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Post by nuuumannn on Dec 30, 2022 10:00:39 GMT 12
While working in CHC over the summer I stopped in and visited the museum, this time taking a behind the scenes tour. It's great to see that things get moved about and aircraft not usually on display get their time in the public eye. The Bleriot's back suspended in the foyer, the last time I visited it was on the ground.  _DSC9360 The Wasp awkwardly positioned up against the glass.  _DSC9336 Tiger Moth now in the display hall instead of the foyer, where it has been for years.  _DSC9345 Two-seater Skyhawk NZ6254 replacing '6205 in this spot.  _DSC9349 Excellent to see the Devon again.  _DSC9350  _DSC9352 On the tour you get taken aboard the Bristol Freighter. Flight engineer's station in the nose.  _DSC9383Sioux and Anson on the other side of the rope barriers on the tour.  _DSC9384Pegasus.  _DSC9390 Vildebeest.  _DSC9393 Great to see what's happening to the Canso, it's being converted into being more representative of a Catalina, with its wheel bays covered and being placed on dollies resembling those used to move it about on the hard.  _DSC9394 Walsh Brothers flying boat Hall-Scott engines, truly historic artifacts.  _DSC9395 _DSC9397 Junkers Jumo 211 from a downed He 111.  _DSC9401 JB-2 Loon, the one formerly at MoTaT.  _DSC9400 Kestrel from a Short Singapore.  _DSC9404240 hp Benz six-cylindr engine from something German. A big thing for such small power output.  _DSC9406 The Andover back on display again.  _DSC9414 The Sea Sprite hiding behind a fence.  _DSC9418 More to come. |
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Post by nuuumannn on Dec 30, 2022 10:11:21 GMT 12
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Post by tbf2504 on Dec 30, 2022 14:27:08 GMT 12
Just a correction. The position in the nose of the Freighter is the navigator's station as this aircraft was a dual pilot one so the nav sat "downstairs"
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Post by ZacYates on Dec 30, 2022 18:07:11 GMT 12
Excellent photos Grant, thanks so much for sharing! I'm off to check out the whole album now.
I'm hoping to get back to the Mainland early in the new year for a tiki tour with a mate and Wigram's definitely on the list - my last visit was 2007!!
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 3, 2023 23:19:02 GMT 12
From The Press, 28th of November 1983:
Last landing for Spitfire
By
LINDA HARRISON
A Christchurch landmark, the Brevet Club Spitfire in Memorial Avenue, will make its final landing soon. The Spitfire will come down from its plinth probably early next year, to be replaced later by a fibreglass model. The original aircraft will then take up residence in the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum at Wigram.
The Mark 16E Spitfire was built at Castle Bromwich in March, 1945, but came into service too late to see action. It was placed in storage until 1955 when it had standard wingtips fitted for use in the making of the film, “Reach for the Sky.” After the film, the aircraft went on display at the R.A.F. Station Rufforth, where it had engine parts removed for spares to keep the R.A.F.’s Battle of Britain flight in the air.
In 1959, the Brevet Club (Canterbury) was building new clubrooms and looking for a suitable aircraft for mounting and display. At the time, the British Air Ministry announced that it had a Spitfire for disposal and the club offered a tender.
As late as 1963 the club was informed that its bid was successful in a ballot with three other applicants. The aircraft, TE288, made its way to Lyttelton in the ship Cumberland and was taken to Wigram for reassembly. After going on display at the Addington Showgrounds, the Spitfire was mounted on the plinth at the Brevet Club rooms in Memorial Avenue. Its mounting was designed by a club member, Mr Bill Lovell-Smith.
Since then, the aircraft has been taken down twice for maintenance. The first time was in April, 1968 after the Wahine storm, when the aircraft was repainted and had fabric covering on controls replaced with metal coverings. The work was done by N.A.C. apprentices as a training exercise. The second maintenance was done in 1975, by N.A.C. tradesmen, who again painted the aircraft, this time during the quieter Christmas period. The lock holding the propeller stationary was also repaired, after it was broken in the big storm of that year.
A vice-president of the club, Mr Arch Beazer, said yesterday that the increasing cost of maintaining the aircraft led the club to sign a deed of gift giving the Spitfire to the R.N.Z.A.F. Museum.
“We have to face the fact that many of us are past 60 and we are not going to last for ever, and so who is going to care for it?” Mr Beazer said.
The terms of the deed mean that the Air Force will make a fibreglass replica to be mounted in Memorial Avenue. The museum will have to consult the club regarding any future disposal of the aircraft. The club has about 370 members in Canterbury, all of whom have qualified as air crew members in the Armed Forces.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 3, 2023 23:27:34 GMT 12
The Press, 29 February 1984:
Spitfire moved
The landing gear was lowered for the last time on Spitfire TE288 at Harewood yesterday. The 1945 Mark 16E Spitfire has been mounted on a plinth outside the Brevet Club in Memorial Avenue for about 20 years. In this time it has been brought down for maintenance twice, in 1968 and in 1975. Its owner, the Brevet Club, has given the Spitfire to the R.N.Z.A.F. Museum at Wigram. In return, the R.N.Z.A.F. has agreed to build a fibreglass replica of the aircraft, to be mounted in its place.
Among those there to watch the final landing yesterday morning were a former wartime Spitfire pilot, Mr John Checketts.
“It was a lively thing,” Mr Checketts said. “Both the performance and handling made it a nice aircraft to fly.”
Another person interested in yesterday’s activities was Mr Stephen Durney. Mr Durney was a corporal at Wigram when TE288 arrived at Lyttelton in the ship Cumberland and was taken to Wigram for reassembly. As an aeroplane fitter he was involved in the job. Yesterday he helped servicemen from the Air Force to move the aircraft.
The aircraft was taken to an Air New Zealand hangar to be dismantled before its journey to Woodbourne air base. There, volunteers from the Friends of the Museum Society will work on the replica. The job is expected to take at least three months, depending on the temperatures. Fibreglass cannot be worked in temperatures that are too cold.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 3, 2023 23:33:03 GMT 12
 A fibreglass replica of a Spitfire has its starboard wing fitted by Royal New Zealand Air Force servicemen in the Air New Zealand hangar at the Christchurch Airport yesterday. The work is being done by servicemen from the R.N.Z.A.F. base at Woodbourne, where the replica was built. It will be erected on a plinth outside the Brevet Club near Christchurch Airport tomorrow. The Spitfire which was originally there is being restored and will be displayed in the R.N.Z.A.F. Museum at Wigram. PRESS, 7 AUGUST 1984  A fibreglass replica of a Spitfire is placed on the plinth outside the Brevet Club near Christchurch Airport by members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The replica was built by servicemen of the R.N.Z.A.F. base, Woodbourne. The Spitfire which was originally outside the club is being restored and will be displayed in the R.N.Z.A.F. Museum at Wigram. PRESS, 10 AUGUST 1984 |
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 3, 2023 23:44:38 GMT 12
The Press, 12 April 1985:
Mustang for Wigram museum
A P5ID Mustang will take its place in the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum at Wigram soon after being given to the R.N.Z.A.F. by the Indonesian Air Force in exchange for an R.N.Z.A.F. Vampire. An R.N.Z.A.F. spokesman said yesterday that the exchange had resulted from a trip to New Zealand last year by the Indonesian Air Force chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal Sukardi.
Air Marshal Sukardi visited Wigram where he saw one of the R.N.Z.A.F.’s Vampires on display. Both New Zealand and Indonesia flew de Havilland Vampires as their first operational jet aircraft but New Zealand was the only one of the two to retain any of the airframes when it phased the aircraft out of use.
The jets were used in the R.N.Z.A.F. from 1951 to 1972, 58 being flown. A number of those were retained, one of which is in the museum and another two stand at the gates to R.N.Z.A.F. bases at Ohakea and Te Rapa.
However, none of the 30 Mustangs flown by the R.N.Z.A.F. between 1945 and 1958 were retained by the Air Force. Most were sold for scrap and one was flown on the civil register before being sold overseas.
A Mustang was brought into New Zealand in January after being bought in the United States by Alpine Helicopters, Ltd. That Mustang, which was not one used by the R.N.Z.A.F., gave a flying display at the Wings and Wheels Classic at Wigram in January.
This month’s exchange of aircraft means that one more type of aircraft will be added to the fledgling Indonesian Air Force museum and another gap will be eliminated from the R.N.Z.A.F. Museum.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 4, 2023 16:35:05 GMT 12
From The Press, 3 June 1987:
Team shares love of aircraft
By
DAVE WILSON
They call themselves the Geriatric Air Force, a colourful group of former warhorses who share a common love for aircraft They meet at the R.N.Z.A.F. stores depot at Weedons each Tuesday and there try to bring order to an Aladdin’s Cave of historic aircraft parts.
These 16 men are the behind-the-scenes workers at the R.N.Z.A.F. Museum at Wigram. When Wigram embarks on an aircraft restoration project, in all probability it will be the Geriatric Air Force team which finds and supplies the required parts, drawings and technical manuals essential to the task.
The volunteers learnt their specialist skills with the Air Force and believe that historic aircraft represent a significant part of New Zealand’s history.
The Geriatric Air Force was born two years ago when Group Captain Ross Donaldson, base commander at Wigram, asked two former servicemen for help sorting through accumulated aircraft spares at Weedons. When the volunteers reported for duty they found two giant stores, bigger than big warehouses, stacked ceiling-high with hundreds of thousands of parts and books — all of them uncatalogued.
Young Air Force tradesmen might not recognise a cockpit instrument from a World War II Hudson bomber and the vital technical manuals were mixed up amongst old books and magazines at Weedons. Somebody had to make sense from this chaos and who better than men who could look at a part and remember its use as if it were still yesterday?
“A Hudson bomber. We have now found almost all the cockpit instruments which will help in the restoration project,” says Mr Ian Martin who has been a part of the team since late 1985. After two years the men have made astonishing inroads into the mountains of uncatalogued parts, but the work ahead is just as formidable, at least another 10 years, and this is a conservative estimate, says Mr Max Ruane, unofficial spokesman.
When the R.N.Z.A.F. Museum was proposed, thousands of items, from aircraft propellers to old maintenance manuals, poured into Weedons from air bases, private collectors, and former service people throughout New Zealand. To anyone with a love for old aircraft these storage depots are a magic land. A gleaming propeller from a 1930s Bristol fighter biplane sits on a landing; parts of more recent Vampire jets lie under dropcloths while nearby is the nose section of a historic wartime Dakota aircraft.
Gun turrets, Harvard hardware, enough engines rare 1930s relic, shares room with parts of a Mosquito fighter/bomber. Where the novice may see rusty, dirty old bits of to power an air force, uniforms to clothe aircrew at any point in the service’s history, helmets and goggles, the cowlings from a Gloster Grebe biplane fighter — relics older than the R.N.Z.A.F. At Weedons there are sufficient parts now to build three or four wartime Oxford trainers. The skeletal fuselage of a Vildebeest bomber, an aeroplane the men see the potential of full restoration to museum display standard.
All of the men display an obvious love for their work.
Mr Heywood Foster proves that the publications division is fully operational. “If you need it I can get you the rigging diagram of a Sopwith Camel or how about the service manual for a 1917 Wolseley Viper engine?” he says, producing the small brown book.
The men say the need for their work will continue long after they have gone. You do not have to be ex-Air Force to join, but a love of aircraft is essential.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 4, 2023 18:49:30 GMT 12
From The Press, 11 November 1987:
Wreckage of bomber returned
By
DAVE WILSON
A World War II R.N.Z.A.F. Dauntless dive bomber which disappeared over a Pacific island 43 years ago has been found and the wreckage returned to New Zealand. The aircraft is destined for restoration at the R.N.Z.A.F. Museum at Wigram and the museum’s technical director, Squadron Leader Sandy Currie, says its recovery from the island of Espiritu Santo could be the first of several such projects.
The Dauntless was salvaged during a recent Air Force exercise in Vanuatu and involved a recovery team in a week’s work. The wreckage was lifted from the crash site by Iroquois helicopter and returned to New Zealand in a Hercules transport.
Air Force records show that the aircraft vanished on a training flight over Espiritu Santo in February, 1944. Natives of the island knew of the crash site, and told an R.N.Z.A.F. team working in advance of Exercise Tropic Venture which was based at Santo, 500 km north of New Caledonia.
An Air Force spokesman, Flying Officer Peter Northcote, said it was decided to recover the aeroplane. However, the bodies of its two crewmen had not been found.
Next-of-kin of the men, of Dunedin and Waikato, were advised at the end of the war that the crew were officially missing, presumed dead, he said. They were Flying Officer Alexander Moore, of Dunedin, the pilot, and his air gunner, Flight-Sergeant John Munro, of Morrinsville. "There were no remains in the crash. We believe, from speaking to the island natives, that the body of one of the men was found and buried and that they followed the tracks but could not find the other crewman.
“It appears both men did survive the crash but their bodies have not been recovered. Before the aircraft was removed a church service was held in English, Maori and the local language, to lift the tapu from the crash site."
Flying Officer Northcote said the dive bomber crashed in a remote part of the island and the salvage team found it was complete and untouched by souvenir hunters. "Its national markings were still recognisable and we could read its serial number. NZ5037." The R.N.Z.A.F. flew 68 of the American-designed Dauntless dive bombers between 1943 and 1944 and the type saw service with 25 Squadron in the Pacific.
Espiritu Santo was one of the Air Force’s main Pacific bases and official records show NZ5037 disappeared soon after the squadron arrived at Santo from New Zealand.
During operational training over the island the Dauntless vanished on the afternoon of February 11, 1944. It was last seen flying towards a group of cloud-covered hills. The wreckage is now at the R.N.Z.A.F. base at Hobsonville where it has been cleaned and fumigated. Squadron Leader Currie said the Dauntless was an extremely rare aircraft today and the Air Force museum hoped to reconstruct a static display machine from the parts.
“We have never had a major aircraft recovery drive in the Pacific and this could be the start of other recovery ventures. We know there are other wartime wrecks on various Pacific islands.”
There are thought to be two complete Dauntless aircraft in the world, both in the United States and one of them a former R.N.Z.A.F. machine which escaped the post-war scrapyard.
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Post by ZacYates on May 4, 2023 19:42:32 GMT 12
Dave Wilson is a friend of mine and runs a WW1 model forum (he’s now based on the Gold Coast). It’s rather cool to see some of his work shared!
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 4, 2023 23:05:38 GMT 12
I know him too, and he gave permission to post the above.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 8, 2023 20:32:50 GMT 12
Does anyone have photos of the ex-RAAF Canberra A visiting Ohakea on the way to its final resting place at the RNZAF Museum, Wigram?
I have to admit that I did not realise the Canberra B.20 at Wigram was the same as the B.2's the RNZAF used in Singapore. It seems the only difference was they were licence-built in Australia and got additional fuel tanks. That being the case I think it is a shame it was not painted up to represent one of the RNZAF-operated B.2 Canberras.
I mean half the aircraft in the museum are wearing paint they never wore in service so they represent an RNZAF type, so why not the Canberra? I have always felt that it stands out badly as being out of place in the museum but assumed it was because it was too different. I recall hearing the museum had secured the B(I)8 to swap the nose onto the B.20 and make it into a representation of the B(I)12 used by No. 14 Squadron. But nowI discover the B.20 could have much more simply represented a No. 75 Squadron Canberra.
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Post by McFly on Jun 8, 2023 20:45:53 GMT 12
Does anyone have photos of the ex-RAAF Canberra A visiting Ohakea on the way to its final resting place at the RNZAF Museum, Wigram? I have to admit that I did not realise the Canberra B.20 at Wigram was the same as the B.2's the RNZAF used in Singapore. It seems the only difference was they were licence-built in Australia and got additional fuel tanks. That being the case I think it is a shame it was not painted up to represent one of the RNZAF-operated B.2 Canberras. I mean half the aircraft in the museum are wearing paint they never wore in service so they represent an RNZAF type, so why not the Canberra? I have always felt that it stands out badly as being out of place in the museum but assumed it was because it was too different. I recall hearing the museum had secured the B(I)8 to swap the nose onto the B.20 and make it into a representation of the B(I)12 used by No. 14 Squadron. But nowI discover the B.20 could have much more simply represented a No. 75 Squadron Canberra.  "Air to air view of No. 75 Squadron Skyhawk NZ6205 in formation with RAAF Canberra A84-240 over Wellington. This is the delivery of the Canberra to the collection of the Air Force Museum of New Zealand and both of these aircraft are now part of the collection - 1984 - OhC169-84" |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 8, 2023 20:47:15 GMT 12
Yes I'd seen those shots, but was wondering specifically about it at Ohakea.
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Post by McFly on Jun 8, 2023 20:59:48 GMT 12
Yes I'd seen those shots, but was wondering specifically about it at Ohakea.  "RAAF Canberra, A20-240, on the tarmac in front of the Control Tower at RNZAF Base Ohakea, on the way to the Air Force Museum at Wigram - 1984 - OhG1770-84" "RAAF Canberra, A20-240, on the tarmac at RNZAF Base Ohakea on the way to the Air Force Museum at Wigram - 1984 - OhG1771-84" |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 8, 2023 21:04:46 GMT 12
Cool, many thanks Marty! I'd not seen them.
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Post by Mustang51 on Jun 9, 2023 2:00:40 GMT 12
Australian built Canberras had only one seat behind the pilot whereas the UK built had two. Been fortunate enough to fly in the one at Temora
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Post by skyhawkdon on Jun 9, 2023 7:37:07 GMT 12
The ex RAAF Canberra is now in storage at Wigram.
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Post by tbf2504 on Jun 9, 2023 9:05:03 GMT 12
Good to see Dave Wilson is still with us. When I was the Comms Flight Commander at Wigram in the late 1970s I interacted with him on a number of RNZAF topics he was following including the development of the
then RNZAF Historical Centre (forerunner of the Museum) of which I was the secretary. A great guy to work with who unlike a lot of his compatriots, did research before asking the right questions!
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