Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 3, 2022 20:49:08 GMT 12
From the PRESS, 20 JANUARY 1964
WAR TIME AIRCRAFT FOR MELTING POT
“Tht Press” Special Service
AUCKLAND, January 19.
Eighty war-time planes parked at Rukuhia Airport are to be dismantled and melted down. They are the last of the hundreds of aircraft that were taken to Rukuhia at the end of the war in the Pacific. The aircraft, and the smelting furnace that has been in use at Rukuhia for some years, has been bought by Asplin Supplies, Ltd. The firm is shifting the aircraft and the furnace to its premises on the main highway between Hamilton and Te Awamutu; It will take three months to break up all the old planes and between two and three months to put them through the furnace. The smeltered metal is sold in Australia, Britain and Germany. The magnesium that is recovered is sold in America.
Mr J. Asplin, the managing-director of the firm, said that his firm, had already dismantled 50 planes at Rukuhia and 40 at Woodbourne. In addition, with a partner, he had bought 11 Vampire jets and dismantled 10 of them. Other types of aircraft that had passed through his hands included Kittyhawks, Corsairs, Oxfords, Mosquitoes, Hudsons and Venturas. Besides smeltered metal, his company is finding a sustained demand for salvaged cameras, instruments, radio equipment, transparent domes, steel cables and tyres. None of the aircraft engines is serviceable and they are used for scrap. There is very little on an aircraft that an ingenious person cannot put to come use. At the side of his premises, Mr Asplin has a rot-proof, kick-proof fence that is made of the wing flaps of Hudson bombers.
WAR TIME AIRCRAFT FOR MELTING POT
“Tht Press” Special Service
AUCKLAND, January 19.
Eighty war-time planes parked at Rukuhia Airport are to be dismantled and melted down. They are the last of the hundreds of aircraft that were taken to Rukuhia at the end of the war in the Pacific. The aircraft, and the smelting furnace that has been in use at Rukuhia for some years, has been bought by Asplin Supplies, Ltd. The firm is shifting the aircraft and the furnace to its premises on the main highway between Hamilton and Te Awamutu; It will take three months to break up all the old planes and between two and three months to put them through the furnace. The smeltered metal is sold in Australia, Britain and Germany. The magnesium that is recovered is sold in America.
Mr J. Asplin, the managing-director of the firm, said that his firm, had already dismantled 50 planes at Rukuhia and 40 at Woodbourne. In addition, with a partner, he had bought 11 Vampire jets and dismantled 10 of them. Other types of aircraft that had passed through his hands included Kittyhawks, Corsairs, Oxfords, Mosquitoes, Hudsons and Venturas. Besides smeltered metal, his company is finding a sustained demand for salvaged cameras, instruments, radio equipment, transparent domes, steel cables and tyres. None of the aircraft engines is serviceable and they are used for scrap. There is very little on an aircraft that an ingenious person cannot put to come use. At the side of his premises, Mr Asplin has a rot-proof, kick-proof fence that is made of the wing flaps of Hudson bombers.
They must to be the only abundant Walrus parts around the country, as everything else seems to be as rare as the proverbial hen’s tusk. The Walrus is credited with being the first British military aircraft to have a fully retractable undercarriage and enclosed cockpit. I took that as a good enough reason to read up the manual about the retraction mechanism and see if a working example would be feasible. It’s a fairly simple method, the main leg strut is connected at the top to a lever on which it pivots through about 90 degrees and is driven by a hydraulic ram under pressure from a hand pump. The leg is retained in the up and down positions by spring loaded locking pins and is supported through the movement by a radius arm. I don’t know where any of those other original parts are so all I plan to do further in the meantime is just take measurements and make some scale drawings of the layout. I would be greatly interested to hear if any of those other parts still exist around NZ though.
