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Post by TS on Mar 26, 2014 14:04:36 GMT 12
I like the phrase saying " newly-acquired wife". Did he buy her off the shelve or something...??  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 8, 2021 18:01:33 GMT 12
Graham Weston has kindly sent me these two photos to post. He wrote: Note the remaining derelict P-40's were still there in 1966 when the runway opened.   |
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skyman
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 83 
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Post by skyman on Aug 9, 2021 14:09:33 GMT 12
In addition to my recollections of Vulcans at Ohakea (some mentioned above) and other places over the years, one recollection stands out. It must have been around 1972 during a dreary, low cloud day at Ohakea while I was visiting the Armament Squadron crew room. Upon hearing the roar of approaching aircraft I looked out of the window and saw a Skyhawk at low level trailing a hose and drogue from its centre-line air-to-air refueling store (buddy store). Following close behind it at the same height was a Vulcan, but not quite close enough for it to plug-in for a fuel top-up. Unfortunately I have no photographs of the amazing sight but others may remember the occasion and have managed a photo.
Al
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Post by McFly on Aug 10, 2021 12:57:00 GMT 12
"RAF Vulcan flanked by four RNZAF Skyhawks, flying over Ohakea. 3 February 1972 (ohg6759~72)" "Royal Air Force Vulcan flying low over Royal New Zealand Air Force Station Wigram. Viewed along the road in front of Number 6 and 7 Hangars. 27 January 1966 (WgG787~66)" (Air Force Museum Collection)
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 10, 2023 0:27:37 GMT 12
Al Marshall sent me this. He cannot recall where he found it online. I am not sure if it is a really nice genuine image from a slide, or is it a modern day Photoshop? Note the Kiwi roundel.  |
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Post by markrogers on Mar 10, 2023 9:42:12 GMT 12
It could be a colour slide taken at that time. Slides had a much better clarity than colour photos at that time.
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Post by mit on Mar 10, 2023 22:16:00 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 10, 2023 22:18:22 GMT 12
Thanks Mit.
I have no recollection of seeing it before, but I must have done.. Thanks for clearing that up, and for finding that genuine shot too!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2023 8:03:33 GMT 12
The genuine shot is so much cooler, wow!!
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Post by nuuumannn on Mar 28, 2023 10:46:54 GMT 12
That shot appeared in Aeroplane Monthly too, great photo. Something I posted on Zac's facebook page when he posted this on it was a recollection told to me years back when I worked at the RAF Museum. On board the Vulcan that came down this way was a piece of the German Battleship Tirpitz. Back following the sinking of the ship, the Norwegians gave the RAF a bulkhead from the ship as a gift, and it went to 617 Sqn, but IX Sqn, who also took part (!) decided they didn't approve of the affront and decided to nick the bulkhead! So this happened over the next 20 to 30 years, where this rather heavy item got stolen from each squadron's respective facilities and to prevent it going missing when the squadrons were deployed on overseas rotations, the bulkhead was loaded aboard an aircraft and taken along for the ride. The guy did tell me it made it to New Zealand at this time! It is now on display at the RAF Museum, or at least it was for a number of years and was when I worked there. The museum seems keen to change its displays right now, so I don't know if it still is.  RAFM 206 |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 26, 2024 23:43:06 GMT 12
From The Press, 1 September 1956
VULCAN PLANE’S VISIT
FLIGHT OVER SOUTH ISLAND CITIES
ADVICE ON SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS
(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON. August 31.
The Royal Air Force Vulcan bomber to visit Christchurch will land at Harewood aerodrome on the afternoon of September 18, and will remain there overnight under armed guard. Next day it will make a demonstration flight over cities in the South Island, and go to Ohakea. The plane will fly to Christchurch from Edinburgh Field, near Adelaide, by way of Tasmania — a distance of 1692 miles.
The operational plan and security arrangements for the bomber's four-day visit to New Zealand were radioed from the Air Ministry in London to the headquarters of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in Wellington this morning.
Although the Vulcan is one of Britain’s most secret operational planes, the Air Ministry, prompted by the recently-formed New Zealand Air League, wishes as many of the public as possible to see the bomber. While the plane is on the ground at Harewood, visitors will be allowed to approach to within 20 yards of it. They may photograph the plane from any angle beyond that distance. No-one, apart from the crew, will be permitted to enter the aircraft, or to take photographs through spaces leading to its interior.
After leaving Harewood, the plane will be based at Ohakea till September 22, when it will leave for Amberley Field, Queensland. It will make a demonstration flight over Palmerston North, Hamilton, and Auckland, on September 20.
Help With Navigation
A New Zealand airman may be permitted to fly in the Vulcan to help the crew with local navigation and topographic problems. The plane is expected to fly over southern cities at a height of 2000 ft, and at a speed of between 250 and 300 miles an hour. Air Force officers say that, because of the size of the Vulcan (which is classed as a medium bomber), the speed will look deceptively slow, but that some high-speed runs may be made.
One of Britain’s most distinguished airmen will pilot the Vulcan. He is Air Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst. Air Marshal Broadhurst is chief of Bomber Command. His co-pilot will be Squadron Leader D. R. Howard. Air Marshal Broadhurst’s personal programme has not yet been arranged. It is likely that, after being met at Harewood by the Chief of the New Zealand Air Staff (Air Vice Marshal C. E. Kay), he will stay in Christchurch overnight before flying to Wellington, where he will spend two days before rejoining the Vulcan. He is expected to be tendered a Ministerial luncheon on September 20.
At Harewood, the Vulcan will be refuelled with more than 6000 gallons of kerosene.
Three Other Planes
Two transport planes and a Canberra jet aircraft will accompany the Vulcan. The transports will be Hastings of the R.A.F. Transport Command. One of them will arrive at Harewood from Adelaide on September 17. The other will arrive next day. The planes will carry servicing crews, spare parts and baggage.
The Canberra will be a photographic reconnaissance plane of Bomber Command. It is expected to arrive at Harewood two hours before the Vulcan. The pilot of the Canberra will be Squadron Leader F. M. McKay, who is Air Marshal Broadhurst’s aide.
MAYOR WELCOMES VISIT
“VALUE OF HAREWOOD EMPHASISED”
(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON. August 31.
“The visit of one of the world’s best and highest-powered bombers to Christchurch as a first-choice airport emphasises the value of Harewood not only to our city, but to the whole of New Zealand,’’ said the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr R. M. Macfarlane. M.P.) in Wellington today. Mr Macfarlane was commenting on the visit of the Royal Air Force Vulcan bomber to New Zealand next month.
“Harewood can handle the fastest and biggest aircraft in the world, and the claim we have made—that we can take anything we can fly—is vindicated by the visit of this formidable air group,’’ he said. “The visit also serves to keep in mind that we must ensure that we have extensions in the future, so we can keep up to date with the best facilities, as befits a leading aerodrome.
“We are delighted to welcome the R.A.F. group to Christchurch, and we wish them a pleasant stay while they are in New Zealand,’’ said Mr Macfarlane.
PLANNING FOR HUGE CROWDS
The Christchurch City Council is already preparing plans to handle the huge crowds expected to go to Harewood to see the Vulcan delta-wing jet bomber on September 18.
“Every time a new aircraft of any size — especially jet aircraft — has come to Harewood, the crowds have exceeded all expectations,” said the Town Clerk (Mr H. S. Feast) yesterday. “You might say that we now have a store of experience in handling this sort of thing.”
In collaboration with other traffic authorities and the police the council would arrange for the control of crowds and traffic on the airport.
"More important, we will devise a plan for traffic on the roads to and from Harewood,” Mr Feast said. Until the time of the Vulcan’s visit was definitely known, details would not be announced, but all visitors would help the authorities and themselves by adhering strictly to instructions. Persons who had not complied the past had been responsible for difficulties on the roads.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 27, 2024 0:02:28 GMT 12
Full crew details from The Press, 19 September 1956:
DEPARTURE FROM AUSTRALIA
The Vulcan of the Royal Air Force left Edinburgh airfield, near Adelaide, at morning-tea time yesterday, and did not arrive at Harewood airport until Christchurch office-workers were going home. The distance is 1664 miles. But. that is rather deceptive. It was 10.15 a.m., Adelaide time, when the Vulcan took off, and that is 12.45 p.m. New Zealand time. And on its flight the Vulcan came down over Launceston, in northern Tasmania, and Hobart, in the south.
The actual Tasman crossing, from Hobart to Christchurch, was done at an average speed of 634 miles an hour, and at a height of 40,000 feet. Squadron Leader Donald Howard, D.F.C., A.F.C., the 33-year-old pilot of the Vulcan, said yesterday: “The weather over ’Launceston was lousy, and we saw little, but it was fine over Hobart, and we had a lovely crossing after that.” The aircraft circled Hobart for some time.
The parachute which broke from the Vulcan’s tail was a standard fitting, but rarely used, he said. It was not needed yesterday because of the long runway at Harewood, but Squadron Leader Howard thought the spectators would be interested to see it in use.
On its tail the Vulcan wears the coat of arms of the City of Lincoln, to which the squadron, the 230 Operational Conversion Unit, R.A.F., is affiliated. Squadron Leader Howard has been flying Vulcans for 18 months, and on this flight the aircraft has as a passenger Mr F. Bassett, the A. V. Roe Company representative at Waddington, the unit’s base.
Others in the crew are the co-pilot, Squadron Leader James Stroud; navigator, Squadron Leader Edward Eames; second navigator, Flight Lieutenant John Rowell; and air electronics officer, Squadron Leader Albert Gamble.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 27, 2024 0:04:25 GMT 12
Also from The Press, 19 September 1956:
CANBERRA AS ESCORT
The Royal Air Force Canberra bomber, which is escorting the Vulcan on this tour, landed about 3.30 p.m., covering the 1664 miles in three hours and 50 minutes.
Squadron Leader S. M. Mackay, the pilot, was met by Air Commodore G. C. Eveleigh (R.A.F.), Assistant-Chief of Air Staff, R.N.Z.A.F., and Group Captain F. R. Dix, officer commanding the R.N.Z.A.F. station. Wigram.
With Squadron Leader Mackay were Flight Lieutenant F. J. Greenslade, as navigator, and Sergeant J. M. Carrigan, a ground technician, as engineer.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 27, 2024 0:06:23 GMT 12
From The Press, 19 September 1956:
Personal Items
Squadron Leader Donald Howard, pilot of the R.A.F. Vulcan which arrived in Christchurch yesterday, was met on his arrival at Harewood airport by his uncle, Mr Arthur Dennis of Christchurch. Squadron Leader Howard has a number of New Zealand, but does not expect to see more than one or two. Mr Dennis came to New Zealand four or five years ago.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 27, 2024 0:18:55 GMT 12
From The Press, 20 September 1956:
VULCAN LEAVES HAREWOOD
Contrast Between Old And New
THOUSANDS WATCH DEPARTURE
The Royal Air Force four-jet delta-winged Vulcan medium-range bomber, which landed at Harewood airport on Tuesday afternoon, roared off the runway on its flight to Ohakea at 10.43 a.m. yesterday. Two minutes later, unnoticed by all but a few of the several thousand persons who watched the Vulcan depart, a National Airways Corporation DC3 aircraft left on a routine flight. The contrast between the old and the new was strikingly brought out during the Vulcan’s visit.
The conventional engines and plane surfaces of the Shackelton parked close to it bore little obvious relation to their counterparts in the Vulcan. The Shackelton sat sedately upon its conventional undercarriage; the Vulcan —perhaps because of the slight backward slant of its nose wheel —seemed to lean forward.
The Vulcan's engines were started, one by one, by a mobile starting plant. Communication with the pilot was established by hand signals, and by a telephone plugged in under the tail of the aircraft. As each engine fired the man using this, who wore a flying helmet, had to force the earphones against his head to try to eliminate as much as possible the high-pitched shriek of the exhausts.
Perhaps a minute after the engines fired, a shimmering haze of heat extended several feet behind the aircraft. A few minutes later this extended for 20 yards, and dust and scraps of paper 40 or 50 yards away were whirled into the air.
Persons standing behind the rope barrier at the rear of the Vulcan were enveloped in clouds of dust. A policeman turned away, holding his helmet on to his head.
The Take-off
As the pilot got a double “thumbs up” sign from the officer near the nose of the aircraft, the entrance hatch in the belly of the Vulcan, forward of its wing, closed smoothly and the aircraft began to move. Perched on its, undercarriage 10 to 12 feet above the ground, the Vulcan was clearly visible over the crowd as it moved from the tarmac to the space before the control tower and on to the west end of the runway.
The all clear signal was received from the tower, the aircraft’s jets roared, and it began its take-off run. The Vulcan lifted off the ground quickly, about half way down the runway, and climbed fairly steeply into the air. A banking S turn brought it back over the airport and it slid through the air about 500 ft over the heads of the crowd, its port wing down. It was travelling at a speed approaching 300 miles an hour.
The Vulcan then passed over the city and Port Hills in a circle which brought it back on course for Ashburton, over which it was due to pass about 10.55 a.m. The crowd, which had broken through the rope barrier as the Vulcan moved from the tarmac, and had been restored to its former position by the police and Air Force provosts, waited for some time in the hope that a second run over the airport would be made.
Some persons left their positions after the first run and crowded round the American Air Force Globemaster, Miss North Carolina.
FLIGHT BELIEVED TO BE RECORD
(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, September 18.
The Vulcan appeared to have exceeded all previously claimed speeds for point-to-point jet bomber flights on its flight from Hobart to Christchurch, a spokesman for the makers said in London tonight. Reports from New Zealand said that the delta-winged Vulcan averaged 634 miles an hour on the flight.
BOMBER AT OHAKEA
FLIGHT OVER NORTH ISLAND TODAY
(New Zealand Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH. Sept. 19.
The Royal Air Force Vulcan arrived at the Royal New Zealand Air Force station at Ohakea from the South at 2.30 this afternoon. The bomber will fly over 23 cities and towns during a flight of more than 1000 miles round the North Island tomorrow.
SPONSORSHIP OF VISIT
NEW AIR LEAGUE’S PART
The Christchurch visit of the Vulcan four-jet delta-wing bomber was sought by the newly-formed Air League of New Zealand. Attendances at Harewood for both the arrival and the departure of the Vulcan indicated the tremendous interest of the public in aviation and encouraged the league to expect growing public support for all its activities, said the Christchurch president (Wing Commander J. R. Maling) after the Vulcan had left yesterdav morning.
New Zealanders were realising the rapidly-growing importance of aviation. Increased numbers were travelling every year on internal airlines, more and more were travelling overseas by airlines with Dominion affiliations, the aero club movement was teaching greater numbers to fly, gliding clubs were expanding, aerial farming was bringing new levels of productivity, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force was continually raising its efficiency.
“If these days of fantastic development in the sciences, aviation is continually gaining.” Wing Commander Maling said. “In the movement of people and goods, all other forms of transport, must (in time), give pride of place to aircraft. In defence, particularly in a country so isolated as New Zealand, aviation is the key to our survival in any future conflict. The Air League stands to help military, commercial, and civil aviation to develop its full potential and keep it strong for the good of New Zealand.”
Some of the ways in which the league hoped to support the Government and the, aviation industry were by urging:— airfields suited to the needs of modern aircraft; acquisition of modern aircraft for both domestic and international services, including machines suitable for agricultural and ambulance work; provision of modern aids for landing and navigation; efficient telecommunications procedure; development of helicopter services; aviation education, especially in the post-primary schools and universities; increased support for aero clubs and air training schemes; encouragement of model aeroplane clubs; equipment of the Air Force with the latest machines consistent with local defence needs and the Dominion’s commitments as a member of the South-east Asia Treaty Organisation.
“Broadly speaking our objective is to do everything possible to widen the interest and knowledge of the community in ever branch of aviation,” Wing Commander Maling said. “Any support we may be able to give the Government may therefore be considered important to the country as a whole."
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 27, 2024 13:24:26 GMT 12
From THE PRESS, 2 OCTOBER 1956
VULCAN BOMBER CRASHES
Huge Explosion At London Airport
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 1130 p.m.) LONDON, October 1.
Britain's Vulcan atom bomber crashed and blew up at London airport today when returning from a round-the-world trip, including a visit to Australia and New Zealand. Two of the five persons aboard survived the crash. They were the Chief of Bomber Command, Air Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst, and the plane’s captain and pilot, Squadron Leader Donald Howard. As the bomber appeared over the airport, a small explosion was heard. A puff of smoke billowed from the aircraft. It seemed to swerve about 100 feet up, then plunged down in a mass of smoke and flames. A tremendous explosion shook the airport and a huge sheet of flame surrounded by thick black smoke swirled up.
The Vulcan visited Christchurch a fortnight ago. Air Marshal Broadhurst was co-pilot of the Vulcan, which was returning to London on a non-stop, 4000-mile flight from Aden. It is understood to have been trying to set up a new point-to-point record for this hop.
Squadron Leader Howard was unhurt apart from a bruised cheek. He embraced his wife wordlessly in the airport lounge. The other men aboard the plane were Squadron Leader James George Woodgate Stroud, aged 29, a co-pilot and navigator, Squadron Leader Albert Edward Gamble, aged 35, an air electronics officer, Squadron Leader Edward John Eames, aged 32, a navigator, and Flight Lieutenant John Deryck Rowell, aged 28, a navigator.
It is not yet known whether Mr F. Bassett, the A. V. Roe Company representative at Waddington, the Vulcan’s base, was aboard the plane. Mr Bassett was a passenger on the flight to New Zealand.
The Vulcan, now in super-priority production for the Royal Air Force, is the first jet bomber to be built with delta wings. Its performance details are secret.
The Vulcan, known as Britain’s flying triangle, entered service with the Royal Air Force in August as the spearhead of its bombing attack. A Canberra message quotes the Australian Air Minister (Mr Athol Townley) as saying he was “shocked and bewildered” at the news of the Vulcan crash. He said the crash was one of the greatest tragedies in the history of aviation.
Mr Townley said the crash had a big significance for Australia, as Sir Harry Broadhurst and the Vulcan had been in Australia so recently. The deep and sincere sympathy of all Australians would go to the relatives of those who lost their lives in the disaster and also to the British Government and the Royal Air Force.
The Vulcan, nicknamed “The mighty bat” by Australian newspapers, created much interest during its recent tour of Australia. Thousands of visitors flocked to see it every time it touched down.
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