RNZAF Skyhawk question

[Dave Homewood]

Some time ago Mum and Dad both told me that shortly after the RNZAF received its Skyhawks, they (I assume 75 Squadron) traveeled the major centres and displayed them to the people. They visited Hamilton Airport and apparently put on a very good display that frightened a lot of people because they came low up the Mystery Creek valley and up over the terminal, behind the crowd.

I assume this was very early 1970's. I was wondering, do any of the Squawk fans here know more about this tour? Where did they go? What were the dates, especially for Hamilton Airport? How many aircraft? Were they efinately in 75 Squadron at the time? Who were the pilots? Was it a dedicated display team as such or the summer season, or just the Squadron doing organised beat ups?

Just trivia, but it'd be nice to know more about this part of the A-4K's very early history.

[skyhawkdon]

During the early 1970's there was quite an effort put in by 75 Sqn to "fly the flag" with the new A-4's around the country. I have an interview transcript with John Scrimshaw (which will be used in our forthcoming book Alpha Four Kilo) who was CO75 at the time and he discusses some of the flag waving exercises and the many flypasts they were requested to provide. It was also all about exploring/confirming the performance of the aircraft's Navigation Systems and range of the new aircraft. By all accounts the Navigation System was a huge dissapointment, but the range and other performance aspects of the aircraft they were very happy with. During those early days some very long range flights were made to confirm the max unrefuelled range of the aircraft. I believe the longest was just over 5 hours airbourne and over 2000nm distance. I have the exact details (pilot/date/distance etc) at home so will check and get back to you.