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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 8, 2006 13:56:29 GMT 12
I read recently that the first 12 Vickers Vildebeests that NZ ordered, the prewar ones for the Auckland and Christchurch squadrons, were modified to specification to have folding wings.
I hadn't read this before, and am really curious as to whether anyone has more detail of this? Are there photos out there of Vildebeests with wings folded?
Apparently only our 12 had this modification.
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Post by shorty on Jun 16, 2008 16:09:55 GMT 12
Dave. have a look at the photo I posted of NZ 110 being assembled at Hobsonville and the photo of NZ 106 being wheeled out of the same hangar. No sign whatsoever of a fold joint and if they were folding why would they be attaching the wings like that?
They would have attached the center section first and then attached the outer wings seperately.
So I think the answer is no, there were not folding wings on Vildebeestes in our Air Force or anyone elses.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 16, 2008 16:30:20 GMT 12
Yes you're right, I had already long since concluded the info was bogus, but thanks.
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Post by davidd on Oct 26, 2024 11:59:51 GMT 12
I have sometimes wondered (when the Vildebeest purchase was being considered by the NZ Government in 1932) if some NZ politician, having read of certain naval aircraft posessing folding wings, pondered on this, and asked if it would be possible for such wings to be installed on these aircraft, with obvious advantage that smaller hangars would now be sufficient. Was the story of the folding wings for RNZAF Vildebeests published in one of the Putnam's books on British aircraft?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 26, 2024 12:05:02 GMT 12
That was 18 years ago, so I have no idea where I read that now, but it was not in a Putnams book.
I think it is possibly more likely someone in the 1960s or 70s saw a photo of a Baffin with its wings folded as mistook it for a Vildebeest, and a myth was born.
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