Some Photos From My Stash

[shorty]

Staying with Vampires here we have two of the stored ones being moved from the storage end of 5 hangar to the TTS end. They had to go around the outside as the hangar was divided in two by the Auster crates being used as offices.
To save space the tail boom were detached and stored on top of the wings in wooden racks.
In this first photo NZ 5758 is in the foreground with its red nosewheel door and bullet tail fairings.
Note the all silver Bristol sticking out of ARS hangar.
scan0034 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
The two aircraft are here parked next to the building that was used as the TTS classroom. It was arranged so that the framies were in class while the sumpies were working on the aircraft and vice versa.
NZ 5769 is the front one here.
scan0033 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
Last one for this session is a much later shot of NZ5772.
NZ 5772 Gate guardian by Neville Mines, on Flickr

[shorty]

Another sad shot taken at the far side of Woodbourne in 1968. Unusual in that it is the only remnants I have seen of the camouflaged Vampires. Notice the remains of the 75 squadron badge of the side.
Identities are unknown of these (bit hard to read serial on burnt out wood!)
scan0036 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
scan0037 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
scan0038 by Neville Mines, on Flickr

Time to move on to slides of a different type, will probably come back to Vampires when I start on the negatives

[Dave Homewood]

Interesting artifacts there Shorty. Sad indeed.

[agalbraith]

Great photos Shorty, very interesting indeed

Thanks!

[corsair67]

Again, great photos, Shorty.

Sad to see the end of those Sunderlands and Vampires though.

[shorty]

Continuing with our trip around the Woodbourne perimeter track in 1968 brings us to Fairhall. Now those of you who have been paying attention and taking notes (there WILL be a 3 hour oral exam!) may recall that in post #227 there was discussion of the two Oxfords at the Walsh's residence and a photo of one of the aircraft in 1948.
Here are some shots of what they were like when I saw them in 1968
This is "71"
NZ 1271 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
NZ 1271 rear by Neville Mines, on FlickrNZ 1271 cockpit by Neville Mines, on Flickr

and this is the other unknown one.
Fairhall Farm pair by Neville Mines, on Flickr
Fairhall farm by Neville Mines, on Flickr

[obiwan27]

Great pics thanks Shorty, what a crying shame seeing those Sunderlands in such a state after only a few months of your shot of 'M' on the water......

[Dave Homewood]

Those are super interesting photos of the poor old Oxford remains. How did they come to be in this state? I mean did the owners actually deliberately gradually chop them up to use bits off them and use plywood as firewood? Or is that just natural deterioration from 20 years of weather? If only they'd put one into their hangar. Oh well, hindsight's a fine thing.

[Deleted]

Where are these remains now? I visited a hangar at Omaka several times with literally tons of Oxford bits...oh for some wood to hang them off .

Zac the Oxford fan

[shorty]

They were used by the kids as playhouses, forts, bombers, chookhouses, whatever and you can bet they weren't treated too kindly. Oxfords were made of very thin ply.
At that time there were lots of Oxford remains around Marlborough but all you usually found were the centre section spars, firewall and nacelles, flaps and what was left of the cockpit as the canopy slowly sank down through it with the rotting of the plywood.
Just before I continue around the track I'll just add the last two Oxford remains.
These were bought by Jack Ruffell (owner of the hydroplane Tru-Jen) and I saw them in a vacant section in what is now a cul de sac called Taylor St in Blenheim (between Stephenson St and Muller Rd). When I bought a house in Blenheim (in Hale St) it was only 3 sections away from where the photo was taken.
Ruffells site by Neville Mines, on Flickr
The road in the background is Houldsworth St now a sealed built up road
Ruffells Blenhiem by Neville Mines, on Flickr

[Deleted]

I hope these were rescued and will return to life somehow in the future.

Shorty, it goes without saying but you are indeed quite the goldmine of aviation history! Love it!

[Peter Lewis]

Hairy/Marcus will have lots of late-1940s shots of Oxfords just settling into their new (and final) homes in backyards and farms.

[harvard1041]

Great shots (again) Nev - well remember those Oxford bits on the section off Muller Rd, Blenheim - there was an exhaust ring for a Cheetah up in a tree there (1982 ish) ...been there for a while.. so much so that the tree had grown around it - sort of a permanent horseshoe !

Great shots of John Walsh's Oxfords as well ... what was in the dump along the river on the back boundary of WB back in 1968 ?

Rgds
Hvd1041

[shorty]

Continuing a 1968 trip around the Woodbourne perimeter we have some shots just for Al.
The first shot is taken from the area of Walsh's Oxfords with assorted ex New Guinea and ex Pakistan Air Force Freighters
scan0083 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
Next two from the Longbank installation (the USAF were still there at that stage), again with a PAF Freighter and a PNG one and a SAFE fuselage.

scan0089 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
scan0079 by Neville Mines, on Flickr

[shorty]

While I am doing Freighters I might as well throw these in (while I look for my blower brush!)
The camo one is at Ohakea.
Note the SAFE one has no rego and a Pakistani wing.

scan0091 by Neville Mines, on Flickr

scan0090 by Neville Mines, on Flickr

NZ 5912 f by Neville Mines, on Flickr

[shorty]

I've now moved down to the scrap metal compound beside the rifle range, this was Cpl Nukunuku's empire (I later became his neighbour) and the yard was filled with all sorts of neat stuff. It's also the area where all the Mustang tool kits were buried.
Woodbourne Scrap Compound 1968 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
Woodbourne Scrap compound by Neville Mines, on Flickr

[Dave Homewood]

Wow! Is that Harvard and Devon material there??

[shorty]

Yep, it was mainly Harvard and Vampire with a smaller amount of Devon

[shorty]

I thought I'd end this 1968 "Tour de Woodbourne" back where we started, with the TTS servicing fleet.
I hummed and hahed about posting these in the Harvard Pile but in the end decided to keep them here.
scan0075 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
scan0076 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
scan0077 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
It used to fun and games when they would get a pilot to come and taxy them while we learnt to marshall aircraft. The pilot would do exactly what you indicated (short of damaging things) so the aircraft used to end up in all sorts of strange positions, nearly entangled with fences, stuck so close to rugby posts that they needed to be manhandled out, wandering off across the airfield. Much entertainment!

[shorty]

Last of the slsides of the TTS aircraft.
I still can't believe that we used to get paid for lounging around in the sun, working on our tans and playing around with aircraft.
Beats the hell out of working for a living!
scan0078 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
scan0079 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
scan0080 by Neville Mines, on Flickr
Another good act used to be wait for the sumpies to make all their adjustments and then go for a joe break with the intention of running the engines after. While they were away the framies would carefully readjust the engines for them and listen to all the troubles they had trying to get them to start and run.