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Post by DragonflyDH90 on Feb 25, 2013 21:18:37 GMT 12
This is a long shot but thought it worth a go.
Does anyone have any old film footage of CCG, any period at all.
Also any phtotgraphs would be greatly appreciated.
I am trying to assist John MacDonald's son Greg find anything out there that might not have seen the light of day.
There is a thread on the forum relating to CCG with some great colour shots posted by fockewulf (who I will PM also) but anything else, particularly film would be greatly appreciated.
Greg has a bit but would love more.
Ryan
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 25, 2013 22:31:32 GMT 12
Ryan, there are some photos of ZK-CCG in the Graeme Cossgrove collection, posted in the preservation thread I think.
It's amazing because for two weeks I have been meaning to post a thread about this aircraft, NZ's first proper warbird. And ask for photos and memories of it.
A home movie was made at the time when they restored it, a movie camera can be seen in a lovely coloured photo that Anthony Galbraith posted some years back. Does Greg have a copy of that film?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 25, 2013 22:47:24 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 25, 2013 22:49:47 GMT 12
Does Greg need appearance dates at airshows? I have some if he's interested. It seems to have done quite a few.
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Post by Radialicious on Feb 26, 2013 1:53:48 GMT 12
Ryan, I have an 8mm reel at home with a short colour segment of a flypast of CCG at Woodbourne. I'm not sure of the date or the event but will ask Dad as he filmed it. I also have some footage of the Deepfreeze C-124 Globemaster when they were based at Woodbourne. I'll dig them out.
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Post by denysjones on Feb 26, 2013 9:00:47 GMT 12
If someone knows how to make contact with Phil Burns these days he may be worth a chase up.
Several of us from the AHSNZ visited the a/c on Ron Fechney's farm (where it was stored in between outings) one day when he was doing high speed taxis and I'm pretty sure Phil filmed it.
I also recall John MacDonald talking at AHSNZ and showing a film on the a/c. Included was a segment taken out back of the cockpit on take-off emphasising the application of rudder in that phase of flight. I wonder where that went if Greg doesn't have it or access to it.
DaveD if you see this does that ring bells with you?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 26, 2013 10:28:47 GMT 12
ZK-CCG displayed at the following airshows (at least)
Auckland International Airport Opening, Mangere - Saturday 29th of January 1966 (John MacDonald pilot)
Hamilton Airport Opening, Rukuhia - 26th of March 1966 (John MacDonald pilot)
ZK-CCG was scheduled to fly at the Napier Aero Club Airshow on the 21st of May 1966 but was cancelled due to a faulty battery problem grounding it
Dannevirke Air Display - 11th of December 1966 (John MacDonald pilot)
Fred Dunn Memorial Pageant, Christchurch International Airport, Harewood - 26 of February 1967 (Ron Fenchney pilot)
Southern Districts Aero Club Rally, Gore Airport - 26 of February 1967 (Ron Fenchney pilot)
RNZAC Pageant, New Plymouth - 4-5 March 1967 (John MacDonald pilot)
I know it also appeared at Ardmore, Woodbourne and Whenuapai at different times too but don't yet have the dates.
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Post by bobajob on Feb 26, 2013 12:37:10 GMT 12
I remember seeing it fly past Hobsonville "Married Patch" in about 1965/66.
Bob Howard
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Post by chinapilot on Feb 26, 2013 15:37:06 GMT 12
Not much help but had lots of B&W taken at Wellington when he parked over at the old domestic terminal area.
If anyone knows what happened to George Rookers photo collection they'll be there as I gave him all my photos when I left NZ for the first time in '70.
BTW John MacDonald was the epitomy of the 'nice guys' in NZ aviation at that time - a great guy. Flew the DC-3 with Mt Cook also.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 26, 2013 17:43:40 GMT 12
Were MacDonald and Fenchney ex-wartime pilots?
What was the reaction of the public to have an ex-military fighter appearing at the relatively tame civil airshows and air pageants back then? Was it as much a drawcard as ZK-TAF became later?
And what was their air display like? Did they push it hard, and do aerobatics?
How did it even come about that this aircraft got to fly on the civil register? That must be a huge story in itself.
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Post by DragonflyDH90 on Feb 26, 2013 19:48:31 GMT 12
Right, some great info here.
Al. That sounds fantastic, greatly appreciated.
Dave. Thanks for the dates, that may help make sense of some pictures and film Greg has.
chinapilot. Will try and chase that also. That is interesting to hear about John and is no real surprise as Greg is the same, a really great guy with a fantastic sense of humour and a very talented aviator as well.
denysjones. Greg has the film you speak of and it is wonderful. There is somewhere near 1hr of Super8 film from the day the began disassembly of the aircraft at Woodbourne right the way through to '74 when it last flew from Omaha to Harewood for breakdown at the Deep Freeze hangar to container to the US.
The footage is really cool with camera footage of building, test runs, first flights, high altitude flights, aerobatics, airshows, ground footage, just really neat stuff.
Greg is trying to compile as much for a family scrapbook and film archive as he can.
Now to answer Dave's last post as in is very interesting. This is as told by Greg so I hope I don't get it too wrong.
Both Ron and John were never wartime pilots. They were aeroclub types who had the urge. As mentioned John flew DC-3's but they were Auster pilots (sorry to say - oh hang on so am I), John flew Miles Whitney Straight, Cub's etc and the usually aeroclub fodder.
To prepare for the aerobatic side of the things John flew the Zlin Super Trener.
They spoke with a few of the down to earth Mustang pilots, read the handling notes, thought about it logically and went flying.
The displays, from the 8mm footage Greg has, showed a very nice and spirited display (including much aerobatic flight) from John and I imagine Ron was similar.
John set a few records with it also, IIRC a time record from Christchurch (maybe Dunedin) to Auckland beating a previous military record with a Mosquito by a considerable margin.
It seems as if the aircraft was very well received by the general population and it was seen far and wide at pageants and airshows sporting its Mobil sponsorship scheme. Mobil were heavily involved with the aircraft from start to finish as well as support from many other aviation organisations around and even a huge amount of support and encouragement from the military.
There were a lot of hoops to jump through to get on the civil register, one of which was a requirement for a non military scheme, but they did it. WOW!!!
Sorry to go on but I thought it was such a fantastic story.
Hopefully some more comes to light from you guys.
Many thanks in advance.
Just a last thing. Greg continues the family tradition starting his engineering apprenticeship with Mount Cook (748 days) and now a senior Captain with them, he flies a huge array of aircraft include most of the TVAL collection and is rebuilding an Auster, Piper Pacer and a Miles Whitney Straight. A top bloke.
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Post by baz62 on Feb 26, 2013 21:32:02 GMT 12
I helped Greg put the wings on his Auster last month, and it was only then when he mentioned the Mustang and his dad that his last name clicked with me!! Durrrrr!
I saw CCG on its last flight in 1974, heard it before i saw it and even though I'd never seen or heard a Mustang before, somehow I knew what it was before I saw it. I'd seen photos so seeing that bubble canopy as he swooped over my school (Cobham Intermediate) just had my mouth hanging open in awe.
To this day it is the start of my love of old aircraft and WW2 in particular, although my Dad helped when I was even younger by making a MKV Spitfire with me.
Seeing CCG I had no chance ha ha.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 26, 2013 22:21:07 GMT 12
Thanks for the great info there Ryan, really interesting stuff. Please do go on if you know more, it's great.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 26, 2013 22:25:11 GMT 12
Baz that's a great story. I wonder how many other small boys and girls saw ZK-CCG during its active days in the 1960's and also got hooked on aviation because of it, and perhaps are now alos classic and warbird type people?
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 26, 2013 22:39:01 GMT 12
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Post by snaphead on Feb 27, 2013 10:55:05 GMT 12
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Post by davidd on Feb 27, 2013 10:56:17 GMT 12
A small correction to history of Ron Fechney. Despite what has appeared, Ron was in fact a wartime pilot, service number NZ438694, trained at No. 1 Ground Training Depot Harewood from 29/6/43, EGTS Ashburton 16/7/43, AGTW Delta 15/10/43, ITW Rotorua 10/12/43, 3 EFTS Harewood 5/2/44, 1 SFTS Wigram 8/4/44 (obtained his "Wings" on Oxford twin-engine trainer), NEP (Non-effective Pool) Rongotai 27/9/44, then transferred to Reserve 20/10/44 due to glut of multi-engine pilots. Recalled to Active List 24/3/45, reported to Officers School of Instruction (Woodbourne) for an Officer course from this date, to Weapon training and jungle warfare course at Swanson 25/4/45, refresher flying course at CFS, Woodbourne 14/5/45 (Oxfords again), then to 40 Squadron, Whenuapai 25/6/45 under Wing Commander Ron Kirkup, for second pilot duties on C-47s (DC-3); tfd to Reserve September 1945. He completed a full tour of transport flights between NZ and the Pacific Islands, visiting Espiritu Santo, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Green Island, Emirau, Los Negros, Jacquinot Bay, or in other words every airfield normally visited by the RNZAF transport squadrons. All this info from his air force log book, although unfortunately I do not seem to have a note of his captains or other crew members. He was a fairly quiet farmer type so not many people outside his family knew of his wartime career, which admittedly was a fairly quiet one as these things went!
David D
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Post by snaphead on Feb 27, 2013 10:59:02 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 27, 2013 11:50:06 GMT 12
Great photos there Snaphead (Pete), really neat to see. I have fixed the broken link for you in that first post.
Great info there David, thanks.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 27, 2013 11:51:25 GMT 12
I wonder if ZK-CCG had all the original interior equipment fitted or if modifications to the radios, etc were necessary by the 1960's?
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