Caribou

[planecrazy]

Back in the 1990's Caribous used to cross the Tasman every year for excersizes with the RNZAF,
fro memory "Operation Target" again from memory pretty sure the Canadians joined one year?

Have a bit of footage taken during these visits.

[planecrazy]

Here's another clip, look out for the gusty easterly making the pilot earn his pay around 1.10!

[Deleted]

Lovely stuff Peter, thank you! I only got to see the mighty Bou once or twice so it's great to have these videos. Seeing HARS' example would be a highlight of an airshow for me.

[Mustang51]

Zac, It is spectacular !

[planecrazy]

Thanks Zac, yep I a fan of these old girls, STOL and a couple of big radial engines,
I have since found out a bit more detail on these Caribous going to New Zealand
thanks to Facebook.

"Most likely 'Exercise Short Haul', an airdrop competition between 35SQN, 38SQN
and the HS 780 Andovers of 42SQN RNZAF. The trophy was a wooden toilet seat

"We had a tac Herc comp as well - "Bullseye" with 36SQN C-130H, 40 SQN RNZAF,
and 435/436 SQNs RCAF. The trophy was an aluminium hat, made of beer cans -
the CANZ trophy."

Good to see my memory is not so bad in my ageing years, I can remember the
Canadians took part in one of them, love the trophys.

[tbf2504]

Definitely "Exercise Shorthaul" For the 1995 one at Taupo as AFPRO I took an english Aviation Journalist to the exercise. He was ex-RAF and could not get over how everyone from the Detachment Commander down mucked in setting up
the campsite (down in a gully which proved to be very cold!!!) and that all personnel on the exercise were totally mission focused. As an ex-SNCO in the RAF he was totally shocked that I shared my tent with the Corporal Photographer and him (Would never happen in the RAF he said). Again we had to explain that we operated as a team and it was essential for the good outcome of the PR mission for the photog and myself to work in tandem.
I did a trip on a Caribou around the exercise area which was great fun, but in typical Caribou style
took forever. There was another "Shorthaul" held at Wigram the next year, the base was of course not a flying station anymore so was just the Caribou and Andovers there for the exercise.

[planecrazy]

Thanks for filling in those details tbf2504 I do remember they came
through for those excersizes most years for quite a few years.

[oj]

They were at Ohakea in the 1960s.
Notoriously hard to start in those days. If they didn't fire up promptly (which was rare) there were often long delays waiting for the starter motors to cool between their duty periods and time to bring up a second ground-start battery cart. I don't think the word "scramble" would be in their Ops Manual!

[oj]

Scroll down to read the annecdotals on some C-7 operations here:
amcmuseum.org/at-the-museum/aircraft/c-7a-caribou/

[Deleted]

Sept 2, 2023 21:09:41 GMT 12 oj said:

I don't think the word "scramble" would be in their Ops Manual!

[oj]

I don't get it Zac.
What's this?

[Deleted]

Sept 4, 2023 20:20:41 GMT 12 oj said:

I don't get it Zac.
What's this?

I was laughing at the idea of a Caribou scrambling!

[planecrazy]

The only thing they do in a short time is how little runway they use.