triad 84

[crewchief580015]

Diplomacy required the attachment of the appropriate symbols upon arrival at Christchurch...

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[crewchief580015]

"Dash six" preflight complete, flight crew doing "dash one" preflight prior to the morning mission.

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[crewchief580015]

One of the other photos handed to me before we left.

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[corsair67]

Crew Chief, there are a few TRIAD 84 photos on the following site, but they mostly seem to be from Ohakea or Whenuapai (obviously the photographers thought fighter jets are more exciting than tankers or AWACs!):

www.defenseimagery.mil/index.html

(I used the search topics 'New Zealand' and 'TRIAD 84')

[crewchief580015]

Speaking of fishing trawlers, it seemed that the American and Sacramento river delta in northern California was always crawling with them...amazing how many antennae are necessary for catching fish. Since we had Mather AFB, McLellan AFB, Travis AFB, Castle AFB, Beale AFB, and the Sacramento Army Depot all within a 200 mile radius, I guess we were a hotbed of cold war "fishing" action.
It sure is great to see all these photos from the "good old days". (by the way, how is it that some people are able to put multiple pictures in one post?) My photo equipment was "bare bones", to say the least, as you can tell from this picture of F-111's operating out of the Christchurch Airport.
Back "in the day", this exercise was similar to the things we did day in and day out in SAC. Practicing bomber and fighter engagements to the nth degree was considered "deterrence", since we knew that the Soviets were watching everything, and we wanted them to get a good idea of what they were up against. I assume that RNZAF and RAAF were operated in a similar mode...funny example of knowing they were watching: my brother, an avionics "troop" on B-52s etc., was stationed at Edwards AFB Flight Test Center during the development of certain classified aircraft launched missile systems. They had the schedules of the Soviet surveillance satellites, and when one was approaching, they would cover up the sensitive equipment and, at the appropriate moment on the flightline, drop their pants and "moon" the sky. I hope some poor Soviet satellite technician got a good laugh at that picture!

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[corsair67]

Crew Chief, there's a link to a tutorial on how to use photobucket at:

rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=467&page=1

[shorty]

I was at Wigram in 1984 running the CT4 flight line and remember the USAF guys wandering around and coming into the hangar for a look around, so I might jhave met you crewchief. I have some Triad photos but I am in the middle of moving to Dunedin and the photos are in transit "somewhere".

[flyjoe180]

Excellent photos and thread.

[E.T.]

I was at Ohakea when the F16's arrived. Wife and I watched them taxi in then had a game of squash before hitting the Corporals Club for a few beers before heading back to Bulls for tea. Then the F16 groundies arrived and around 2am we decided it must be tea time... :-)
That set the scene for a very enjoyable exercise!

Crewchief - I remember your countrymen being endlessly amused by some of the "cultural" and "language" differences (who'd have thought "English" was so different!) - they couldn't understand anyone wanting to "drink some piss" but they became better educated fairly fast and we even had them keen to take home some home brew that we brewed up specially for them.

btw, in case anyone was wondering, the large "WP" on the F16 tails was for "Wolf Pack" - they called themselves the wolf pack squadron, and the black blob on the fuselage aft of the canopy was a wolf head if I recall correctly.

I remember the Ohakea tarmac straining to hold all the aircraft and the 3 starlifters and KC135's that dropped in and out during the exercise. I believe it was also the time we had one of the "Air Force One" jets visit. We strolled out to the plane and up the steps to have a look only to be met with a drawn pistol and a recommendation to leave!

I also remember the various pilot stories of Blunty and A4 "kills" on the technologically more advanced jets but in the pre-Kahu days with no HUD camera video to prove it, many of the claims were not believed!

Fun times.

[zolteg]

I recall when I arrived as a UT at Whenuapai Commcen in '86, pride of place still on the commcen noticeboard was a Triad '84 tasking order for a strike on the building I was standing in.....

Considering they'd sent it from there as well, at least everyone knew when to run outside to watch the action....

[Dave Homewood]

;D ;D

[snaphead]

G'day all,

I realise that this thread is "slowing down", but sorting through some old photos I came across these I was privalledged to be able to take. I was at the time of Triad 84, attached to the Resident Engineers Office at Christchurch International Airport and through the assistance of my Officer -in-Charge (Flt LT Selwyn Rabbits) I was offer a seat in KC-135 refuelling a Boeing E-3A over the Hawke Bay Area. This was to be a 5 hour sortie with boxed lunches provided by the Wigram Mess.



I did not record the tail number of my ride. There was a crew of 4, pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and boom operator. After climbing on-board we were give a flight briefing and were told that because the aircraft was fully laden that we would experience a 90 second take off, longer than that, well we would't need the crematorium just down the road. I was quite surprised as to how basic the interior of the aircraft was. There were only about 6 rows of seats (there were about 6 or 7 of us on this flight) The rest of the cabin was bare except for the APU which had been modified into a cooker (Steaks, fries etc). We climbed up to 10000 metres, climbing out over Wellington to our operational area to set up a racetrack over Napier. After an hour of this the E-3A approached us.



An interesting fact is that as the receiving aircraft approaches the tanker has to put in nose up trim due to the bow-wave created by the receiver aircraft. Was told the C-5 has the most powerful bow-wave.




You can see the receiving hatch is open and the alignment marks for the boom operator to guide the probe into the receptacle. The boo operator "flies "the boom into the receptacle.



Sorry about the black in the photo, I had to move for the boom operator and my simple camera could not handle the contrast.
same with the next one.



After the sortie we descended and got a good view of the seaward Kiakoras (spelling).



A lowish pass over Wigram Note the F-27 mid view.




A half frame of a RAAf F-111, ran out of film.




Four F-111's in flypast on final day.



Formation flypast including A-4, F-15 Mirage, F-16,



Well, I hope this has come together as planned.

[ErrolC]

Great, thanks!

Sent via Proboards Android App

[Dave Homewood]

Fantastic photos! Thanks for posting these.

[camtech]

During Triad I was the 2TTS School Coordinator/Disciplinarian and had the delightful job of doing a few shifts at Harewood on security detail. Will have to hunt up some photos I took and scan them.

I remember damaging my back one night while standing in the door of a caravan and having to go back to Wigram by ambulance!! Spent a few days in hospital as a result.

[obiwan27]

Great photos - loved the low level flyby of Wigram in particular. A great addition to this thread. Cheers!!

[mlewin]

[mlewin]

3rd or 4th attempt

[raymond]

Great photos but the F15's look like F18's (RAAF?)

[mumbles]

Dec 25, 2014 22:16:58 GMT 12 raymond said:

Great photos but the F15's look like F18's (RAAF?)

Yup, RAAF F/A-18's, and definitely interlopers into the rest of the TRIAD shots as they didn't start getting to the RAAF until 1985. Looks like Ohakea though. In one of the shots you can see the Gold T-bird in the background which dates the shots to the 50th Anniversary shows in March/April '87.