Post by chrisnpl on Feb 11, 2007 2:40:18 GMT 12
As I work through the Whenuapai Project; I keep making lists.
Via Ivan Prince's excellent site on aircraft serials, (hopefully without missing any!!!) - and after reading thousands of entries - it is truly massive; came up with a list of 130 aircraft either based from - or on order - at Whenuapai during the period.
The twenty years covered saw a reasonable variety of aircraft.
Squadrons 40 and 41 had 48 DC-3s/C-47s/Dakotas between them; most were gone by 1948, and the last by 1953. A few went to NAC, some to 42 Squadron, some simply withdrawn from use.
41 Squadron bought 12 Bristol Freighters between 1952 - 55; with two crashed and one sold, but the rest served through to 1977 when the Squadron was wound up.
They also bought 4 Handley Page Hastings transports in 1952-53; but these were transferred to the reformed 40 Squadron in 1954. One had a memorable crash in Darwin in 1955 - that reads like a Dr Seuss story - off the runway, over a road, up a hill, through a water pipe, and skidding to a halt along the railway line. Everyone escaped thankfully, but the aeroplane was a write-off. The other three served through to 1965-66.
Meanwhile, One Territorial Squadron started with three Tiger Moths, operated an Auster Amphibian for a few years, had 15 Harvards in all, serving from time to time right through its life 1949-57; and memorably had five of the thirty Mustangs ordered at the end of the War from 1952-55. They had two fatal crashes, and other TAFs had fatal crashes also due to not enough time available to train the pilots properly (among other reasons) - but that was a key one. Like the other TAFs, Number One Territorial Squadron Auckland was wound up in 1957.
40 Squadron operated two DC-6s ex-TEAL 1961-64, and a third 1961-68.
41 Squadron operated two Miles Aerovans as Research and development flights around 1949-50.
A detachment of 6 Squadron from Laucala Bay, Fiji, operated five Short Sunderlands from Hobsonville on and off throughout the 1950s.
In 1965-66 the biggest re-equipment for many years happened - and the biggest re-equipment programme for some years to come.
Three Hercules arrived in 1965, 5 Orions were ordered, and from late 65-early 66 6 Bell Sioux and 5 Bell Iroquois Helicopters arrived to form 3 Squadron at Hobsonville. We still have the Orions and Hercules ordered at that time.
Four aircraft that didn't really fit into squadrons were the two Westland Wasps that were dispatched to HMZNS Waikato, Canterbury and Monowai; the Gloster Meteor briefly based from Hobsonville and then touring the country; and a Lockheed Hudson that became Whenuapai's Search and Rescue Unit from 1945 - 48.
How to actually DISPLAY all the info beats me - there are 17 pages of civil movements over the years already at the end of the study; and page upon page of lists of military aircraft will probably be utterly boring - and infringe copyright as well...
Via Ivan Prince's excellent site on aircraft serials, (hopefully without missing any!!!) - and after reading thousands of entries - it is truly massive; came up with a list of 130 aircraft either based from - or on order - at Whenuapai during the period.
The twenty years covered saw a reasonable variety of aircraft.
Squadrons 40 and 41 had 48 DC-3s/C-47s/Dakotas between them; most were gone by 1948, and the last by 1953. A few went to NAC, some to 42 Squadron, some simply withdrawn from use.
41 Squadron bought 12 Bristol Freighters between 1952 - 55; with two crashed and one sold, but the rest served through to 1977 when the Squadron was wound up.
They also bought 4 Handley Page Hastings transports in 1952-53; but these were transferred to the reformed 40 Squadron in 1954. One had a memorable crash in Darwin in 1955 - that reads like a Dr Seuss story - off the runway, over a road, up a hill, through a water pipe, and skidding to a halt along the railway line. Everyone escaped thankfully, but the aeroplane was a write-off. The other three served through to 1965-66.
Meanwhile, One Territorial Squadron started with three Tiger Moths, operated an Auster Amphibian for a few years, had 15 Harvards in all, serving from time to time right through its life 1949-57; and memorably had five of the thirty Mustangs ordered at the end of the War from 1952-55. They had two fatal crashes, and other TAFs had fatal crashes also due to not enough time available to train the pilots properly (among other reasons) - but that was a key one. Like the other TAFs, Number One Territorial Squadron Auckland was wound up in 1957.
40 Squadron operated two DC-6s ex-TEAL 1961-64, and a third 1961-68.
41 Squadron operated two Miles Aerovans as Research and development flights around 1949-50.
A detachment of 6 Squadron from Laucala Bay, Fiji, operated five Short Sunderlands from Hobsonville on and off throughout the 1950s.
In 1965-66 the biggest re-equipment for many years happened - and the biggest re-equipment programme for some years to come.
Three Hercules arrived in 1965, 5 Orions were ordered, and from late 65-early 66 6 Bell Sioux and 5 Bell Iroquois Helicopters arrived to form 3 Squadron at Hobsonville. We still have the Orions and Hercules ordered at that time.
Four aircraft that didn't really fit into squadrons were the two Westland Wasps that were dispatched to HMZNS Waikato, Canterbury and Monowai; the Gloster Meteor briefly based from Hobsonville and then touring the country; and a Lockheed Hudson that became Whenuapai's Search and Rescue Unit from 1945 - 48.
How to actually DISPLAY all the info beats me - there are 17 pages of civil movements over the years already at the end of the study; and page upon page of lists of military aircraft will probably be utterly boring - and infringe copyright as well...