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Post by motoxjase on Feb 8, 2011 6:35:29 GMT 12
Right after a debat regarding a Skyhawk helmet it got me wondering what has happened with a lot of the gear related to the Combat-Wing??
I remember years ago reading an article saying that the RNZAF had a stock-pile of weapons worth millions of dollars to sell (34 million??), does any-one know what has happened to the AIM-9s, CRV-7s etc and did all the Mavericks get transfered to the Navy??
If the AIM-9s etc did get sold who brought them as Ive not seen an article about any sale??
Did all flight gear such as helmets, masks get sold or are they used by C-130 crew??
You see a lot of Army DPMs pop up for sale but RNZAF gear seems to be rare indeed.
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Post by skyhawkdon on Feb 8, 2011 11:14:18 GMT 12
The last I heard the RNZAF still had all the ex ACF weapons. The MK82 500lb bombs have been used by the Orions and some of the Mavericks have/are being modified so they can be used by the Sea Sprites. By now all of the CRV-7s and probably all the AIM-9Ls will be time expired so are not saleable even if the US State Dept would let us sell them. All of the helmets, G-suits etc were at Ohakea and were part of the sale but who knows what will happen to them now - they will probably be destroyed.  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 8, 2011 12:57:22 GMT 12
They'll make an awesome fireworks display for the 75th Anniversary Airshow at Ohakea next year. Everything could be aimed towards Palmy and do some improvements at the same time. ;D
If the helmets are owned by the RNZAF and not the pilots as issued clothing, then how is it that some individuals own ex-RNZAF Alpha Helmets? Are they damaged examples? I know Anthony's was damaged in the blown canopy incident.
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Post by beagle on Feb 8, 2011 15:16:32 GMT 12
THEFT
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Post by machpants on Feb 8, 2011 15:32:46 GMT 12
Well with the RAF PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) cannot be re-issued. It can only be re-used as training gear, for dinghy drills or whatever. So old gear is often given to leaving aircrew if they want it, like my g-pants, flying suits, helmet, etc. So I kept a lot of my stuff, combat stuff for DIY, flying kit for nostalgia  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 8, 2011 15:43:23 GMT 12
I thought that might be the case Scott, just like I was allowed to keep me very excellent steel-capped gumboots when i left, only to have some arse steal them later. The helmets are all personalised to fit the head too. I wonder how some of the people get on who buy them thinking they will fly themselves in them, without doing a proper fitting with new pads.
I seem to recall the Alphas were around $10,000 each when I was in, as opposed to about $4000 for the SPH-4's which were being removed from service. Does my memory ring true? It's a long time ago and I wasn't realy involved with them that much.
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Post by beagle on Feb 8, 2011 16:01:32 GMT 12
What would they repair other than the shell that we could not do by fitting a replacement part on base.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 8, 2011 17:34:13 GMT 12
Thanks for that Harlequin. I was way out on my memory of the price.
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Post by motoxjase on Feb 8, 2011 19:20:17 GMT 12
The shell gets sent back to the OEM, I believe. As for ACF weapons, The Mavericks were converted for use on the Sprite, all the 20mm was broken down and disposed of as were the various types of rocket warhead. Not entirely sure about the CRV7 motors but as was noted above they would all be life ex now anyway. Not sure about the AIM-9Ls, possibly still in storage. All the other aircraft spares are in storage as part of the sale package, not sure what will happen to it all now, hopefully we can have some of it back as much of it was also used on other fleets (PMBR spares and all the MS and NAS nuts, bolts and washers etc). So I wonder how much money was spent to destroy the sundry of weapons such as the 20mm ammo along with the rockets etc along with the value of the weapons having to be destroyed so has that also been factored into the amount wasted over the years having to store the Skyhawks and Macchis??? The Phillipines showed early interest in the A-4s so I wonder if the Sundry of Weapons were also part of a proposed package?? |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 8, 2011 19:35:05 GMT 12
After WWII I know that the RNZAF assigned people to a unit in Wellington who were going out on boats into Cook Strait just off Wellington and dropping boatloads of ammunition and bombs in the drink. A friend of mine here in Cambridge did it as his last job before demob. So they could always do that again I guess.
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Post by angelsonefive on Feb 8, 2011 19:38:05 GMT 12
Re: What happened to all Combat-Wing Equipment?
"Not sure about the AIM-9Ls, possibly still in storage."
Sometime in the last year or two I read that NZ had sold some surplus air-to-air missiles to Jordan.
Can't recall where I saw that, though.
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Post by skyhawkdon on Feb 8, 2011 20:38:44 GMT 12
There would have been 99 live AIM-9Ls plus the CATMs to dispose of. Most of our AIM-9Ls were quite old - some of them were manufactured in 1979-80. When we bought them (1988/89) we didn't get brand new ones off the production line, instead the US gave us their old missiles and they got the new ones!
Out of interest our original 30 AGM-65B Mavericks came second hand from Jordan in the late 1980s.
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Post by machpants on Feb 8, 2011 21:54:07 GMT 12
When ammo was approaching lifex in the Falklands we just went out to sea and shot the stuff off, all good fun and cheapest way of disposing of stuff. We also had to launch out of Saudi with flares on the way back from Telic - we popped them off over the Med so we didn't have to do the paper work of bringing 'live arms' into Cyprus and the UK! |
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Post by motoxjase on Feb 11, 2011 9:13:50 GMT 12
Something slighty off-course but still Skyhawk equipment, I just got told a story by some-one who worked as a store-men during the Kahu upgrade period who told me a story of a brand new HOTAS (??) flight stick that went missing only to never be found, he reckoned that it was worth 90 thou and that some-one ripped it and that there was hell to pay at the time, so come on guys who has that stashed in their cabinet at home?? |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 11, 2011 10:28:12 GMT 12
What's a HOTAS?
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Post by dav3469 on Feb 11, 2011 11:04:05 GMT 12
Dave, I believe thats the acronym for "Hands On Throttle And Stick". The upgraded throttle and stick assemblies that kept most of the "switchology" at the fingertips of the pilot, instead of searching around a cockpit for it. dave |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 11, 2011 12:47:28 GMT 12
Thanks Dave
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Post by machpants on Feb 11, 2011 17:56:06 GMT 12
Probably attached to a Flt Sim Cockpit now  |
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Post by skyhawkdon on Feb 11, 2011 18:22:12 GMT 12
Something slighty off-course but still Skyhawk equipment, I just got told a story by some-one who worked as a store-men during the Kahu upgrade period who told me a story of a brand new HOTAS (??) flight stick that went missing only to never be found, he reckoned that it was worth 90 thou and that some-one ripped it and that there was hell to pay at the time, so come on guys who has that stashed in their cabinet at home?? Only the stick grip (the plastic bit on top with all the HOTAS switches) was replaced during Kahu and it wouldn't have cost $90k. More like $5k. Same for the HOTAS throttle grip. |
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Post by motoxjase on Feb 11, 2011 18:59:43 GMT 12
Well it was 20+ years ago so Im guessing he stretched the story a tad over that time, was interesting listening to him tell the story |
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