|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on May 16, 2007 1:29:47 GMT 12
Today I had the pleasure to chat with Manly Walsh, who was one of the two Walsh brothers that bought a Corsair from Jim Larsen after the war.
Manly is now 95 years old, but his memory is very sharp. He's a very interesting chap.
He actually told me a lot more about the Corsair than his late brother Alf told me several years back.
Sadly he too has no photos of the Corsair. However he did reveal a bit more of what happened to it.
He says when Motat first began to restore the Corsair that had gone to Auckland from Asplins, they came to him and as it was for a well known aviation museum he gladly donated a lot of parts to the project which he said were missing from the Corsair.
Once Motat had put it back into a much more complete condition, Mr Asplin then asked for it back stating he'd only loaned it. They had no leg to stand on and had to relinquish it. Manly was not happy with this as a lot of the airframe was from his Corsair.
Anyway it went off overseas and then eventually came back. We now enjoy it in our skies and now I know that part of the Cambridge Corsair is flying along with it. Excellent stuff.
Something else of interest is he confirmed the myth that it was found to be stuffed full of American cigarettes when they began to dismantle it. Some poor pilot's smuggling plans went awry.
He also mentioned something that I'd heard before that the aircraft at Rukuhia hasd a lot of fuel left in their tanks. Something I hadn't heard though was that Larsen used the fuel to power the furnace that melted the planes down to ingots.
There is a fair bit more but I'll eventually write it up and add it to the Corsair page.
Something else he said that I liked was he served as a Flight Engineer at Green Island. Apparently the RNZAf got a batch of second hand Venturas which flew in from the Aleutians. They were fitted with de-icing equipment which was useless in the tropics so they were told to strip the equipment off. They drained the de-icing fluid into drums and he reckoned there was heaps of it. They were told to dump it, but of course it was alcohol so they dumped a little bit to please the bosses and then sold the rest to the Americans. They then strained it through bread and drank it!
Every chap I've talked to who was an RNZAF mechanic in the islands has stories like this, how they made almost anything into alcohol. Amazing.
|
|
|
|
Post by Peter Lewis on May 16, 2007 8:51:26 GMT 12
Good bit of history there Dave.
MoTAT really stuffed up with the Asplin Corsair, they should have tied down the terms of the acquisition before spending time and money on the aircraft. It seems all that Asplin wanted was free storage while he looked around for a buyer.
It still astounds me that no photographs of the Corsair at Cambridge have surfaced. I do believe that there has got to be something out there, but it's going to be a matter of pure luck finding a photograph.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on May 16, 2007 9:47:14 GMT 12
Indeed the whole deal with that Corsair is a sad one for Motat, but then the conclusion for us warbird fans has been much brighter. I know that some of the workers there still smart from it though.
I too am amazed that no-one has yet produced a photo of the Corsair in situ on Alf's lawn. It was apparently quite a tourist attraction and a lot of people stopped there (especially since it had the historic water tower across the road which is an icon, and it's right nextdoor to what used to be the Tower Tea Rooms. You'd think someone would have spotted it and snapped a few photos.
Eventually I'll get Manly's transcript typed up as he did talk quite a bit about the Corsair.
Here's something else rather amazing that happened. When he joined up from Foxton he went to Harewood for basic training, as most Flight Mechs did. There he met two other new recruits, Norm Todd and Jim Ross. Norm was from Taumaranui and Jim from Cambridge. They trained together and throughout their RNZAF careers Jim and Norm kept pretty much together on the same stations and both remustered to Flight Engineer on 6 Sqn Catalinas together. All three kept bumping into eeach other throughout the war it seems.
After the war Manly moved to Cambridge, and decided to open a garage. On the day he opened his new garage he went to the local newspaper office, The Waikato Independent, and placed a notice in the paper to say he was opening his new business. He walked out of the office and right outside by pure co-incidence were Jim and Norm standing on the footpath. "What the hell are you two doing here?" he asks, "Oh we're just going to the newspaper to place a notice that we're opening our new garage." !!!
So Cambridge gained two new garages on the same day, Manly's in Cambridge which is now the main BP station and still in Walsh ownership, and Ross Todd Motors opened in Leamington but today continues to thrive in Carter's Flat, Cambridge. Amazing co-incidence eh.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on May 16, 2007 10:01:16 GMT 12
Looking at the OFMC website it states:
"On 11 April 1949 33 Corsairs were declared surplus and advertised by the War Assetts realization Board (WARB) for sale by tender No3381 which closed 2 may 1949. On 9 May 1949 it was declared that 32 of these had been sold to Mr J. Asplin, a Hamilton garage proprietor. Among these was NZ5648.
All but three of the Corsairs were subsequently broken up and melted down by 1962."
I guess that the 33rd that didn't go to Mr Asplin would possibly be the Walsh Brothers' machine.
But, apart from NZ5648, which two other Corsairs didn't get melted down? Obviously the second one Motat got which now seems to be with Ross Jowitt, but do they mean a third from the 32 Asplin examples survived? Or a third out of all 33 in that batch sold off?
|
|
|
|
Post by ngatimozart on Nov 8, 2011 15:52:13 GMT 12
My dad was on Green Island. Have a photo of him taken on Green Island sitting on a Corsair wing. At his funeral heard some stories of shenanigans he got up at. Seems RNZAF were very adept at liberating items from US forces ranging from aircraft spares to beer to butter. Apparently me old man was quite adept at swiping yank tucker and the catholic missionary nearby used to benefit. My dad & his cobber were detailed off one day to help unload the beer for the Kiwis and not all made it to the messes. Couple of very drunk airmen. They got the shit detail for next week or so:)
|
|
|
|
Post by shorty on Nov 8, 2011 17:23:24 GMT 12
|
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 8, 2011 17:59:35 GMT 12
Shorty, that photo was found by Marcus Bridle (hairy) some time back and posted here, and is definately the Walsh's Corsair, and it has been up on my webpage on the Corsair for some time, as have a couple of others. This is a rather old thread brought back.
|
|
|
|
Post by shorty on Nov 8, 2011 18:16:37 GMT 12
Oh yes, I just looked at the dates. Sorry folks
|
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 8, 2011 19:43:24 GMT 12
No worries, thanks anyway.
|
|
|
|
Post by pjw4118 on Nov 9, 2011 14:23:32 GMT 12
With the story about the Rukuhia aircraft being gassed up, in the 1960s when I was working to recover a P40 , the smelter boss said that they got enough high octane fuel to pay for half the aircraft and the tyres the other half. A good yarn but rationing was still on so who knows.
From the same source, was a Catalina put down in the swamp behind the airfield, true or false.?
But bootlegging in the Solomons is a fact confirmed by three distillers I know. Anything fermentable was used and the result was topped up with other fluids including a drop of battery acid to give it some bite. So long as they didnt pass it on to other Kiwis the Officers kept out of it as booze for parts was common. For cleaning up meths it was burnt bread they used, a type of activated carbon that hopefully stripped out some of the pyridine used to denature the spirit. For themselves they re distilled the meths. Bill B once showed me how to make a very efficient still from 44 gallon drums and a radiator core a la the Solomons.
Glad I wasnt there to taste it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 9, 2011 21:55:00 GMT 12
Peter, that Catalina story may well be true because there has been evidence before on the thread that some Catalina hulls were brought to Rukuhia by train from Auckland to be smeltered.
As for the brews they made in the Solomns, I have heard many stories now. One guy said some even made alcohol using Nugget shoe polish!
|
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 16, 2018 15:03:20 GMT 12
I just found this article from the WAIKATO INDEPENDENT, 20 MAY 1949
OLD CORSAIR COMES TO CAMBRIDGE
One of the 400 odd Corsairs which have lain at Rukuhia for so long was brought to Cambridge on Thursday, having been purchased by Walsh Motors, Ltd.
The old 7½ ton ‘plane was brought over from Rukuhia by lorry and at present can be seen as one passes by the residence, of Mr A. E. Walsh, Hamilton road.
It is the intention of Walsh Motors Ltd., to use the Corsair for spare parts for motor vehicles. Mr Walsh told the "Independent” there was much from these planes that could be used. For instance in a lot of cases brake cable was unprocurable and in a Corsair there were hundreds of yards. There was also much high grade wiring. It was all usable and so were all the bolts, which were better than ordinary bolts, being of high tension steel.
“What happens to the fuselage or actual shell of the plane, asked the “Independent” and the reply was “oh some sort of a shed.”
|
|
|
|
Post by pjw4118 on Oct 20, 2018 14:09:44 GMT 12
Dave , what did happen to this aircraft in the end ?
|
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 20, 2018 14:19:39 GMT 12
It got whittled down as parts were removed and eventually what was left was allegedly sold to a certain guy in Auckland who was collecting parts for Corsairs, though he denies that.
|
|
|
|
Post by rone on Oct 20, 2018 18:40:09 GMT 12
After sitting beside the house for several years, the engine was removed and it was then parked, upended still in its mounting just inside the showroom on the left hand side, for a few more years. My father offered to buy it and the other remains, but was not successful. Eventually it just disappeared.
|
|
|
|
Post by rone on Oct 20, 2018 18:45:52 GMT 12
And the mention of Jack Asplin and the way he treated Motat reminds me of my own treatment and of my father's dealings with that person. They were not pleasant at all, but that is how that man did business.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 20, 2018 20:50:49 GMT 12
The engine core from the Corsair remains in Cambridge today as a garden ornament with the son of one of the Walsh brothers. The other remains were purchased.
|
|
|
|
Post by pjw4118 on Oct 21, 2018 14:02:17 GMT 12
Talking about Jack Asplin , when we talked to him in 1963 or so , he wanted 6000 pounds , that was when 1000 was a pretty good income , so maybe $750 k in todays money.
|
|
|
|
Post by corsair67 on Oct 21, 2018 21:35:18 GMT 12
Talking about Jack Asplin , when we talked to him in 1963 or so , he wanted 6000 pounds , that was when 1000 was a pretty good income , so maybe $750 k in todays money.
Asplin was selling himself short: $750 000 wouldn't buy very much of a Corsair nowadays!  |
|
|
|
Post by isc on Oct 21, 2018 22:07:35 GMT 12
Probably not too bad for an engine, depending on condition. isc
|
|
