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Post by camtech on Sept 4, 2010 19:35:17 GMT 12
Spotted this last night:
Old military aircraft to fly again An old military aircraft which has not flown for about 30 years is about to get take to the skies again. The air force is resurrecting one of its old de Havilland DH 104 Devon transport aircraft, which up to now has been used for ground training. The aircraft is to be added to the air force's Historic Flight at the Ohakea air base where it will join a Tiger Moth and a Harvard. The air force operated 30 Devons between 1948 and 1980. When they were decommissioned six were kept as ground training airframes at the air force's Woodbourne base near Blenheim. The air force said another Devon would go on loan for a static display at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland and the other three should be sold before Christmas. Group Captain Stephen Davies Howard, officer in charge of the air force training wing, said the Devons had been kept under cover since they were taken out of service. "They have been very well maintained. It is what we train our engineers on." NZPA September 3, 2010
Ignorant news editors had a photo of a Sioux as the leader for this item
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Post by luke6745 on Sept 4, 2010 20:12:41 GMT 12
Great news. How long will it take to get it flying again?
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Post by jimtheeagle on Sept 5, 2010 3:10:15 GMT 12
Do we know which Devon the Historic Flight will be getting? Any idea of the MoTaT one? Is there a tender document out there for the sale of the others?
Jim
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Post by 11SQNLDR on Sept 5, 2010 8:34:31 GMT 12
This is great news, very fond of the old Devon & have flown in one of the Warbirds machines several years ago.
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Post by general on Sept 5, 2010 13:02:47 GMT 12
That's awesome news. I even worked on them, going through 4TTS in the '80s. Still have the Rareplanes vac kit aiting to finish. She's an elegant design.
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Post by Ykato on Sept 6, 2010 19:32:51 GMT 12
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Post by ZacYates on Sept 6, 2010 20:14:51 GMT 12
Very cool news, thanks for posting! The RNZAFHF will soon have a very diverse fleet, awesome stuff! How about a Strikemaster to go with them?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 6, 2010 20:28:33 GMT 12
Why not transfer the Aermacchis to the Historic Flight? That would be a great way to get pilots flying them again without the old stigma of a "strike wing" attached.
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Post by skyhawkdon on Sept 6, 2010 20:35:37 GMT 12
Why not transfer the Aermacchis to the Historic Flight? That would be a great way to get pilots flying them again without the old stigma of a "strike wing" attached. Be careful what you wish for Dave Historic Flight is going to end up the biggest Squadron in the RNZAF at this rate - fantastic!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 6, 2010 21:08:34 GMT 12
Will the Venom be coming under the care of the Historic Flight like the Spitfire is?
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Post by skyhawkdon on Sept 6, 2010 23:55:56 GMT 12
Hopefully the Hurricane will join the Spitfire at Ohakea too...
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 7, 2010 0:50:45 GMT 12
Really?? Is that an actual rumour or a vague hope?
Piece by piece the fighter squadron is coming together...
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Post by skyhawkdon on Sept 7, 2010 7:49:44 GMT 12
I've heard the rumour
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Post by noooby on Oct 24, 2010 3:25:38 GMT 12
Hopefully they'll take NZ1819. From memory passing through TTS in 91/92 and 94 it has the VIP interior and a darker blue on the fuselage. It seemed to be in the best kept condition of all of them, and was certainly the one I wanted to take home!!
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Post by Deane B on Oct 24, 2010 9:40:50 GMT 12
Hopefully they'll take NZ1819. From memory passing through TTS in 91/92 and 94 it has the VIP interior and a darker blue on the fuselage. It seemed to be in the best kept condition of all of them, and was certainly the one I wanted to take home!! Yes - when I was at the School 98-2005, NZ1819 was the one everybody had their eye on, as its the best of the two VIP ones. In saying that, all the Devons are in damn good nick and theres a heap of spares too. I'm glad to see this come to fruition as I was one of the main ones responsible for pushing replacement of the old airframes for training, but I did see value in the old aircraft once they were no longer being used by the school. The four Strikemasters are also potentially airworthy with little effort too.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 24, 2010 13:03:06 GMT 12
It actually makes sense to have the Historic Flight's Devon in VIP configuration as it could take over the role that No. 42 Squadron currently fills as a small transport when the Beech King Airs are removed form service and replaced with the Pilatus PC-9 or PC-21 trainers.
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Post by barf on Oct 26, 2010 11:40:10 GMT 12
Hopefully they'll take NZ1819. From memory passing through TTS in 91/92 and 94 it has the VIP interior and a darker blue on the fuselage. It seemed to be in the best kept condition of all of them, and was certainly the one I wanted to take home!! Unfortunately the Darker Blue is a bogus scheme. We painted it in the early 90's and didnt have any of the Zenith blue for the fuselage stripes so just used Caprithane FS15044 Royal blue instead. I knew it was wrong at the time and now looks like it will haunt us. The crimes we commit to save money. Barf
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 26, 2010 12:13:03 GMT 12
There was a dark royal blue coloured VIP Devon when I was at 4TTS in 1989 too. Is this a different scheme? I have a photo of it somewhere but it's pretty poor.
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Post by Naki on Oct 26, 2010 13:20:06 GMT 12
It actually makes sense to have the Historic Flight's Devon in VIP configuration as it could take over the role that No. 42 Squadron currently fills as a small transport when the Beech King Airs are removed form service and replaced with the Pilatus PC-9 or PC-21 trainers. Isn't the intention of the King Airs to provide muilti engine training - how does a single engine PC-21 or PC-9 fulfill this?
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Post by Calum on Oct 26, 2010 15:31:23 GMT 12
After all those trainees working on them over the years (myself included) it's a brave man who'll be taking to the air in any of them
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