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Post by zman280 on Sept 21, 2010 8:15:46 GMT 12
I'm looking for photos of RNZAF ground vehicles and airfield equipment. Ive got a few photos mostly of 30sqd in the pacific and they seemed to use marine air group vehicles
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Post by shorty on Sept 21, 2010 9:27:37 GMT 12
What era?
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Post by zman280 on Sept 21, 2010 9:37:53 GMT 12
1939-1945 home and away. I really want to fine a photo of a international McCormick i-4 tractor, Any Dodge WC54 ambulances in New Zealand and bomb trolleys
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Post by oggie2620 on Sept 22, 2010 4:23:07 GMT 12
Have you tried contacting the archivists at the Air Force Museum. I am sure they can help. Might also be worth contacting the RAF Museum at Hendon & Imperial War Museum for their pics etc...
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Post by 30sqnatc on Sept 22, 2010 9:28:30 GMT 12
Nice pictures. A great source of pictures are the RNZAF photo albums in the National Archive Wellington; RNZAF [Royal New Zealand Air Force] Aeroplanes and Equipment - Album of Vehicles and Equipment, 1939 - 1941 [2 Vols] no date - no date AIR 118 93 / 71d RNZAF [Royal New Zealand Air Force] Aeroplanes and Equipment - RNZAF [Royal New Zealand Air Force] Vehicles, c1950 - 1960 (4 Parts) 1950 - 1960 AIR 118 94 / 71e I've checked a list of MT numbers I've recently started compiling from photographs but I've not seen a Dodge WC54 ambulance yet. All war time RNZAF ambulances I've seen were locally produced based on Ford & Chev chassis by Colonial Motors such as this one Heres a nice one of Ford GTBS and bomb trolley in Hobsonville from the photo albums. Still marked as US but definitely later in RNZAF service in NZ. Paul
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Post by zman280 on Sept 22, 2010 12:53:21 GMT 12
I dont think the Ambulance would have any "M" number as story goes it was delivered to RNZAF Station Gisborne along with the international McCormick tractor. There has also been stories of one or two Harley Davidson bikes.
I have seen the Ambulance which we found in two pieces. The back was used as a wood shed. It was purchased by the owner after the war as a full Ambulance, as the man was a couch builder it was a good opportunity to buy a truck for his own use and he removed the ambulance body. The truck we found up the coast from Gisborne on a farm with a GMC tray on it.
The International McCormick as far as I know it was used to tow the TBF-1 as Gisborne, Story goes it was painted the standard harvester red but it was to hard to see so it got painted RAF/RNZAF trainer yellow. after the war it stayed at the airfield and was used to mow the lawns. It Was also given A2 as a code. The odd thing about this tractor the helps this story is the military "C" hook on the back and the fact that is an industrial model never widely brought into New Zealand
The other vehicles I'm looking for are refueling and crash tender
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Post by SEAN on Sept 22, 2010 20:39:42 GMT 12
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Post by stu on Sept 22, 2010 21:55:46 GMT 12
As a matter of interest. Then and now... maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Vogel+Street,+Woodville,+Manawatu-wanganui&sll=-41.244772,172.617188&sspn=48.929523,78.662109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Vogel+St,+Woodville+4920,+Manawatu-wanganui&ll=-40.337377,175.868266&spn=0,0.003422&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=-40.337349,175.867647&panoid=lO7w0zFGd-pxp4hbev55xg&cbp=12,130.03968099999997,,0,0
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Post by Bruce on Sept 22, 2010 22:12:36 GMT 12
Woodville?!! How on earth did you know to look there?!
Although I'm not 100% sure, I think the pic of the Ambulance an fire tender beside a temporary flagpole is Kaitaia airfield during 75 sqn's Mosquito deployment there. I like the ATC travelling roadshow too!
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Post by stu on Sept 22, 2010 22:33:03 GMT 12
Woodville?!! How on earth did you know to look there?! Google + "Brightwell Building" Little time waster I have of tracking down the location of old photos by using clues in them and seeing what it looks like now.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 22, 2010 22:37:51 GMT 12
Note the wingtips on that P-40 are seemingly hinged up to cut down the width, did they all do this to assist in hangar storage? I've never seen anything like this on a Kittyhawk before.
The Anson shot is Bell Block, New Plymouth.
I think all the Ventura shots are No. 10 Servicing Unit when they were at Piva, Bougainville.
The old shack is likely to be a Public Works Department hut, one of which seemed to be present at many remote airstrips in those days. It's too big to be Waipapakauri's PWD hut but might well be Kaitaia.
Is that Communcations truck (based on a Chevy 30CWT I think) the same one the Air Force Museum recently recovered from the wops?
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Post by Bruce on Sept 22, 2010 22:45:26 GMT 12
which P40? you dont mean the Zero do you...
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Post by Peter Lewis on Sept 22, 2010 23:01:30 GMT 12
The photo with the Zero that became NZ6000 in it would also have been Piva. Date would have been between 15th September 1945 (when it arrived at Piva) and mid-October 1945 (it arrived in NZ by ship on the 20th). So that dates that one.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 22, 2010 23:18:05 GMT 12
Bruce, I'm looking at the wing and centre-section on the truck at the top of Sean's post. Is that a Zero?? That would make more sense for the wingtips folding then. Sorry, all the photos onthe forum come out tny on this laptop and I was squinting to see details.
Is there a wayt to make the photos and text igger on my laptop? I set the text size to Largest in View on IE but it's only about 4mm high in emails and 5mm on the forum, with photos only half the page width at most, My home computer has nice large text and wide as photos so it's damned annoying.
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Post by Bruce on Sept 22, 2010 23:50:19 GMT 12
Yup the top photo is the zero centre section - the wing was one piece and integral with the fuselage, so thats how they broke down for transport. The P40 has separate wings that join below, and are separate from, the fuselage. The zero wingtips fold. Try using the IE "Page" toolbar and selecting "Zoom"
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 23, 2010 0:11:42 GMT 12
Thanks Bruce, that sorted the issue, it was set to 75%. Now I can actually read what I'm writing! Thannk, and apologies for confusing a Zero with a P-40. That was dumb. I wonder where the Zero was being transported on the truck, Hobsonville to Ardmore? Ardmore to Ohakea in 1958? Ohakea to the Auckland War Memorial Museum? When did the Queen Mary Trailers leave RNZAF service? I believe the Air Force Museum has one but I've not seen it.
The photo of the wings on the truck, are they off a Gordon (the one with no wings in a later photo?) or are they Baffin wings?
I think that Hudson photo, which I've seen several ties before, was taken at Santo but I haven't confirmed this. They were with No. 3 GR Squadron at the time I believe.
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Post by zman280 on Sept 23, 2010 7:06:11 GMT 12
Now this is a very interesting photo indeed. The bomb trolley is of a very unusual type from what I understand. I have previously only seen two other photos of them. One loading a Sterling and the other loading a B24 in Italy We have one in our musume with a DH82 sitting on it at the moment. The tractor looks very close to the International I-4 that I have been looking for and all the loading up aircraft in the Pacific where our bomb trolley was said to of come from with a USCM willys jeep. The trolley with another where used to give kids rides at the Gisborne A&P show for many years
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Post by zman280 on Sept 23, 2010 7:12:24 GMT 12
I think that Hudson photo, which I've seen several ties before, was taken at Santo but I haven't confirmed this. They were with No. 3 GR Squadron at the time I believe. I believe the Hudsons are from 9 Squadron and I can confirm from what I have read that they are at Santo, July 1943 according to page 84 of Military Wings Vol Two by Brendon Deere
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Post by Bruce on Sept 23, 2010 13:37:06 GMT 12
zooming in on the zero on Queen mary picture, The sign in the background appears to be something about Forest Fire danger. I suspect somewhere in the central north island. The zero is painted green, rather than the inaccurate colour scheme it acquired at ohakea, so at a guess it is in transit south before "refurbishment". (I could of course be completely wrong, as I'm not a Journalist )
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Post by 30sqnatc on Sept 23, 2010 18:10:34 GMT 12
Now this is a very interesting photo indeed. The bomb trolley is of a very unusual type from what I understand. I have previously only seen two other photos of them. One loading a Sterling and the other loading a B24 in Italy Not really unusual. It is a fairly standard RAF bomb trolley - is it a Type F?
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