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Post by shorty on Jul 19, 2008 13:05:42 GMT 12
The one being restored to fly is A9-141 which is not one of the PNG ones. The first photo here is of of one of the British built ones being dismantled and this is the one that Monty got. (but with another nose!)It is distinguishable by the different rear turret installation. We literally hacked off the burnt nose section with a cold chisel just forward of the transport break. The next aircraft we tried undoing the row of 2 BA nuts and bolts (a heap of them!)but that was a long process. The best solution we found was to use a speed brace and just tighten them until they sheared off, much quicker. To remove the center fuselage section off the the wing it was necessary to get into the bomb bay to undo the main large wing attach bolts. Because the aircraft had been sitting on their bellies in the jungle for 30 odd years the bay had become a lovely cave for all sorts of creepy crawlies to take up residence in. By digging a hole next to the skin you could effectively "tunnel" into the bomb bay. After doing it to the first one and having the beejayus scared out of me by snakes, scorpions etc I made a real hasty exit and we took to lighting a smoky fire in the hole for a day to persuade the nasties to leave. Beaufort4 by Neville Mines, on Flickr The next two shots are center fuselages being moved out to the edge of the cleared part of the current airstrip. All the jungle area that is cleared was done by our workers from the local village. Beaufort5 by Neville Mines, on Flickr And just for Denys we have the poles on shoulders technique. You can see in this shot the rearward extension of the bomb bay to enable torpedoes to be carried. This extension was closed by a pair of plywood spring loaded doors which pushed up when the torpedo was fitted. The wing attach bolts mentioned were at the front of the sub floor and the lugs are visible. Beaufort6 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 19, 2008 13:56:56 GMT 12
Brilliant! Just amazing shots. Thanks so much Shorty.
So, how many were recovered and where are they all now?
I talked with George Gudsell DFC (US) a couple of years ago and he flew Beauforts in Singapore before the invasion. He could not go into combat with them during the invasion because he said the licence built Australian GAF Beauforts at that time were all so poorly built they were all constantly unserviceable. in the end the Flight of his squadron flying Beauforts were withdrwan to Aussie to have them rebuilt/repaired. While there the Japs invaded and the rest of his squadron in Vildebeests were wiped out. When the Beaus were sorted out he flew them in defence of Aussie's coast for several few months in the GR role, and then was sent home to NZ and arrived just in time to join No. 3GR Sqn as it advanced to the Pacific, where he became famous.
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Post by shorty on Jul 19, 2008 19:23:21 GMT 12
The majority of the aircraft that were recovered at this time ended up in Chino where Dave Tallichets outfit was based at the time. I was only able to get three months leave from the mob so I wasn't there for the beginning or the end of the exercise. There were only two of us there, Myself and Monty whom I knew from his ANZ days when we were both involved with MOTAT. He went on to be Dave's chief recovery engineer. He needed some one to help him so the approach was made to me to see if I could help out. I didn't need asking twice, especially as all expenses would be met by others! Most of my time was spent in getting the RAAF Beauforts and P-40s out. Anyway on to this lot of photos. All the Beaus had the rear fuselages (and wings) removed as you can see in this shot. One thing we learnt was not to leave your tools on the wing, they would get so hot you couldn't pick them up.Also had to be cautious with bare skin against the metal skin as well. Any scratches etc would quickly go septic. Beaufort 7 by Neville Mines, on Flickr This shot so the first stage of breaking a Beaufort down with the center fuselage pulled back and ready for the boys to take out. Getting the nose free was a bit more involved because of the controls running from the cockpit out along the spar to the nacelles and we didn't want to cut any bits Beaufort8 by Neville Mines, on Flickr BeauPNG by Neville Mines, on Flickr Finally a shot from another portion of the airfield complex in the form of a USAF A 20 #43-216 More later A-20 43-21627 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 20, 2008 8:47:18 GMT 12
Great stuff. How did all the Beauforts come to be sitting there on their bellies without wings? Was this an RAAF dump during the service days? Or a spares storage area or something?
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Post by shorty on Jul 20, 2008 10:08:15 GMT 12
Tadji (where these were) is about 100 miles east of Hollandia (now called Djajapura) which was the capital of Dutch New Guinea. As a result it was used as a forward base for attacks on Hollandia and the after the town was captured Tadji was used as a diversion base for damaged aircraft so as they would not block the runways at Hollandia if they were crash landing. The Tadji complex was several parallel runways and the RAAF was at one end and the USAAC area was at the far end of an adjacent strip. The RAAF area had been a repair depot (22RSU) and the aircraft there were dismantled whereas the US area the aircraft were more intact. The Beaufort wings, for example, were stacked in the remains of storage racks and all the P-40s had there wings removed. Most of our work while i was there was at the RAAF area. One of the aircraft that we did extract was the the P-40n-1 that is now flying with Hogan and Darby (Darby was one of the organisers of the expedtion) and these next two photos show the fuselage after we removed it from the jungle area. The interesting thing is that the aircraft has different serials on each side. the faded side with the US star showing through has the serial A29-1050 but the side with the codes is serialled A29-448. I can not find an explanation for this anywhere.448 was a P40N-1 but 1050 was a P-40N-35. 448 was written off after a hydraulic and electrical failure These photos are from colour slides but the rest of the slides have not been comverted Currawong Tadji1 by Neville Mines, on Flickr Currawong Tadji 2 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 20, 2008 13:46:53 GMT 12
Yes I recall reading about the odd serial thing in John King's book about the P-40 restoration. Very odd. Thse are great coloured shots. I know you told me you don't have a slide scanner but I wonder if there's a member near you in Chrstchurch who has one that could help you out, if you wanted to scan more slides.
I don't think Charles Darby owns his share in the P-40N now, I know a share was sold a while back. Perhaps he now has a smaller share? There's a syndicate of owners these days.
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Post by shorty on Jul 21, 2008 19:14:39 GMT 12
Before getting on to the American area I'll just finish of the B & W photos of the RAAF area. Starting with the boys carrying a P-40 wing (They are HEAVY!) past a P-40 fuselage in the background can be seen a Beaufort fuselage on it's side. P-40 Wing by Neville Mines, on Flickr On a day when the ground was too wet to traverse we wnet on a aerial recce (in a Helio Courier) to check out the site and some other possibilities. This shot shows Beaufort fuselages, wings, centre section and tailplanes, also a P 40 wing (with the wheel well visible) and, below the wings, a P 40 fuselage Document (38) by Neville Mines, on Flickr Another view of more Beaufort fuselages (one with the rear fuselage still attached) and some more wings These shots also show how hard it is to spot wrecks if the jungle hasn't been cleared away. Aerial view Beauforts by Neville Mines, on Flickr More wings and tailplanes Beaufort Tails and wings by Neville Mines, on Flickr and finally more bits in the Kunai grass along the jungles edge of what was an airstrip. Aerial view unknown parts by Neville Mines, on Flickr More of this area at a later date when the slides have been converted.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 21, 2008 22:25:15 GMT 12
Fantastic. Thank goodness you guys got in there and rescued so many of these aircraft before the scrap merchants came along and melted the rest down.
I'm amazed more people are not commenting on these amazing images on this thread Shorty. I'm really loving them, and appreciating them.
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Post by baldrick on Jul 22, 2008 11:42:05 GMT 12
Thanks Shorty your New Guinea pix are quite fascinating, if you have any more I for one would love to see them. Simmo
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Post by skyhawkdon on Jul 22, 2008 12:49:20 GMT 12
I must agree with Dave on this thread Shorty - simply fantastic -all your photos and information are real gems. Please keep them coming!
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jb
Squadron Leader
Posts: 132
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Post by jb on Jul 22, 2008 14:13:44 GMT 12
Fantastic thread, great images and insight into the recovery, would love to see/read more.
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Post by shorty on Jul 22, 2008 14:34:31 GMT 12
Thanks guys, Just before I go on a couple of things to perhaps clarify the situaation. This expedtion was just prior to PNG getting its independance and clamped down on rhe removal of their heritage relics. After the war the salvage rights for differents areas were sold of to various people who moved in with mobile smelters. Places like Biak where lots of aircraft were made the whole process financially economic but Tadji was a different ball game.There is only about 15 miles of road in the Aitape/Tadji area, to the west the road heads towards a river and to the east it goes only as far as the Tadji airfield. The only way in or out of Aitape is by air (we went in by Islander) or by sea, there is no wharf so it has to be a landing craft type vessel. Although there were a fair number of aircraft around the area there were not enough to justify shipping in a smelter. At the time we were there the white population was just four of us, Me and Monty, the hotel owner and the District Patrol Officer (he was the Australian area supervisor, sort of like the head prefect, responsible for the general administrative, welfare and smooth running of the West Sepik area, a guy in his 30s) Part way through our stay the Dutch hotelier decided that he wasn't making any money so he locked the place up, gave us the keys to the kitchen and our room (but not the Bar!), told us to hand them into the police station when we left and then he shot through! Continuing the Helio flight up to the US end of the complex and looking carefully you should be able to see at least 6 P-39s, 2 P-40s a B-25, a A-20 and some B 17 tail surfaces. by Neville Mines, on Flickr Aerial View US area by Neville Mines, on Flickr Aerial View of US area by Neville Mines, on Flickr The P-39 on the left just visible below the foliage was under a guava tree-my favourite fruit, how lucky can you get! Speaking of fruit, the boys taught me how to climb a coconut tree (using a plaited thong) and how to crack a nut open to get the drink inside, very refreshing and the local boys were very pleased that I learnt to do it. A few years later, my then wife was gobsmacked when, while we were in New Caledonia, I shinnied up a coconut palm and got a drink for her! The other skill we had to learn was how understand and speak pidgin, a skill I've not needed much since then!
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Post by skyhawkdon on Jul 22, 2008 15:28:30 GMT 12
Of all the aircraft recovered how many would be flying today?
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Post by shorty on Jul 22, 2008 19:28:17 GMT 12
Of the ones that I know have taken to the air there is P-40N-1 A29-448 "Currawong" with Darby and Hogan. Also the P-40N "Little Jeanne" is also flying (see CWD Vol9 No 3)That is the one you can see in the photos with the ammo hatches missing. Other ones from Tadji that are under restoration is one for the RAF Museum and A29-405 with G Orphan.
The P-39 (42-19993) in front of the Mitchell is the one that came back here with Monty Armstrong and then went to Australia with him, was onsold and restored for Peter Grey with whom it now flies as "Brooklyn Bum III" Another ex Tadji P 39 is 42-19027 ("Little Sir Echo) which is on static display with The Air Museum at Chino. 42-19995 is under restoration to fly at Beaver Falls for Dave Tallichet but since his death I don't know who will now take it up. Other aircraft are spread around the world awaiting restoration, mainly in the US, interesting that there is about a 30 year time frame between recovery and flying for these aircraft.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 22, 2008 20:49:16 GMT 12
"Little Sir Echo" is a great nose art name. It comes from a popular song of the time that goes, "Little Sir Echo how do you do? Hello, hello"
Brooklyn Bum III is with Stephen Grey's TFC.
The P-40N that Paul McSweeney and his team at Pioneer are currently rebuilding also came from Tadji, didn't it? It's ex-RAAF and was somehow flattened.
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Post by shorty on Jul 22, 2008 21:29:16 GMT 12
Ok here's just a few shots (yeah, the rest are slides) from the US end of the outfit. First of all is Brooklyn Bum with the wing of Little Jeanne behind it. Interestingly that P 40 had Chinese markings under the wings. On all the P-39s the pilots and crew chiefs names were visible. There is a couple of P-39s behind getting covered in the shrubbery and also a another P-40 P-39s and P-40 by Neville Mines, on Flickr This is the one that was by the Guava tree. P-39 Brooklyn Bum II by Neville Mines, on Flickr next we have a view from under the wing of the Havoc (A 20G-40 43-21627 3 rd Bomb Group) of the most accesable of the P-39s and out hired Datsun ute. For the benefit of Denys you can see where we have a cable going from under the bonnet to the rear tray where the battery was kept as it had a habit of catching fire on us and we could quickly kick it off the back as required. P-39Q 41-19995 by Neville Mines, on Flickr Next we have two of the P-39s from TsiliTsili being floated down the Watut river to the coast Watut River by Neville Mines, on Flickr and finally closer to home we have Monties P-39 loaded on a MOTAT truck at Ardmore readied for the trip to Western Springs Monties P-39 Leaving Ardmore for Motat by Neville Mines, on Flickr
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 22, 2008 22:10:26 GMT 12
That river shot is fantastic! What a great adventure!
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Post by Peter Lewis on Jul 22, 2008 22:15:16 GMT 12
These days they would make an 'Intrepid Journeys' TV documentary on that sort of trip.
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Post by shorty on Jul 22, 2008 22:54:40 GMT 12
You can see why when I was asked to go and help I didn't have to think too long about it. Fortunately I had some leave stacked up and manage also to talk my Flight Commander into bit of an advance. I was away for six weeks..Didn't get paid for the work but it was all expenses paid trip.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 22, 2008 23:00:45 GMT 12
A big O.E. that not many will have experienced.
What was PNG like in the pre-independence days? Was it a lot more settled? I know it's a very violent and unpredictable place these days.
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