US Military Attache Aircraft in NZ in WWII

[Dave Homewood]

As these aircraft were maintained by the RNZAF at Rongotai they qualify for this board.

I bought some old NZ Wings magazines yesterday and these photos were in the Feb 1978 edition showing some rare photos of military and civil aircraft, including some used by the USA here during the war



No. 2 is a Howard DGA-15P that was impressed into service in 1943 from the Superior Oil Company - it flew in NZ under the US registration of NC22436. In 1946 it went to Union Airways but was destroyed when the Rongotai Exhibition Hall burned down in Sept 1946.

Also of interest is No. 3, the Beech UC-45 used by the US Military Attache. Apparently it made a long and low approach that saw it hit rocks at Moa Point, wiping out it's undercarriage resulting in a belly landing!

[Dave Homewood]

More from the same article, the photographer by the way was Noel Brown for all these.

Of interest to me is the shot of the de Havilland factory shop floor at Rongotai. Note the Vega Gull NZ571 on the left, and also Rearwin NZ565 sporting some codes which I'd never seen before, looks like 5G or SG. Did No. 42 Squadron use the SG codes?



These photos were also in the spread. If you want more specific info about any of them let me know and I'll type out the captions.

[flyjoe180]

Great pics Dave. For that Beech to lose it's undercarriage on rocks at Moa Point is quite an effort in the firstplace, the rocks are not very high at all, probably 30-40 feet at the highest. If you look at my photos, which were mainly take from or around Moa Point, you'll see what I mean.