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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 20, 2010 21:52:15 GMT 12
After I had the great pleasure to meet and interview Don Nairn, I sought out and bought a copy of his book Gold Wings and Webbed Feet. I have been slowly reading it when I find the time and finding it a most fascinating and excellent read. He wrote such detailed and interesting descriptions of life in the Fleet Air Arm. It's so good that he got it down on paper and it's such a shame that most of his memories are now gone.
Anyway, there have been a couple of things he wrote that puzzle me. I'm up to the part where he is flying Grumman Martlets with No. 805 NAS in Egypt.
The first thing is when he was engaged in air cover over Allied naval convoys he said the procedure was to creep up to the ships till within a certain distance of the ships and then fired flares with the colours of the day as a signal to the sailors that your aircraft was friendly, otherwise they opened fire. My question is how were the flares fired? Did the pilot simply have a Verey pistol and wind back the canoy and fire it out? Or was the some sort of flare gun mounted in the wings or wherever, and triggered by remote from a switch in the cockpit? It seems a bit ad hoc and perhaps dangerous if you were slowing down, winding back the canopy and firing a pistol.
The other thing that I'm curious about, he writes about how the Martlets were fitted with thin American oxygen tubes that the pilots had instead of the more commonly seem full face mask which in the desert and tropics caused all sorts of trouble. From what i gather this tube was placed into the mouth a little like a dentists vacuum tube? I was wondering if anyone has any photos of this system in use so I can visualise it.
It is a really great book, I thoroughly recommend it. i don't think i'll find the latter half very interesting, civil aviation flying, but his wartime exploits are brilliant. Don and his cobber Denys Evans were the first two New Zealanders posted to a front line fighter squadron in the FAA, and he was also the first kiwi to fly both the Martlet and the Zero, and I think also the Corsair, which he helped the Chance Vought engineers to develop into a proper fighter I believe (I haven't gotten to that bit yet,so I'm looking forward to it.)
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Post by steveh on Oct 21, 2010 6:57:55 GMT 12
I can't help with details of the American oxygen gear but don't write off the second part of Dons book, his tails of flying the Goose(?) into & out of Deep cove are great stories of seat of the pants type airmanship. My mothers cousin was an engineer on the Manapouri project & so I guess I may have had an increased interest in this but its a good story & he tells it well. As you say, a great read.
Steve.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Oct 21, 2010 23:09:34 GMT 12
I can't help with details of the American oxygen gear but don't write off the second part of Dons book, his tails of flying the Goose(?) into & out of Deep cove are great stories of seat of the pants type airmanship. My mothers cousin was an engineer on the Manapouri project & so I guess I may have had an increased interest in this but its a good story & he tells it well. As you say, a great read. Steve. That would have been Grumman G-73 Mallard ZK-CDV (c/n.J13). There are some colour photos showing this beautiful amphibian on page 154 of the book “Grumman Mallard - The Enduring Classic” by Fred Hotson & Matthew Rodina. The photos show the Mallard following an extensive restoration by the current owner. The Mallard's time in NZ is covered extensively in this book. BTW....I also have a copy of Don Nairn's excellent book. It's interesting that he had a major hand in sorting out the early problems with the Chance-Vought Corsair fighter as related in his book. |
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Post by steveh on Oct 22, 2010 6:41:04 GMT 12
That would have been Grumman G-73 Mallard ZK-CDV (c/n.J13). There are some colour photos showing this beautiful amphibian on page 154 of the book “Grumman Mallard - The Enduring Classic” by Fred Hotson & Matthew Rodina. The photos show the Mallard following an extensive restoration by the current owner. The Mallard's time in NZ is covered extensively in this book. BTW....I also have a copy of Don Nairn's excellent book. It's interesting that he had a major hand in sorting out the early problems with the Chance-Vought Corsair fighter as related in his book. I knew it was a ducky type of name but couldn't for the life of me remember. Thanks for the reminder, I must dig my copy out & have another browse thru it. Steve. |
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Post by thomarse on Oct 23, 2010 19:56:34 GMT 12
I agree with your comments about the second half - to each his own eh?
I wanted to know more about the Lake Taupo Airways thing but this is glossed-over a bit. I'd love to know where that set of very expensive canoes went, stage by stage. Similarly, the webbed feet off the Cub BPC.
A name that is familiar (as in a local) crops up - Bruce Girdlestone. He was a schoolmate of my father's and later a respected Wellington architect.
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Post by corsair67 on Oct 23, 2010 20:09:44 GMT 12
Dave, your question about the flares is a good one.
As far as I'm aware many (US only?) aircraft did carry a flare gun that could be discharged through an apeture mounted on the port side cockpit sidewall. The flare was generally launched in a upward trajectory towards the rear of the aircraft.
Later US aircraft like the Mustang and Corsair also carried recognition lights (red, green and amber) under the starboard wing, which could also be used to signal others.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 23, 2010 20:21:12 GMT 12
Sure, to each his own. I know that some will find the second half more interesting, I personally have a much smaller interest in civil aviation than I do in military flying. Considering I have been filming Fleet Air Arm veterans for a film project I have found his wartime story bloody fantastic to read so far, so detailed and interesting.
I had hoped someone might be able to answer my two questions, about the firing of flares from a fighter and about the US oxygen tube system.
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Post by shorty on Oct 23, 2010 20:52:07 GMT 12
I'm sure I have seen in wartime movies where the Americans just had a tube held between their teeth in the corner of their mouth but that may have been a Hollywood thing.
Some aircraft have a small opening in the side of the cockpit, able to be opened and closed from the inside, that a flare pistol can be poked out, whether the Wildcat/Martlet had it I don't know, or maybe thats one of the differences between the two.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 23, 2010 21:19:29 GMT 12
Thanks Craig (I didn't see your post till after I posted my last one) and Shorty. I had wondered what those three coloured lights under fighters were four, I never realised they had the same function as colours of the day flares.
The Martlets that No. 805 Squadron used had been built for the Greek Air Force (I guess as Wildcats) and ended up with the Royal Navy in Egypt when Greece was captured in 1941. Before that (and before Don's time) the squadron had flown Brewster Buffaloes and Fairey Fulmars in Crete.
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Post by shorty on Oct 23, 2010 21:22:48 GMT 12
Just realised that I repeated the info that Corsair 67 had posted re the flares.
Have just been looking the the Squadron Book "Wildcat in Action" and in all the photos of Wildcats taking off or landing on carriers the canopy is open. When you think about it that makes sense because those are the two most dangerous periods of flight and if you go over the side you would want to be getting out real quick so it was probably SOP.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 23, 2010 22:52:34 GMT 12
Didn't land-based fighters usually also land with the canopy open?
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Post by corsair67 on Oct 23, 2010 23:22:21 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 23, 2010 23:50:07 GMT 12
My friend Bob Glading flew int he FAA. His favourite aircraft was the Corsair which he flew in the war, but I asked him recently what he thought of the Sea Fury which he flew post war. He said it was brilliant and it was the only British aircraft he ever felt comfortable in because hit had the big, wide cockpit (being radial engined) just like the Corsair. he'd flown the Seafire and the Firefly too and thought they were dangerous as both overheated too quickly for his liking, and he also knew several pilots who ditched into the sea in them and couldn't get out. he said the Corsair and Sea Fury were far better, he didn't know anyone who was trapped in those types in a ditching, and they all got out ok.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 29, 2010 0:07:02 GMT 12
Don mentioned in his book that he was issued his own personal Martlet and he chose the aircraft coded 'K' for Kiwi. He also says he had some ground staff paint kiwi emblems on each side of the cowl. I was wondering if anyone knows of photos of this aircraft that show the cowl, or what serial number it was. Sadly when I stayed with Don he had mislaid his logbook and couldn't find it.
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Post by John L on Oct 29, 2010 17:17:00 GMT 12
Back in the 70's, in Mt Eden, our local 2nd hand bookshop owner used to talk about his time flying Hellcats in the Pacific. He said he loved them - big, roomy and as solid and reliable as a brick shithouse......he joined the Australian FAA after the war and flew Sea Furies, which he liked, but the Hellcat he reckoned, ticked all the right buttons. Wish I could remember his name!!!!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 29, 2010 19:28:53 GMT 12
So far in my research and filming I have only met and filmed the one Hellcat pilot, Nelson Tolerton. He had some great stories and he loved the Hellcat too. He flew them attacking ground targets mainly in Burma, including railways and troops, in support of our army advancing - much like the Spitfires were doing in Europe.
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Post by Andy Wright on Oct 30, 2010 16:58:58 GMT 12
I'm sure I have seen in wartime movies where the Americans just had a tube held between their teeth in the corner of their mouth but that may have been a Hollywood thing. While we were on holiday I caught parts of the Errol Flynn flick Dive Bomber which features a lot of colour footage of pre/early war USN types - Vindicators, Devastators, F3Fs etc. There were a number of shots of pilots flying with the tubes in their mouths. Btw, thanks, Dave for yet another book recommended (even if you didn't know you were doing it!). |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 31, 2010 11:40:45 GMT 12
Thanks Andy, I have that film on video and haven't watched it in ages, so I'll have to take another look.
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Post by shorty on Oct 31, 2010 13:24:29 GMT 12
Thats the movie I was thinking of.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 15, 2011 19:35:34 GMT 12
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