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Post by shorty on Aug 17, 2009 22:05:11 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 17, 2009 23:07:14 GMT 12
Great shots of the Sundy Nev. I was there yesterday with James Kightly (JDK here on the forum). Lots of things happening there!!
John, I guess for the Navigators the Skyhawks were a step backwards because they lost their postings to the strike squadron.
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Post by corsair67 on Aug 17, 2009 23:58:07 GMT 12
Yep, I reckon the Navs would have been rooting for the F-4C over the A-4K.
Shorty, approx. when would you have taken those Sunderland photos?
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Post by shorty on Aug 19, 2009 22:55:24 GMT 12
Shorty, approx. when would you have taken those Sunderland photos? Uhh ,I took them the day it arrived. (Sorry too good an oppurtunity too miss!) However to tell what you probably really wanted to know, I think it would have been late 1967 as I have photos of it on the water at Hobby taken in mid 67 when I was at 1 TTS and I was posted south at Christmas. Here are some shots of the Solent which was the first aircraft on the Meola Rd site. First of all sitting in the Meola Creek Well it was sitting in the creek until the tide went out
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Post by shorty on Aug 19, 2009 23:07:45 GMT 12
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Post by shorty on Aug 19, 2009 23:23:36 GMT 12
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Post by Richard Wesley on Aug 20, 2009 1:48:13 GMT 12
Great photos there Shorty. Interesting to see some close ups of the Solent. The Sunderland always looked in pretty good order on arrival at Motat, and I did think that Solent was the same. Looks like she had been a bit forgotten by the time she made it to her final home though.
Other very interesting items are the removal of the Solent tail fin for the trip (massive job just in itself, its like the size of a very fat wing), and the engines being removed and transported complete with propellers still attached (is that really easier? maybe they were well stuck on already?).
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Post by Richard Wesley on Aug 20, 2009 1:51:06 GMT 12
Ah, with another look I see the power lines across the road in one shot that I guess made removing the fin on both flying boats necessary...
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woody
Leading Aircraftman
Posts: 6
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Post by woody on Aug 20, 2009 9:08:54 GMT 12
Those Solent shots take me back a few years,I was one of the TEAL guys standing under the wing.I remember there being a couple of "hiccup's"on that move,the beaching dolly under the tail became stuck on the makeshift ramp and parted company with the aircraft which was then dragged out of the water sliding on it's keel. It then had to be jacked and the dolly refitted. The other problem was arriving at Meola Rd. off centre with the power pole spacing and due to time restraints on the road closure the port wing tip had to be hurriedly removed with the aid of an axe!
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Post by shorty on Aug 20, 2009 19:10:33 GMT 12
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Post by shorty on Aug 21, 2009 16:09:48 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 21, 2009 16:54:06 GMT 12
No. 5 Squadron hangar is concrete.
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Post by beagle on Aug 21, 2009 18:23:34 GMT 12
thats the hangar that had the liferaft bay, cargo parachute bay, SEMS, and MT workshops
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Post by shorty on Aug 21, 2009 18:36:11 GMT 12
No. 5 Squadron hangar is concrete. During my time at Whenuapai 5 were in the first hangar you came to, it was painted dull red and you could still read "TEAL" across the front. Hercs and Orions were serviced in the concrete hangar with the patched roof and the Freighters lived in the next one. Hastings were down the far end.
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Post by shorty on Aug 21, 2009 20:54:19 GMT 12
First Andover to land at Woodbourne. Note the kiwi zap by the door and the painted panel where the previous owners name was and where Royal New Zealand Air Force now appears.
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Post by shorty on Aug 21, 2009 21:41:54 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 22, 2009 4:04:02 GMT 12
No. 5 Squadron hangar is concrete. During my time at Whenuapai 5 were in the first hangar you came to, it was painted dull red and you could still read "TEAL" across the front. Hercs and Orions were serviced in the concrete hangar with the patched roof and the Freighters lived in the next one. Hastings were down the far end. You were just waiting for some plonker like me to come along and fall into your trap. I was not aware that No. 5 Squadron had shifted hangars.
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Post by northcro on Aug 22, 2009 16:29:01 GMT 12
Shorty the MOTAT Sunderland photos brought back many memories of our early days in the 60's and 70's as volunteers at MOTAT Aviation Division out at Meola Road and Western Springs.
The Sunderland was delivered and ultmately re-assembled fully complete right down to the operational Aldus lamp in the cockpit, fully operational radio equipment aboard, there was even a reasonable quantity of fuel left in the tanks, the APU was working beauftifully able to recharge the heavy duty batteries aboard, even the meths burners worked in the cooker in the galley and a collection of utensils were also still on board. Certainly regrettably very different to the condition she is in today. If the engines had not been inhibited I would imagine they could have been fired up also, everything else was certainly working in her including all of the electrics throughout.
Because the aircraft was starting to attract vandals where attempts were being made to smash the perspex windows next to the beaching gear to get inside, I spent six of the most hilarious evenings I have ever had in my life, aboard overnight from late Saturday afternoon through to Sunday morning on guard duties with five others. Unfortunately I cannot remember if you were one of the team on board Shorty or not. I know PD was the nominated leader of our team on duty. We all manned the cockpit, the front and rear turrets and the bomb room behind the galley from dark until mid-night then we rotated two teams of two every two hours while two could get some sleep on the bunks below unless called upon from midnight through to daylight in the morning which inevitably they were awoken from the laughter in the cockpit when things started happening outside.
We used to cook dinner in the evening and breakfast in the morning in the galley for the six of us taking turns to do the cooking. We ensured that we did not starve I can assure you loading the aircraft up with provisions early Saturday mornings. With the original heavy duty batteries aboard and the radios fully working we had a radio communication link with the Pt Chev Fire Station and Musick Point for emergencies. On the Sunday mornings we used to start up the APU using fuel still in the fuel tanks and recharge the batteries ready for the next week's activities.
We were also had aboard an Electra main Landing Light from the Electra that crashed at Whenuapai which could beam a strong light right across the harbour to Kauri Point. With no framing, just the bare sealed beam unit it soon got very hot to hold, which would successfully burn your hands if you held onto it for too long. It would literally blind anyone looking at the beam from Meola Road which we did on a couple of occasions around 2am in the morning which is another story where people would park their cars and illegally dump rubbish off the path leading down to the creek.
You would be absolutely amazed what went on at the Meola tip on a Saturday night, including one couples very amorous activities in the back seat of a car during the early hours of one of the evenings. When the Aldus and the Electra light beam was lined up to shine through the back window of the car and the car suddenly lit up as if it was daylight, you can picture what happened soon after, when the guy rapidlytumbled out of the back seat of the car through one of the back doors with trousers around his ankles trying to clamber into the drivers seat, spinning the car around on the metal dump on the tip just below the Sunderland and ultimately managing to drive his car up over the bank and back down on to Meola Road with the beams of light held on to his car as he shot up Meola Road with the car back door still open waving in the breeze as he zig zagged his way back up the road towards the city. Spoil sports you may say.....well you could be right!!!
What with a Police Raid of about 12 cops on the first night when the leader forgot to inform the Police we were going to be inside the aircraft and someone obviously saw mysterious activity just on dusk even though the windows were all blacked out; a short lived beer party held by hoons under one of the wings around midnight on another evening. They had parked their cars nicely lined up under where the bomb racks move out under the wing from the bomb room, so when the two galley side bomb doors dropped with a helluva crash and a couple 250lb dummy bombs which had been loaded onto the bomb racks in the bomb room for this very occasion started going out along the racks and appearing right above their cars, the klaxon horn in the aircraft going full blast and characters jumping out of the upper fuselage escape hatch onto the upper fuselage and wings making such a noise very reminiscent of the sounds of a maori haka what else could an innocent hoon do, but literally take to his heels and get the hell out of there ...and quick. This they they did never to return ...fortunately...during the remaining time we were there. Their collection of full and half empty beer bottles they had originally nicely lined up on roofs of their cars were left behind on the ground during their very rapid withdrawal, was most welcome as a bonus for our endeavours guarding such a valuable addition to the MOTAT collection. It was a wonder we weren't raided again by the Police especially with all the noise created by both us and especially the hoons with the screaming motors of their cars heading in two different directions up Meola Road with their doors and boot doors flapping open and close!!
There were a number of other escapades either very late in the evening or early Sunday mornings during our six weeks of night guard duties. It was like when you have possums blinded in the headlights of your car. The surprise look on the guilty and not so guilty ones caught out knowing they should not be in the area was absolutely priceless, totally blinded and not knowing what they were up against and where the hell the bright lights suddenly came from.
There were many other hilarious situations arising during those early days at MOTAT. The Asplin yard photo also brings back memories of a team of us visiting the area to dig up P-40 exhaust stacks. There are also other memories of stripping down two Sunderlands at Hobsonville for spare parts for Queenie. One turret we mounted onto the back of trailer, pointing on an angle slightly forward to the left and we had put broom sticks in the turret as if it still had guns aboard. This involved a passing cop getting the speed wobbles on his motor bike and nearly falling off onto the North Western Motorway when he casually glanced across at the turret pointing his way. They were fun days setting the foundations for part of the aviation collection MOTAT has today.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 22, 2009 18:54:17 GMT 12
Great stories David! I wonder what those vandals and hoons grew up to be, probably all bank managers, lawyers and property inverstors nowadays.
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Post by corsair67 on Aug 22, 2009 20:02:20 GMT 12
;D ;D ;D ;D
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