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Post by Venomnut on Jul 3, 2022 12:00:01 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 3, 2022 12:03:19 GMT 12
Excellent to see this!
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Post by ZacYates on Jul 3, 2022 12:09:30 GMT 12
Utterly fantastic, bravo Bruce!! Anyone else thinking it would be nice to Bring Our Bird Home? That individual aircraft ID letter...!
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Post by davidd on Jul 9, 2022 19:50:51 GMT 12
Yes Zac, it was customary for RAF (and therefore RNZAF, etc.) to reserve the letters Y and Z for dual control trainers in the post-war era, you can see such letters on our Mosquitos at Ohakea for instance.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 9, 2022 20:07:31 GMT 12
Anyone else thinking it would be nice to Bring Our Bird Home? Erm, no. There are plenty of RNZAF Vampires that actually in NZ that need care and homes already. And if you were suggesting that group that has not actually brought a single aircraft home yet, then no again. It would be nice to see someone buy Bruce's Vampire and restore it, for sure, but I suspect one of those people who like to keep the cockpit and throw away the rest will probably end up with it because it would be hugely uneconomic to consider restoring it to flight, and almost as uneconomic to restore it to static.
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Post by ZacYates on Jul 10, 2022 16:14:53 GMT 12
Anyone else thinking it would be nice to Bring Our Bird Home? Erm, no. There are plenty of RNZAF Vampires that actually in NZ that need care and homes already. My apologies Dave, my post was intended to be in jest hence the use of an emoji. I'll endeavour to make such intent clearer in future.
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Post by oj on Jul 10, 2022 19:27:58 GMT 12
Quite common to do a spirited handling display including single engine performance, even with a handful of ATC Cadets on board (as we were) at Waharoa (Matamata) aerodrome in about 1960 or 61. Naturally, our parents had previously signed the obligatory "blood chit" exonerating the RNZAF if anything went wrong! Actually the most dangerous part of the day was probably the journey from Thames to Waharoa and return in one of those tall, thin Bedford vans of about 1940's vintage.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 10, 2022 19:48:31 GMT 12
I am trying to get my head around how this happened. The port horizontal tailplane has not been munched by the propeller as I'd have expected of the rear aircraft had just run into the back of the front one, so was NZ1265 perhaps not running and is the innocent victim, and NZ283 perhaps swung round into it? Is that NZ283's fin or starboard horizontal stabiliser on the ground? Whatever happened, NZ283 was reduced to spares and written off the books in 1943, I assume this incident being the cause. NZ1265 survived the war. WgG1253-43 Close up of the tail of Oxford NZ283 and the nose of Oxford NZ1265 after a ground collision at RNZAF Station Wigram. 3 June 1943. LINK
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Post by Antonio on Jul 11, 2022 15:02:35 GMT 12
Looks like a clockwise swing
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 12, 2022 13:01:36 GMT 12
Thanks Matthew, who has now uploaded this photo of the Oxford incident from the other side. So it seems the culprit was indeed the back aircraft, NZ1265, taxiing into and munching NZ283 in front of it. I guess the horizontal sabs were below the prop arc after all. WgG1252-43 - LINKTail of Oxford NZ283 and Oxford NZ1265 after a ground collision at RNZAF Station Wigram.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 21, 2022 14:41:44 GMT 12
I am still puzzled about NZ2079 having an air to air kill marking. Awesome Hudson: c/w Jap victory flag Crew of a Hudson pose in front of their Hudson "Kahu-Ta-Mai", believed to be at RNZAF Station Whenuapai. This is the aircraft that shot down the first Japanese aircraft by the RNZAF in the Pacific. OK, I am puzzled. The Hudson that shot down the first Japanese aircraft of the South Pacific campaign for the RNZAF was Max McCormick's crew in NZ2090. And NZ2090's constructor's number was 6731. But if you zoom in on that photo you can see part of the constructor's number for this Hudson, and it's not 6731. It shows the remnants of 702. That can only be 6702, or NZ2079.
NZ2079 definitely served in the front lines of the Pacific with No. 3 (GR) Squadron, and also had several aerial tangles with Japanese aircraft. But as far as I am aware it never scored any kills.
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Post by tbf2504 on Aug 21, 2022 15:40:52 GMT 12
The first casualty in war is the truth!!! The photo may be a PR "for consumption of the public" Any old Hudson will do!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 22, 2022 19:45:38 GMT 12
I think you have missed the point there Paul. This aircraft has a kill flag. They will not have added that for the photo, and the crew seen there in front of NZ2078 is not the crew of NZ2090 that shot down the floatplane - three of them never made it back to New Zealand, sadly.
There are also photos around of NZ2090 with its own kill marking. This one seems to be another that gained a kill flag.
I will have to look deeper into the records. I do know NZ2078 did have at least one aerial battle with Japanese aircraft, but I was not aware it had downed one.
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Post by 30sqnatc on Aug 29, 2022 18:48:53 GMT 12
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Post by NZ1009 on Aug 29, 2022 20:53:47 GMT 12
Going by the stripes, a navigator just after graduation parade where the pilots brevet is still temporarily attached?
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Post by camtech on Aug 29, 2022 21:00:50 GMT 12
I V Mackay joined the RNZAF in 1950 and trained as a navigator, serving on Catalina and Sunderland aircraft. He was accepted for pilot training in 1956, hence the two brevets. (reference By Such Deeds, by Hanson)
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 2, 2022 14:19:53 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 2, 2022 14:25:55 GMT 12
Some photos from Operation Samaritan, when No. 42 Squadron deployed to Mogadishu in Somalia in 1993, have been added to the Wigram site today. It is interesting to see one of the Andovers in the VIP scheme with the blue stripe ended up there. I thought all the ones deployed got the overall white UN scheme. PF10-8-93 No. 42 Squadron Operation Samaratan in Mogadishu, Somalia. Andovers NZ7625 and NZ7627 on the tarmac. And to help Matthew out, does anyone recognise these two gents? PF10-21-93 No. 42 Squadron Operation Samaratan in Mogadishu, Somalia. Unknown Wing Commander shaking hands with an unknown Squadron Leader beside an Andover.
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Post by tbf2504 on Sept 2, 2022 14:51:16 GMT 12
In answer you comment on the Op Samaritan Andovers. 1. the three aircraft were NZ7627, NZ7629 which were still in the UN overall white scheme from their service with UNIIMOG 1988-89, and NZ7625 which was in the VIP scheme 2. Wing Commander John Duxfield (the 42 Squadron detachment commander for the first half of the deployment) shaking hands with Squadron Leader Murray (Bunga) Baron a Supply Officer who was positioned at Modgadishu ahead of the deployment to co-ordinate logistic support from the US Marines. (As an aside Bunga and I have a very interesting trip getting back to NZ from Kenya in mid January 1993)
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Post by delticman on Sept 2, 2022 15:28:05 GMT 12
Some photos from Operation Samaritan, when No. 42 Squadron deployed to Mogadishu in Somalia in 1993, have been added to the Wigram site today. It is interesting to see one of the Andovers in the VIP scheme with the blue stripe ended up there. I thought all the ones deployed got the overall white UN scheme. PF10-8-93 No. 42 Squadron Operation Samaratan in Mogadishu, Somalia. Andovers NZ7625 and NZ7627 on the tarmac. And to help Matthew out, does anyone recognise these two gents? PF10-21-93 No. 42 Squadron Operation Samaratan in Mogadishu, Somalia. Unknown Wing Commander shaking hands with an unknown Squadron Leader beside an Andover. Always thought 42 Squadron's Andovers looked good in the Skyways of London paint scheme. www.airteamimages.com/skyways-of-london_cs10-2956.html
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