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Post by agalbraith on Feb 3, 2008 21:23:06 GMT 12
Hi guys
As far as I am aware, 4112 was in the process of being broken up when a few of the foundation members heard about what was happening, but were only able to rescue the cockpit section.
Yes it does have the turret still
Cheers Anthony
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Post by denysjones on Feb 4, 2008 17:59:40 GMT 12
I've always been told that 4112 was sold to the Aussies as a parts donor for 4108 as they were going to need some Sunderland specific parts that they didn't have because the rest of their fleet were Sandringhams.
Whatever may be I do know that she was then presented to the Hobsonville Base Yacht Club. Nothing much really happened to her apart from supposedly hosting a couple of parties, and eventually the Base CO ordered the tatty hulk to be disposed of.
MoTaT now got involved and removed as much salvageable material as possible. Then Tom Craill, MoTaT's chairman at the time, wrote to us saying that they were going to have to chop up the airframe and were we interested. We wrote back asking for details on the cockpit and the turrets.
We never got a reply and we heard that she'd been chopped up so considered the matter over. Then one day I got a phone call at work saying we had to get a truck the Harewood as a C130 was on its way down with something for us. The rest as they say is history.
On the Wigram front the real gem they have from the Chathams is the nose turret. The Sundies originally had fully operational turrets but after a while they were gutted out and just left with a seat etc for use as observation stations. However the crash occurred before this. A local got the turret out of the a/c and stored it properly and so it is almost certainly the only complete one around. It was on show for a while but I don't know if it still is.
We've got a second turret cupola at Ferrymead and I recall 2 or 3 in the store at Weedons some years back.
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Post by Peter Lewis on Feb 4, 2008 19:25:37 GMT 12
We've got a second turret cupola at Ferrymead and I recall 2 or 3 in the store at Weedons some years back. . . . and I've got one as well. Thanks Denys for the gen on the nose section's travels. NZ4112 during it's Hobsonville yacht club days: and the nose section at Ferrymead in 1976
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Post by sniff on Feb 4, 2008 20:14:54 GMT 12
flyrnzl:
Some time after those pics, 4112 was hauled up onto the grass adjacent to the TTS hangar where it was eventally broken up. That would have been an interesting exercise! It was a VERY steep incline up the hill by the Yacht Club/AOC's home; otherwise it was hauled around to somewhere near the rifle range and then back across the airfield, but I cant remember whether the wing-span would have allowed it to take the long, easy way? (embankment below AOC's home, through the trees in the confined area LZ's and a couple of tricky corners.)
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Post by sniff on Feb 4, 2008 21:18:07 GMT 12
This thread triggers a few memories - perhaps urban legends - of Hobby.
Underground fuel tanks in the same area as 4112 was cut up (up on the airfield behind the braiby (sp?) hangars) - I guess AVGAS for 5 and 6 Sqns?
Also stories of an underground Command Post/bunker in the same area?
Does anyone know?
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Post by avro683 on Jun 14, 2008 9:34:19 GMT 12
Could this not be salvaged and turned into a project? Looks like there would be plenty there even if it was a cockpit front fuselage restoration!
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Post by shorty on Jun 14, 2008 9:41:17 GMT 12
Tom Crail was pretty notorious gor chopping up aircraft. I had a large bunch of guys at Ohakea prepared to give up there spare time to dismantle the Hastings at Ohakea so it could all be shipped to Motat but Tom Crail was hell bent on chopping it up. Same goes for the Anson that Don Subritzky now has(another story!!). I had managed to get that to Auckland with the fuselage intact but then our man Tom chopped in half to make storage easy!
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Post by denysjones on Jun 14, 2008 20:41:40 GMT 12
Just curious and having noticed the recent flurry of postings under the name of Shorty....don't tell me the infamous Mr Mines has joined us?
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Post by shorty on Jun 14, 2008 20:50:08 GMT 12
I couldn't possibly comment
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Post by paddymac on Jun 10, 2009 20:54:05 GMT 12
I think the pix are great - so may I use any or all in the RNZAFA NEWS, national magazine of the Air Force Association? I'm the editor.... If necessary, how can I contact Tony Climo - or can he contact me?
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Post by shamus on Jun 10, 2009 21:20:27 GMT 12
When I was with Motat in either the late 1960s or early 70s, I helped to cut up a Sunderland at Hobsonville given to Motat for scrap. I remember coming back to Auckland on the truck with all the cut up sections on the back when we were too tall to get under some overhead wires. I had to climb up on the load and remove an engine mount so we could pass underneath. I still have the engine mount nuts in my toolbox today.
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Post by agile on Mar 22, 2010 9:27:33 GMT 12
There is a short piece on page A4 of today's Press reporting that an Air Chathams pilot and other locals are hoping to reassemble at least the fuselage of this aircraft with a view to preserving it as a museum piece. Does anyone have any further information?
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Mar 22, 2010 13:13:00 GMT 12
Chatham Islands' historic lifeline comes togetherBy KIRAN CHUG - The Dominion Post | 5:00AM - Monday, 22 March 2010JIGSAW PUZZLE: Gary Downs is recovering parts of the flying boat and reassembling them to put on display. The task is helped by each piece being individually numbered. — ROSS GIBLIN/The Dominion Post.More than 50 years after the Chatham Islands' lifeline to New Zealand crashed, an ambitious restoration project to preserve history has begun.
A Short Sunderland — one of only five remaining flying boats of its kind left in the world — is being pieced back together after the dramatic crash that ended its flying years in 1959.
Air Chathams pilot Gary Downs, who lives on Chatham Island with his wife and four children, embarked on the project six months ago, enlisting the help of friends and spending every spare moment on what has become a labour of love.
At first he knew little about the plane and its crash, until learning of the wreckage, which was on farmland on the island's northeastern tip.
The more he learnt about the plane, the NZ4111, the more he realised it was an important part of the islands' history. "It was a big deal for people living here when it was used."
Operated by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, the plane was used to carry supplies to the islands about three times a year after World War II.
On November 04, 1959, it was carrying three passengers when it crashed on takeoff in Te Whanga Lagoon, which makes up about a third of Chatham Island.
The passengers and crew were rescued, and the air force immediately salvaged the removable parts and returned them to New Zealand. The following year the rest of the wreckage, which was 70cm deep in mud, was removed from the water and a farming family moved it on to their land.CRASH LANDING: The Sunderland after hitting a rock in Te Whanga Lagoon in 1959. Behind is the plane sent to rescue passengers and crew.When Mr Downs found the wreckage, "strewn all over the farm", including the cockpit being used as a greenhouse, he enlisted the help of friends with cranes and the farm machinery to shift the pieces to a central field.
"All of the parts were numbered, so I've been putting the jigsaw puzzle back together," he said.
Once the plane is reassembled, people will be able to walk through its fuselage and into the two-storey cockpit.
He plans to line the walls with reports and anecdotes from those who remembered the flying boat when it was in use — or when it crashed.
The attraction is being rebuilt at the farm of Jim and Sally Muirson, who, along with neighbour Colin Barr, also have plans to restore a historic church and a whaling station on the land.
Mr Downs said the projects would help preserve the islands' history and he was undeterred by those who believed reassembling the plane's remaining parts would be impossible: "The more people say it can't be done, there is more motivation to do it."______________________________________ The Short Sunderland Mark V
• Maximum speed: 341kmh.
• Could fly for 1312 hours.
• Weighed 16,783kg empty or 29,484kg loaded.
• Wing span of 34m, length 26m, height 10m.
• Carried a crew of nine: three pilots, two navigators, three signallers and two engineers.www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/national/3483518/Chatham-Islands-historic-lifeline-comes-together
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Post by shorty on Mar 22, 2010 13:28:51 GMT 12
There was an interview with the guy (by Noel MacCarthy) on Nat Radio this afternoon. Neither of them seemed very switched on. They were well into the interview before it was mentioned that it was a flying boat and a RNZAF one at that!
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Post by vs on Mar 22, 2010 14:31:52 GMT 12
I used to fly with Gary at Air Chathams. Top guy, very good pilot and also a LAME. I can imagine that the end result will be amazing! Good work Gary!!!
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Mar 22, 2010 15:11:28 GMT 12
A friend's father was the copilot on a couple of the TEAL Solent flights from Wellington to the Chatham Islands. He was also the copilot on the last Solent service from Sydney to Wellington (with Captain Cliff le Couter). He later captained several Solent services himself across the Pacific to Tahiti. Captain Geoff White is still alive and kicking, living on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
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Post by alanw on Mar 22, 2010 17:58:01 GMT 12
When I was with Motat in either the late 1960s or early 70s, I helped to cut up a Sunderland at Hobsonville given to Motat for scrap. I remember coming back to Auckland on the truck with all the cut up sections on the back when we were too tall to get under some overhead wires. I had to climb up on the load and remove an engine mount so we could pass underneath. I still have the engine mount nuts in my toolbox today. Hi Shamus Must have missed this last year. Don't suppose you have any photos by chance of the Sunderland before and after? Can you recall what types of parts were given to MOTAT Thanks Alan
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Post by shamus on Mar 22, 2010 21:25:14 GMT 12
Sorry Alan, don't have any photos myself. Will go through Tom Craill's Albums, which I have here and see if any exist. I remember using an arc welding cutter with carbon electrode to slice up the fuselage. Can't remember the parts Motat got except the engine mounts. I think the scrap metal merchant was only interested in the aluminium from the fuselage and wings so anything else was probably kept by Motat. Their was a full truck load brought back to Meola Rd. I remember sometime in the 80s truck loads of duplicate parts that were not required were given to the RNZAF Museum at Wigram, and this probably included any Sunderland parts. Will let you know if I find any photos.
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Post by alanw on Mar 22, 2010 21:53:09 GMT 12
Sorry Alan, don't have any photos myself. Will go through Tom Craill's Albums, which I have here and see if any exist. I remember using an arc welding cutter with carbon electrode to slice up the fuselage. Can't remember the parts Motat got except the engine mounts. I think the scrap metal merchant was only interested in the aluminium from the fuselage and wings so anything else was probably kept by Motat. Their was a full truck load brought back to Meola Rd. I remember sometime in the 80s truck loads of duplicate parts that were not required were given to the RNZAF Museum at Wigram, and this probably included any Sunderland parts. Will let you know if I find any photos. Thanks Shamus, much appreciated ;D
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Post by Richard Wesley on Mar 23, 2010 2:33:50 GMT 12
Can't remember the parts Motat got except the engine mounts. Their was a full truck load brought back to Meola Rd. I was with the museum in the 1990's when we cleaned out a large off site store. There was basically a huge number of spare engine cowlings, stripped gun turrents, hatches and other odds and ends. Also the Sunderland serial number if I remember right cut out of the side of the fuselage. Much of the material is still around Motat I think.
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