Post by Antonio on Jan 1, 2022 14:14:03 GMT 12
Not too sure if this article is on the forum before of not.
Back in the cockpit
Helen Hill
21:25, Apr 17 2015
Former RNZAF pilot Bryan Cox flew a Corsair in World War II. In April, he had the chance to get back in the cockpit at the Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow in Blenheim.
Sitting in the cockpit of a Corsair FG1 at the Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow Bryan Cox felt quite at home.
It was 68 years since he was last in one, having flown them in the Pacific during World War II and later in Japan during the occupation.
Getting in required "a lot of heaving and pushing" but once there, he felt quite at home.
"I could still do all the take-off checks ... " (and he rattles them off without stumbling).
"I immediately recalled the cockpit layout. It was a very impressive aircraft because it was so well constructed and laid out. All pilots loved flying them."
Bryan, who was 90 in January and lives in Tauranga, spent 10 or 15 minutes in the cockpit.
"The engine wasn't running, I was just moving the controls. I waved the chocks away but they wouldn't take them away."
His nostalgic experience was arranged with the co-operation of the pilot, Keith Skilling, whom Bryan knows.
The Corsair at the show is the only one remaining out of 424 that the RNZAF flew during the war.
Bryan says it was a fighter aircraft but it also carried bombs. Its main task was to patrol the airspace over Rabaul, on Papua New Guinea, to harass the Japanese and prevent them using their airfields near Rabaul.
Eight of them flew every day over Rabaul from the RNZAF base at Green Island, just north of the Solomon Islands.
"Their next tour was on Bougainville Island conducting close-support dive bombing for the Australian Army."
Bryan flew the Corsairs from September 1944 to March 1947.
After the war about two-thIrds of them survived. They were flown to Rukuhia airport at Hamilton to be melted down and made into saucepans and pressure cookers, he says.
"This particular aircraft, FG1 Corsair NZ5648, survived survived because it didn't go to Japan with the occupation force.
Bryan says it was made almost airworthy by a group of enthusiasts and sold to America where it was for 20 years.
Then a New Zealander living in England, Ray Hannah, who had a collection of vintage aircraft, acquired it and he later brought it to the Wanaka air show and sold it to Sir Tim Wallis.
It now lives in Masterton where it's owned by Gene Demarco.
"I hadn't flown this particular one but in Japan I flew NZ5647 and NZ5649, the two registered either side of it," recalls Bryan.
After the show ended, Bryan flew in the Russian Yak trainer with pilot Andrew Love.
They went out to Seddon where they performed aerobatics. With Andrew in control, Bryan was able to carry out two loops and two rolls from the rear seat.
"All the fighters I flew did aerobatics," he says.
"Dog fights with other planes, but I'd never been in a Yak."
In 1961 he was employed in air traffic control at Ardmore while Auckland airport was under construction.
"In 1964 I got a flying instructor rating and two years later I started my own flying school, and I was teaching aerobatics
"It's a relaxation to me. I enjoy the freedom of being like a bird."
Back in the cockpit
Helen Hill
21:25, Apr 17 2015
Former RNZAF pilot Bryan Cox flew a Corsair in World War II. In April, he had the chance to get back in the cockpit at the Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow in Blenheim.
Sitting in the cockpit of a Corsair FG1 at the Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow Bryan Cox felt quite at home.
It was 68 years since he was last in one, having flown them in the Pacific during World War II and later in Japan during the occupation.
Getting in required "a lot of heaving and pushing" but once there, he felt quite at home.
"I could still do all the take-off checks ... " (and he rattles them off without stumbling).
"I immediately recalled the cockpit layout. It was a very impressive aircraft because it was so well constructed and laid out. All pilots loved flying them."
Bryan, who was 90 in January and lives in Tauranga, spent 10 or 15 minutes in the cockpit.
"The engine wasn't running, I was just moving the controls. I waved the chocks away but they wouldn't take them away."
His nostalgic experience was arranged with the co-operation of the pilot, Keith Skilling, whom Bryan knows.
The Corsair at the show is the only one remaining out of 424 that the RNZAF flew during the war.
Bryan says it was a fighter aircraft but it also carried bombs. Its main task was to patrol the airspace over Rabaul, on Papua New Guinea, to harass the Japanese and prevent them using their airfields near Rabaul.
Eight of them flew every day over Rabaul from the RNZAF base at Green Island, just north of the Solomon Islands.
"Their next tour was on Bougainville Island conducting close-support dive bombing for the Australian Army."
Bryan flew the Corsairs from September 1944 to March 1947.
After the war about two-thIrds of them survived. They were flown to Rukuhia airport at Hamilton to be melted down and made into saucepans and pressure cookers, he says.
"This particular aircraft, FG1 Corsair NZ5648, survived survived because it didn't go to Japan with the occupation force.
Bryan says it was made almost airworthy by a group of enthusiasts and sold to America where it was for 20 years.
Then a New Zealander living in England, Ray Hannah, who had a collection of vintage aircraft, acquired it and he later brought it to the Wanaka air show and sold it to Sir Tim Wallis.
It now lives in Masterton where it's owned by Gene Demarco.
"I hadn't flown this particular one but in Japan I flew NZ5647 and NZ5649, the two registered either side of it," recalls Bryan.
After the show ended, Bryan flew in the Russian Yak trainer with pilot Andrew Love.
They went out to Seddon where they performed aerobatics. With Andrew in control, Bryan was able to carry out two loops and two rolls from the rear seat.
"All the fighters I flew did aerobatics," he says.
"Dog fights with other planes, but I'd never been in a Yak."
In 1961 he was employed in air traffic control at Ardmore while Auckland airport was under construction.
"In 1964 I got a flying instructor rating and two years later I started my own flying school, and I was teaching aerobatics
"It's a relaxation to me. I enjoy the freedom of being like a bird."
