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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 6, 2020 20:30:36 GMT 12
Yes I spotted them and thought of some of our Forum members who used to be in the unit.
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Post by mit on Jun 6, 2020 23:20:20 GMT 12
Who else spotted the AA guns in the Whenuapai photo? Yes these pictures are from the open day in 1957 and part of the Museum online collection, here they are firing, would have been quite the day!  "Open Day flying display at RNZAF Station Whenuapai. Anti-aircraft gun battery on the airfield. This negative is deteriorating resulting in poor image quality" link |
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Post by tbf25o4 on Jun 7, 2020 8:48:53 GMT 12
The 1950s TAF included a LAA component as part of the RNZAF's task force, based at Hobsonville
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Post by rone on Jun 7, 2020 10:57:45 GMT 12
Yes, I spotted the Bofors right away. The open day was not long after our annual camp. I also remember quite clearly two TAF Mustangs taxiing near what was the TEAL hangar when a brake locked up on one of them. Did a donut right there and then. Did not fly after that. There must be more LAA photos out there surely.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 10, 2020 22:56:50 GMT 12
Which hangar were the No. 1 Squadron TAF Mustangs based in, Ron?
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Post by mit on Jun 19, 2020 18:09:58 GMT 12
NZ1803 was the first of the order of purpose build Dove aircraft for the RNZAF. They were purchased to undertake a number of roles, taking over from Oxfords as twin-engine trainers, Ansons as navigation/signals trainers, and Consuls and Rapides in communications duties The order was made up of 7 Navigation trainers, 7 Signals trainers and 8 General Communications aircraft, plus NZ1801 and NZ1802 Communications aircraft. NZ1803 was the first to arrive to NZ and was a Nav. trainer which were abbreviated to Devon N.T 1 It was assembled by De Havilland in the United Kingdom for a cost of 27,525 pounds 2 shillings and 9 pence and handed over in United Kingdom on 29 February 1952. Ferried from United Kingdom to New Zealand by RNZAF crew and arrived Wigram 28 March 1952. BOC with RNZAF at Wigram on 27 April 1952. In storage at Wigram by March 1977. Presented to RNZAF Museum 16 May 1980. Took part in RNZAF Devon Farewell Flypast over Christchurch on 19 May 1980. On display in Storage Hangar at RNZAF Museum Wigram, NZ.  WgG15405-65 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  RNZAF Devon NZ1803, formation takeoff, Wigram, New Zealand by jenks.steve, on Flickr  ac1591505303001198968 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1973 wg airshow by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  9 9 1980 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  MUS990661 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  MUS990662 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr |
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Post by mit on Jun 19, 2020 18:11:58 GMT 12
And freshly uploaded today by the museum are these shots of the interor of a N.T.1 in action  Navigation School publicity. Interior view of trainee navigators at their posts in a Navigation School Devon. RNZAF Station Wigram.  |
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Post by mit on Jun 19, 2020 18:42:13 GMT 12
The Nav trainer was fitted with two student desks which face each other, each with a table and an instrument panel, there was also provisions for a camera and it's view finder and a tear drop shaped bubble window on the forward right side of the cabin, a drift sight with a three legged stow-able seat, a astro-dome and a sextant, a long range fuel tank installation, an Elsan and a flare pistol The general arrangement  IMG_8501 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr The rear desk looking forward  P1040994 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  P1040995 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr Looking forward to the three legged seat in the stowed position  P1040996 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr The forward desk looking aft  P1050005 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr The Sextant in it's stowed position on the cabin forward Port wall  P1050009 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr The drift sight in the stowed position on the cabin forward Starboard wall  P1050023 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr The three legged seat down and the grey mount is visible on the desk  DEVONS 081 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr behind it for the drift sight, which then goes throuh the covered hole in the cabin wall to the outside. the Rear Aux fuel tank  DEVONS 080 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr The Elsen  DEVONS 082 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr The two special fit windows, first the observation window in the postion of the forward cabin window, this give a perfect view forward, up and down as it is ahead of the wing, the other special fit is the astro dome on top in place of the forward emergence exit hatch. Also note the "tin taped" over port in front of the observation window, this is the drift sight port, there is also one in the cockpit of the Navigator when carried up front.  buckle devons 079 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  DSCF1536 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 19, 2020 21:45:16 GMT 12
Great posts Mit.
Another claim to fame for NZ1803 is that it crashed into Westland bush in Errol Braithwaite's excellent fictional book Long Way Home, which was published and printed in 1964. I think it's quite funny that a couple of decades later both NZ1803 and Errol himself ended up in the RNZAF Museum, the aircraft as an exhibit and Errol as a guide.
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Post by NZ1009 on Jun 19, 2020 23:01:38 GMT 12
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Post by markrogers on Jun 19, 2020 23:37:36 GMT 12
Ah yes. I have that picture too, I cut it out and kept it in a folder. Despite what the caption says, it isn't Takaka, but is the small settlement of Hope, south of Nelson, near Richmond. I can name many of the buildings there, and also my old family home. I think the photo was taken in the 1960's.
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Post by planewriting on Jun 20, 2020 10:53:54 GMT 12
Interesting looking at the fate list on page 1, how many of the 30 Devons still exist in some shape or form. Even more so, it seems the first eight are recorded as substantially complete. NZ1802 has one wing detached but it is hanging on another wall in the same Classic Flyers hangar. I wonder what other military type can boast the same record. The collision involving 10 and 11 occurred during the air show following the London to Christchurch Air Race in October 1953. In the same week the NAC maintenance hangar at Milson (Palmerston North) was destroyed by fire. By chance, this is the second time today I have made reference to the fire, which also claimed Slingsby T31 GAH under construction and Monocoupe ZK-ABD. It nearly claimed a DC-3 undergoing conversion to passenger configuration but it was rescued. By process of elimination years ago I narrowed that aircraft down to either ZK-AZN or Kaimai victim ZK-AYZ. By coincidence these same two became the first and second Skyliners in 1963.
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Post by camtech on Jun 20, 2020 14:22:53 GMT 12
NZ1803 has some memories for me, as while NCO i/c Maintenance at NATTS 1984 to 87, we got the job of preparing '03 for display at the museum. During down times the team stripped, cleaned, polished and generally tidied the aircraft up. We were also involved in what the display would look like, and then worked through the details with museum staff. It was a cool feeling to see the display later when the museum officially opened.
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Post by baz62 on Jun 20, 2020 15:22:27 GMT 12
1803 was the first Devon I was personally involved with, which started one Sunday afternoon in 1980. Sunday afternoons were when civilian volunteers (mainly ATC cadets to begin with) worked on the restoration of the Avenger in 1979. Once she was done a lot of us stayed on (including Obiwan27 on here) and got involved with other projects. At that time (1980) we were running the Avenger and then a team of RNZAF engineers got the C47 running again so it was neat as a 17/18 year old to be involved with live aeroplanes.. Then one Sunday when we turned up there was a Devon sitting outside on the flightline by 7 Hangar. NZ1803 was also made live again so it was a busy afternoon sometimes running the Devon,the Dakota and the Avenger. I am fairly sure we only did two at most but possibly we may have had all three out. This photo was taken just after my first engine run of the Avenger and Squadron Leader Kel Aldridge was about to run the Devon and invited me up front. So if you squint at the Devon cockpit you can see my head embellishing the Devons's looks! The cockpit is pretty snug but affords a good view outside. My other claim to fame with 03 is I somehow managed to get a photo of me unplugging the battery cart from the nose after engine run. It was a book called (I think) Vintage Aeroplanes in New Zealand by John King and I found the photo in the section about the Dove/Devon naturally. Mit I notice in the photo of 03 in Black and White you can see the folded wing of the Avenger. The chap in the uniform is in a WW2 uniform and if it's 1980 that makes him an ATC Cadet. I would say going by the buildings in the back ground this is outside 7 Hangar, home of the Museum then. Interestingly the Avenger looks to be in the WW2 colour scheme(unless the silver in the target tug scheme is looking a bit dark?) so this is closer to the mid 80s when she was repainted at Air New Zealand's paint facilty at ChCh Airport.  Stash9 by Barry Tod, on Flickr |
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Post by tbf25o4 on Jun 20, 2020 15:25:28 GMT 12
NZ1803 was the Devon I selected for retention by the museum for the very reasons outlined above in that it was the first Devon and the first to be ferried to NZ C/s ZMZKA for us tweets
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Post by tbf25o4 on Jun 20, 2020 15:32:28 GMT 12
One of the types of sorties I flew in the Devons were SAR missions. The aircraft was configured with the door off and the Elson removed. A drop board was mounted in the doorway and either an MS8 liferaft for
over sea search or a land storepedo was on the board depending on the mission requirements. Flying around in the middle of winter for many hours with the door off was extremely challenging for me when crewing
as an observer in the port rear seat. The left leg was kept partly warm from the ducting along the bottom of the cabin, but the rest of me as Bxxxxy cold. I used to fly with a modified WWI tiger
moth leather helmet that had earphones and mike fitted as this was warmer than the standard blue cloth helmets.
There are several great tales of those trips which I must document sometime
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Post by Damon on Jun 20, 2020 20:25:52 GMT 12
Great insight Baz. I have just had another look at the image you talk about in John Kings book and it Does look like you! Must have a wonderful time ,being able to be around the guys and running up the C-47, TBF and Devon. Were they mainly done during 'live days' at Wigram?
NZ Warbirds during the nineties was a great time since we had Devons 08 , 21 and for a period 07 . Looking forward to seeing more images as the serial numbers increase.
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Post by baz62 on Jun 21, 2020 12:58:50 GMT 12
Thanks Damon. No the run ups were part of the afternoons work on a Sunday although sometimes they ran them during the week so we missed out :-(. I usually got to run the TBF but occasionally helped start the Devon and C47 which helped to have two up front.
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Post by mit on Aug 19, 2020 14:12:11 GMT 12
Ok so after a short break, NZ1804 Navigation trainer. Assembled by De Havilland in the United Kingdom for a cost of 27,525 pounds 2 shillings and 9 pence. Ferried from United Kingdom to New Zealand by RNZAF crew. BOC with RNZAF at Wigram on 05 August 1952. Flying at Wigram March 1977. Reserve aircraft for the final fly past at Wigram 10/10/79 Converted to instructional airframe INST214 with No.1 TTS Hobsonville on 14 May 1980. Issued to No.23 Squadron ATC Nelson on 30 November 1981. Stored outside at Wanaka Transport Museum. Moved to Ashburton with Peter McQuarters Sold to Phil Hindin Stored at Ashburton Baz started a thread about it's restoration at Peter's before it was sold on to Phil, Baz will know, but I don't think it got very far. rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/10927/devon-nz1804-projectNot long after it arrived in NZ with it's factory scheme.  1804 2 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr RAF Argossy XP446 makes a flypast over some RNZAF Devons during an Open Day at RNZAF Station Ohakea.  OhG5417-64 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr Wellington?  Cat# MIL21027 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1804 1 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1804 3 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1804 8 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1804 4 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1804 5 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1804 6 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr Masterton  1804 masterton by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1804 1978 photo at RNZAF base at Wigram by Mit Brereton, on Flickr The line up of the final flypast aircraft  1804 7 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr As INST214  1804 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr At Nelson 1995  1804 NS 1995 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr Nelson again 1995  1804 NS1995 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr AT Wanaka 1996  Ashburton around 2010  Devon C1 INST214 (NZ1804) at the Aeroview Ashburton New Zealand on the 23rd November 2007 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1283629-large by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1804 as 11 2010 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1804 as 4 2010 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  1804 as 2010 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr  P1400831 by Mit Brereton, on Flickr hangared at Ashburton  1384843-large by Mit Brereton, on Flickr |
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Post by denysjones on Aug 19, 2020 14:53:05 GMT 12
Minor correction to name as Phil Hindin not Hindon
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