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Post by Dave Homewood on May 9, 2018 18:43:59 GMT 12
I just found this here link
This P-40E in Tonga became NZ3097 with No. 15 (Fighter) Squadron RNZAF!!
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Post by johnnyfalcon on May 9, 2018 19:02:46 GMT 12
That's a gem! Clear camouflage markings too
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Post by davidd on May 10, 2018 0:22:17 GMT 12
Great find there Dave H. Also looks like some of the latest American servicing trucks at rear - can anyone identify what their purpose is? Dave D
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 10, 2018 9:33:26 GMT 12
I guess if it was a tented camp type of set up, the trucks were probably mobile workshops for the guys working on things like instruments, and other stuff that had to be away from the dust and weather? Dunno really, that is just a guess. You can even read the number on one of them in the large format download version if you wanted to trace its purpose.
Am I right David that there is only one other known photo of the P-40's in Tonga? It appeared in an article by Ralph Court in NZ Wings in the 1990's from memory, and was more of a longshot view and not as sharp as this one.
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Post by alanw on May 10, 2018 12:12:31 GMT 12
Hi Dave,
That's an awesome find!!!
Thanks for posting - Much appreciated, adds to the knowledge pool for these aircraft.
Thanks/regards
Alan
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Post by davidd on May 11, 2018 9:40:39 GMT 12
Was the Ralph Court photo the one showing P-40s sitting on their bellies with u/c in holes dug for purpose - apparently a standard tactic for resisting typhoons, one of which was threatening the island at the time. Not a highly detailed picture, but interesting. Of course these aircraft were operated by RNZAF in those same American markings for about six months, unchanged. All aircraft accident reports from this period referred to them by either their RAF or USAAF number, and one even by the tail code number. David D
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Post by alanw on May 11, 2018 9:52:42 GMT 12
Was the Ralph Court photo the one showing P-40s sitting on their bellies with u/c in holes dug for purpose - apparently a standard tactic for resisting typhoons, one of which was threatening the island at the time. Not a highly detailed picture, but interesting. Of course these aircraft were operated by RNZAF in those same American markings for about six months, unchanged. All aircraft accident reports from this period referred to them by either their RAF or USAAF number, and one even by the tail code number. David D Hi David, That is really interesting. Obviously when taken over by the RNZAF (15 Squadron) the P40's had US Seat Harnesses, did those change to the Sutton (being ex RAF order they would had the appropriate attachment openings etc) or did they retain USAAF Harness? Thanks/regards Alan
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 11, 2018 16:39:05 GMT 12
David, I honestly cannot recall but I think the photo had a P-40K and maybe a P-40E sitting on the airfield in long shot. That is the image I have in my head, but whether it is accurate, and whether it's actually part of the said article, I'm not certain. I wish the Wings Archive had not vanished from the web, as it would be much easier to look up on that.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 11, 2018 17:04:52 GMT 12
Yuss!! I just found that article and you're correct David about the P-40's being dug in. That is not the photo I was remembering though. I'll scan the article and post it here soon.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 11, 2018 17:39:08 GMT 12
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Post by harvard1041 on May 11, 2018 21:02:03 GMT 12
Great thread & article Dave - thanks ...
Think the P-40E1s were mostly American (as you'd expect) in their equipment etc ...have a Mod differences list somewhere, but they were minor. Oxygen system, radios.
Cheers Hvd1041
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Post by davidd on May 12, 2018 11:51:11 GMT 12
Those P-40Es (plus two P-40Ks) in Tonga (and taken over by RNZAF) were more or less as built when taken over by RNZAF, as was most of the pilot's flying equipment - USAAC parachutes, harnesses, oxygen masks, etc, although they brought up their own (unsuitable) sheepskin flying boots, and leather helmets. Not certain about the Mae Wests. However they did NOT like the American parachute harnesses as they were not equipped with the quick-release buckle (by this time standard in RAF), particularly after the Americans told them that at least two of their pilots had been lost at sea after engine failures, presumed because they became entangled in their shroud lines. The 15 Squadron pilots also did not like the US gun-sights, preferring the RAF type, but thought the American oxygen masks were better than the RAF ones they had been issued with in NZ (Type D), although the early US ones were fitted with (to our eyes) the rather odd re-breather bags. RNZAF HQ (Wgtn) informed 15 squadron that very few spare gun-sights were held in NZ, so they had to persevere with the American originals. I think that RAF-type Mae Wests (1941 pattern) were sent up from NZ as they were more comfortable than the US ones. P-40E-1s were shipped all around the world, ending up in practically every war theatre, except western Europe.
PS, I had not bothered to read Ralph Court's article before I hastily banged out the above notes, but having now done so, I see he made no reference to the flying gear or equipment (I wish he had!), but my knowledge of this subject came from (a) a certain amount of official correspondence which survives, and (b), talking (many years ago) with such pilots as Cess Cardwell, Ian McKenzie, and also some quite detailed letters from Ralph himself. He was a veritable storehouse of in-house knowledge, having served as the squadron's unofficial historian (there is no ORB for the unit's first overseas tour, but Ralph maintained a school exercise book with most of the operational details, of which I have a copy - another is with RNZAF Museum.) David D
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Post by curtiss on May 13, 2018 21:44:00 GMT 12
John Smiths' unrestored P40E-1 NZ3043 still has a mount for an RAF gunsight but I have never seen a photo of an RNZAF P40 with an RAF gunsight installed. All the photos I have of RNZAF P40's show American N3 sights. Interestingly the RAF P40 that was found a few years ago in Egypt had an American N3 sight.
The RNZAF must have had a liking for the RAF gunsight though as they were installed in a lot of the later model MkIIa and Mk III Harvards.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 13, 2018 22:41:58 GMT 12
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Post by baz62 on May 14, 2018 10:32:01 GMT 12
Would the photo have been taken in NZ? Good work Dave you're finding some great pics.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 14, 2018 10:43:09 GMT 12
The chap who posted it reckons the roundels were not in use till late 1943, but adf.serials says the aircraft did not reach NZ till it was reassembled at Hobsonville in March 1944,so where was it between Tonga and NZ? Is this Santo? Is it Guadalcanal? Fiji?
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Post by fwx on May 14, 2018 15:16:53 GMT 12
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Post by davidd on May 14, 2018 18:02:32 GMT 12
Now that is a very interesting photograph Dave H, may have been taken at Nadi (Fiji) or more likely at Efate (New Hebrides/Vanuatu), as one 15 Sqdn's P-40E was abandoned at one of these strips for reasons unknown (although known that it went unserviceable) during the ferrying operation from Fiji to Espiritu in about March 1943. Nothing whatsoever is known by me of its activities between that date and its return to NZ in March 1944. Looks as though the USAAF were treating it as one of their own during this period, probably as a hack for hooning around in if you had nothing better to do, or maybe "claimed" by a more senior USAAF officer who saw it first. Seems that somebody in USAAF finally realized that, somehow, this aircraft was actually the NZ Government's, although the unusual method of its take-over by the RNZAF in October 1942 (by direct transfer from USAAF to RNZAF "in the field") meant that it did not follow standard protocols normally employed by the US Government. Nevertheless they were right to recognize that it was an NZ aircraft, and finally released it for shipment to NZ. It seems as though the USAAF in the interim had been using this aircraft as one of their own (thus the up-to-date American insignia). So it was NOT supplied to NZ in the first instance as a Lend-Lease aircraft (which were normally allocated directly from the production line), but there were other cases of rather irregular transfers, such as the RNZAF's 23 B-34 Venturas, which were supplied second hand but "upgraded" from USAAF stocks (who seemed to be keen to get rid of them to anybody that wanted them). So all-in-all, a most intriguing find! The only photographs I have previously seen of this aircraft in RNZAF service were taken when it was with the E&W School at Wigram, although it was apparently stripped of most of its camouflage paint here, but still with traces of its original markings. Incidentally the Lend-Lease people in Washington knew all about this rather irregular transaction, and there was really nothing dodgy or illegal about it, the transfer was simply "unusual". I think they kept pretty good records on the whole, although sometimes such aircraft seem to have slipped through the net during the rather torrid days of 1942. David D
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 14, 2018 23:41:50 GMT 12
Thanks David. That would explain why it seems to be a lone duck among other USAAF types. I found it curious that after all that time they shipped it to NZ and within weeks it was simply made an instructional airframe. Hardly worth shipping it really as there must have been plenty of others around not being used.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 14, 2018 23:43:06 GMT 12
Also thanks Chris for embedding the photo here. I have never worked out how that's done. Flickr is a mystery to me, it claims i have two accounts with them, neither of which did I ever sign up for nor will it let me into either. Bloody daft site.
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