|
MOTAT
Apr 28, 2022 20:45:44 GMT 12
Post by Antonio on Apr 28, 2022 20:45:44 GMT 12
Sunderland Update Once this area’s finished, that will leave only the bow compartment to be redecorated. There’s quite a bit of loose equipment to be put back in the bow once it’s done too, including the bow ladder, anchor, navigation mast and bomb sight. The wooden storage box for the sight is in a sorry state, warped and rotted. I might need to watch a few more episodes of Will Kirk in action on the Repair Shop before I tackle that one. There will be other marine equipment about like ropes, chains, drogues, etc. that we can put back as well. I’m also on the look out for second boat hook as our only one is taken by the Solent. Has any consideration been given to opening up the .5" machine gun ports in the bow?
|
|
|
Post by davidd on Apr 29, 2022 9:52:06 GMT 12
Antonio, no Sunderlands ever had 0.5 inch machine guns in bow position, these would have been four 0.303" Brownings in RAF, but so far as I know the RNZAF Sunderlands were never so fitted (although they certainly had provision for them, and I think sufficient guns and fittings were supplied in the first instance); they just had the front and rear turrets armed, plus the 0.5" beam guns. Later the turret guns were also deleted (about 1961 or thereabouts); the international trend at this time was that anti-submarine aircraft were unlikely to encounter enemy aircraft in an emergency situation, so only anti-submarine armament were required. Think of the Sunderlands' contemporaries - Shackletons, Neptunes, Argus, Nimrods, Orions, Atlantic. Not so certain about the Soviets! Of course most new "Western" anti-sub/patrol aircraft since 1959 have never been fitted with defensive weapons in the first place, but the Neptunes and Shackletons were at least partially stripped of their guns in the intervening years.
|
|
|
MOTAT
Apr 29, 2022 12:07:43 GMT 12
Post by Antonio on Apr 29, 2022 12:07:43 GMT 12
Thanks David
|
|
|
Post by emron on Apr 29, 2022 12:40:52 GMT 12
NZ4115 had a more thorough makeover of the bow gun area than some of the others did before they were retired. During that refit all of the interior fittings, the shelves holding the gun mounts and ammo feed rollers, the spent ammunition containers, the gun port liners and the ammunition boxes were all removed and new frames were fitted in their place. On the outside a whole section of skin was replaced. Any disturbance to the present structure is not permitted so we can’t reinstate many of those features. We do have some spare parts that are common to the turrets, set aside and I have mocked up part of the layout and made basic drawings. So a free standing replica of one side of the gun bay wouldn’t be difficult if the Museum considered it worthwhile to produce. I've also spent some time on prototype copies of the gun mount adapters for the waist gun positions. The British version was far more rugged and complicated compared to it's American counterpart, parts of which is all I have to work with.
|
|
|
Post by nuuumannn on Apr 29, 2022 17:28:56 GMT 12
Antonio, no Sunderlands ever had 0.5 inch machine guns in bow position, these would have been four 0.303" Brownings in RAF, but so far as I know the RNZAF Sunderlands were never so fitted (although they had provision for them), they just had the front and rear turrets armed, plus the 0.5" beam guns. Later the turret guns were also deleted (about 1961 or thereabouts); the international trend at this time was that anti-submarine aircraft were unlikely to encounter enemy aircraft in an emergency situation, so only anti-submarine armament were required. Think of the Sunderlands' contemporaries - Shackletons, Neptunes, Argus, Nimrods, Orions, Atlantic. Not so certain about the Soviets! The nose guns of the RAF Museum's ex-Aeronavale Sundy Mk.V. DSC_0830
|
|
|
Post by Peter Lewis on May 12, 2022 19:53:35 GMT 12
One of the recent acquisitions at MoTAT is the Micro Aviation B20 Bantam ZK-FMF c/n 0030 Whereas the B10s were hand-built to order the single seat Bantam B20 was produced on an assembly line basis by Micro Aviation at Te Kowhai. ZK-FMF was registered to J Smith and MR Clear of Te Kowhai 27Nov1985 Passed to B Rudge, D Wadley and M Smith of Hamilton 19Aug1986 Then to C S Lundy of Hamilton 27Sep1999 Finally to Frank Price of Papakura 3Sep2011 Registration cancelled as 'Withdrawn' 29Jun2021 after the engine was damaged. The museum has also bought one of the Martin Jetpacks - anyone know the ID of that?
|
|
|
Post by emron on Jun 4, 2022 12:48:38 GMT 12
In case you are curious about what this cobbled together contraption represents, then come along during a break in the flying program at the Warbirds On Parade Show at Ardmore tomorrow and visit the MOTAT stand in the Warbird’s hangar for more clues to clear up the conundrum. curio by Ron Wilson, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by nuuumannn on Jun 4, 2022 15:57:41 GMT 12
|
|
|
Post by emron on Jun 7, 2022 12:38:40 GMT 12
In case you are curious about what this cobbled together contraption represents, then come along during a break in the flying program at the Warbirds On Parade Show at Ardmore tomorrow and visit the MOTAT stand in the Warbird’s hangar for more clues to clear up the conundrum. curio by Ron Wilson, on Flickr For those who missed the show, here’s the replica hydraulic elevation actuator installed in the Sunderland rear turret. rear_turret_a by Ron Wilson, on Flickr rear_turret_b by Ron Wilson, on Flickr rear_turret_c by Ron Wilson, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by Richard Wesley on Jun 10, 2022 21:51:52 GMT 12
Stunning result there Ron! Simply amazing. I never would have believed that the Sunderland would be ending up with two such wonderful turrets installed.
Really interesting to see how the ammo boxes fit in there. Clearly quite different to the long rear current ammo runs of the Lancaster.
|
|
|
Post by emron on Jun 13, 2022 12:21:40 GMT 12
Richard, some think it’s a shame to put this finished article up in the Sunderland tail, out of reach and facing towards the back wall of the display hall. You probably remember that this rear turret is a combination of spare parts that the Museum had, it’s only unmodified base unit and the cupola from another modified turret. So none of this came off NZ4115. The only other one remaining from the RNZAF fleet potentially more intact is the one I understand is held by the Air Force Museum and came from NZ4111 in the Chathams, although I haven’t seen a recent photo of it’s condition to compare. As for the MOTAT Sunderland, it’s original rear turret was removed recently. It’s in storage along with the base unit of the spare one, which I think we rescued from the wreck of NZ4114 at Whangarei. So restoration and return of this turret to it’s previous position is another option. Talking about tail turrets, here are a couple of photos I took of the Lancaster’s FN82 turret when we were refurbishing it back in October 1991. fn82_motat_1991a by Ron Wilson, on Flickr fn82_motat_1991b by Ron Wilson, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by emron on Jun 20, 2022 11:41:18 GMT 12
Sunderland Update
Now that Mike and Richard have almost finished cleaning and painting the entire rear compartment we have begun to gather all of the loose equipment that was removed from the area. We’re working through the various flare chutes and supports, camera mounts, flooring, external doors and hatches, making repairs and repainting where necessary with a matching colour. As well there’s emergency equipment to re-install, fire extinguishers and brackets, crash axes, parachute holders and safety harnesses. Once these are all back in place we’ll need to reinstate the interior signs and stencils throughout.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 20, 2022 12:05:19 GMT 12
Is anything happening at the moment with the B-34 Ventura? Or is its tidy-up restoration on hold?
|
|
|
MOTAT
Jun 20, 2022 15:08:44 GMT 12
Post by vs on Jun 20, 2022 15:08:44 GMT 12
Is anything happening at the moment with the B-34 Ventura? Or is its tidy-up restoration on hold? With MOTAT already having a Hudson, Loadstar and Electra. Do they need another Lockheed twin? Be nice to see it at the Air Force Museum.
|
|
|
Post by planewriting on Jun 20, 2022 15:38:22 GMT 12
|
|
|
Post by planewriting on Jun 20, 2022 15:42:21 GMT 12
Is anything happening at the moment with the B-34 Ventura? Or is its tidy-up restoration on hold? With MOTAT already having a Hudson, Loadstar and Electra. Do they need another Lockheed twin? Be nice to see it at the Air Force Museum. Motat actually have two Lockheed 10A Electras, both presented as ZK-AFD. The real one is not on display and has sections cut away however the other ZK-AFD is actually ZK-BUT masquerading as ZK-AFD.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 20, 2022 16:34:30 GMT 12
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 20, 2022 17:02:42 GMT 12
That Country Calendar episode was a good watch! Thanks for the heads up Peter.
|
|
|
MOTAT
Jun 21, 2022 8:48:07 GMT 12
Post by ZacYates on Jun 21, 2022 8:48:07 GMT 12
As another lifelong Ventura fan I'm also keen to hear about the plans for that machine. With MOTAT already having a Hudson, Loadstar and Electra. Do they need another Lockheed twin? Be nice to see it at the Air Force Museum. I agree it would be nice to see it at Wigram, but there's something cool about being able to see so many members of the family at one site!
|
|
|
Post by emron on Jun 21, 2022 15:05:14 GMT 12
I’d love to be able to report that a freshly restored Ventura is ready for imminent display. But sorry, like me, you’ll have to wait (im)patiently for news about when and where that will happen. Workshop and display space at Meola Rd continues at a premium at present and future construction on the site seems delayed.
Regardless of your preference for display venue and what might happen in future, all I can say is that for now NZ4600 remains a valued part of MOTAT’s collection. The Aviation team only reluctantly halted it’s restoration and put it into storage because of more pressing priorities. Further work is on hold and it’s still mothballed in storage along with the Lodestar.
As for gathering so many Lockheeds from the same era in one place, this was a worthy objective at the time. The established museums of the day had specialised into cultural, natural and ancient history and were unwilling to preserve and house large objects from our recent technological past. The Air Force Museum was yet to be created. Each of these aircraft has played it’s own special role in our aviation history but it may not be possible for MOTAT to ever display them all under one roof at the same time.
|
|