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Post by phil82 on Aug 24, 2006 10:28:58 GMT 12
These I copied yesterday from slides taken at Ohakea in the 60s. They're not great, but they may be of interest.  I think I would be correct in saying this was the first visit of the brand new P3. 14 Sqn Canberras buzz and break.  Vampire crossover  Vampire singleton  Air Force One, a B707 in those days!  |
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Post by corsair67 on Aug 24, 2006 11:02:49 GMT 12
Colin, they are very interesting shots - and there's even some blue sky at Ohakea in some of those pictures. ;D
Thank you for posting them.
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Post by xr6turbo1 on Aug 24, 2006 19:30:21 GMT 12
The head on by the Vampires is pretty cool,  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 24, 2006 21:36:48 GMT 12
Wow, those are great Colin. Thanks for posting them. I'd love to see more if you have them.
I love the old fire engine, it looks like something from Thunderbirds!
Do you have any dates? Orion obviously post-1965.
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Post by Bruce on Aug 24, 2006 21:49:48 GMT 12
I'm guessing that the wing tip in the bottom picture is one of the RNZAF DC-6's - Lyndon Johnson travelled around NZ in one during his visit. Great pictures, thanks for posting those.
BTW what is it with Phoenix palms and RNZAF air base aprons ? - Whenuapai has / had a famous one - the 40 sqn booklet "to the four winds" has photos of that during the Hastings and Herk eras, illustrating how much it had grown! did Wigram have one as well?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 24, 2006 21:58:18 GMT 12
None at Wigram that I recall (too cold) but there were very tall Pheonix palms at Hobsonville (my Maintenance Flight Commander fell out of one when he was drunk and broke his leg - officers eh?). They were along the road with the chapel, canteen and library, not the flightline.
And there were also Pheonix palms outside the Airmen's mess at Woodbourne when i was there. I used to sit in the mess gazing out the window as I ate loking at them. and imagine I was at pearl Harbor and Japs were about to swoop down and blast the windows out like in Tora Tora Tora. The place just had that feel about it. Sadly, it never happened and I had to eat the food instead...
I guess it was a popular type in the 1930's and 40's, or just a favourite of the Public Works Department's air force station designer? I have genuinely wondered myself about whether other wartime bases also had the palms, or were they planted postwar?
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Post by phil82 on Aug 24, 2006 22:01:39 GMT 12
It was a DC6. but not ours! It was actually a US Navy version which belonged to the Admiral in charge at Hawaii
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Post by phil82 on Aug 24, 2006 22:06:09 GMT 12
Dates? 1967 I think, although possibly early summer 1966. The Orion would be the clue, because it was a training flight, and I'm fairly sure the first landing at OH.
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Post by phil82 on Aug 24, 2006 22:18:09 GMT 12
Officers were never drunk Dave!
Dazed and confused, perhaps, but never drunk!
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Post by phil82 on Aug 24, 2006 22:23:26 GMT 12
From memory, that DC6/ C118 was brilliantly polished, you could see your face in it.
There was another Admiral arrived in one of two USN P3s, the second was an escort apparently, but come the time to depart, the Admiral's aircraft had an engine problem, so being an Admiral he took the second aircraft. As soon as he was out of sight, the crew of the second aircraft started three engines and promptly followed him in a three-engined take-off!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 24, 2006 23:40:15 GMT 12
Believe me, this officer was drunk, and very proud of it. There was no confusion about the matter. He took great pleasure regailing the tale to anyone who'd listen of how he and another officer had fallen out of the tree whilst trying to race to the top after a long night in the mess. I think the other guy broke both legs. I feel sure they were probably not the first airmen to climb those trees on a drunken Saturday night, the palms were very tempting - but I never dared attempt it myself as I'd have to have walked on the grass to get to 'em - which was illegal of course.
I wish for the life of me I could recall that officer's name, he was great, the best CO ever. He was only about 20 and looked 16, and he was really just a big kid, which as I was an 18 year old was great as I related to him well. He used to always have good stories for me and the Cpl on a Monday morning of what the young officers had been up to on the weekend. I think the Mess was like boarding school to that lot. The best one was a few of them bungy jumped while drunk off the Greenhythe bridge, with rope. Nasty.
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Post by steve on Aug 25, 2006 0:19:02 GMT 12
What a great time to be in the RNZAF....I suppose i have never lost my fasination with our small airforce...those pics are great...airforce 1 looks still very modern and the orion looks brand new maybe without the addition of the silver fern? and for those camberra bombers ...choice..they did see action...did they not in the Maylaya conflict ...not sure...i should know this..
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 25, 2006 0:42:24 GMT 12
I think the crews saw action but not the bombers. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) tey borrowed RAF Canberras in that action.
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Post by phil82 on Aug 25, 2006 7:27:08 GMT 12
Although 14 Sqn Canberras were on 'operational service' during the Indonesian Confrontation, I don't think they actually did anything other than train for war. Some of the crews, though not many I suspect, flew the RAF Canberras that we used,at Tengah before we bought our own, and may have dropped the odd bomb here and there. We lost a Canberra in Singapore [B12] whilst bombing China Rock off Singapore, due to the horizon disappearing. I've seen the conditions of hazy sunlight and dead flat water and it's not difficult to imagine such an accident. The RAF lost four Javelins in the year I was there, two in one night, and another which left the runway and tried to leap a mossie ditch and failed.
Another B12 ran off the runway on a US Base in Thailand, and in typical fashion, the Americans wanted to bulldoze it out of the way, but were told to " walk away imitating short sexual movement" by our lineys who got the aircraft back on its feet. It later flew back to Tengah with its wheels down wher it was briught back on line.
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Post by phil82 on Aug 25, 2006 7:43:27 GMT 12
Nah! Never drunk Dave; "tired and emotional" or "high-spirited" was the term. Believe me, I could tell you some stories about Dining -in nights that would make you wonder! Mostly very funny!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 25, 2006 11:43:03 GMT 12
I'd love to hear about the Dining-ins - I used to hear lots of hilarious stories after they were held in the messes (O's and Wo'& Sno's) during my career but never experienced one. I recall hearing a populr game after a Dining-in at the Wigram WarrantOfficers and Senior NCO' Mess was crossing the room without touching the floor (involving partial-use of rafters!). Then there were the carrier landings - a game I did partake in in the Airmens Club once.
Go on Colin, a Dining In thread will be great.
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