Oh Dear, How Sad

[Peter Lewis]

But by the look in the eye of the officer, I think yes they minded.

I recently acquired these two photos.
Unfortunatly there is no mention of where and when.





Looking through the wartime Tiger Moth files, I come up with the following possibilities:

NZ717 with NZ873 near Taieri 7Feb41
NZ733 with NZ788 Outram landing ground near Taieri 7Nov42
NZ762 with NZ1438 near Harewood 1Nov43
NZ778 with NZ1411 near Harewood 25Jul1942
NZ784 with NZ789 near Taieri 25Aug43
NZ832 with NZ781 near Taieri 22Mar44
NZ839 with NZ1429 near Harewood 27Jul42
NZ864 collided on t/off with Tiger Moth NZ1406 Taieri 10Jun43

The next two would seem to be out of contention owing to the lack of roads and hedges:
NZ873 with NZ723 near Taieri 7Feb41, landed on top of hedge.
NZ886 with NZ883 near Harewood 20Feb41, cr onto Burnside Road.

My pick would be the NZ864/NZ1406 incident, but that's just based on the fact that one aircraft looks to be far more damaged than the other.

[Bruce]

Its Hobsonville, and neither is a Tiger Moth...
Straight wing and stringer turtledeck makes one a DH60M, and the other is a Hawker Tomtit.
That would make it NZPAF 1560 and NZ51, 29 March 1932 according to ADF serials...

[Dave Homewood]

The second photo appears in Tony Firth's photo album, and his caption reads "Crash at Hobsonville. Moth and Tomtit. 28/3/32. Sqd Ldr Seabrook and Mitford Burgess pilots."

[suthg]

A repair job for Bruce!!

[davidd]

Note the airman on extreme left in photo 1 is wearing one of the famous "cheesecutter' SD caps, and although you cannot really tell, the badge is the RAF OA badge (the RNZAF OA badge did not exist till about 1936/37). You would never see an airman in WW2 dressed like that (in denim overalls, with collar-less shirt), and he would have only worn an F/S cap. The officer standing next to him also looks very familiar. The famous curved hill in the background is a bit of a giveaway for Hobsonville, seen in background of so many photos.
David D

[Dave Homewood]

Yes the familiar officer is of course Len Isitt, later Air Vice Marshal, Chief of Air Staff.

[Peter Lewis]

Looks like I was quite on the wrong track.
Think I'll stick to the civvy stuff that I know, and leave the military to the experts.

I'm amazed they rebuilt the Moth from that. Must have had Bruce with his roll of duct tape and can of WD40 on strength.

[Dave Homewood]

Don't give up on the military stuff Peter, you never know what gems you might find.

I guess having the de Havilland dealership in the nextdoor hangar helped with the rebuild?