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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 17, 2007 0:12:36 GMT 12
Wow, the RNZN flew an orange Wasp, that's a new one on me. I guess 3 Squadron had some spare roughy paint? If you want to continue the NZ flying on the ice theme but extend it to the contractors, Helicopters NZ Ltd flies down there too. At least one of their pilots tis season was ex-RNZAF pilot Jim Finlayson. See their orange and white Squirrel here. They've flown Iroquois down there too i think. www.helicoptersnz.co.nz/ |
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Post by kiwichappers on Aug 17, 2007 0:35:24 GMT 12
Another whoops! The decals are from The Aviation Workshop. I have attached a scan of the information sheet which also includes the Huey reference.  |
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Post by kiwichappers on Aug 17, 2007 0:37:52 GMT 12
The Squirrel does look nice.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 17, 2007 0:45:47 GMT 12
That Wasp would look really neat.
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Post by kiwichappers on Aug 17, 2007 1:08:30 GMT 12
Yes I think its rather good to but did it really exist? Given a bit more info I would be keen to build it.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 17, 2007 1:50:42 GMT 12
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Post by kiwichappers on Aug 17, 2007 3:12:39 GMT 12
Hold on the Wasp in the Antarctic it seems to have been in a much warmer climate according to the extract below from the ADF Serials site summary.
'Ex XT435. Delivered to Fleet Air Arm 12 October 1965. To Royal New Zealand Navy 1983. Operated from HMNZS Canterbury in all over red colour scheme during Bouganville peacekeeping operations. Retired from service April 1998 and sold to Westlands. Arrived in United Kingdom February 1999 and registered on the United Kingdom Civil Aircraft Register as G-RIMM on 11 March 1999 to T. Martin and M. Grimshaw, London, United Kingdom. Total Hours 3841. Flying in Royal Navy colours as XT435.'
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Post by lesterpk on Aug 17, 2007 8:42:38 GMT 12
Hi, not sure about the all over red.
It was actually the same orange as we were putting on the Iroquios for Bouganville, which I think was the same as used to be applied for the ice. The name Scarlet Chrome rings a bell as the colour name. Basically the locals had a habit of shooting at helicopters which they thought were the government/army coming to hassle them, so the word was spread not to shoot at the orange ones, hence the quick change for the Wasp.
This of course was when the Wasp was still based at Hobby as were the Iroquios, I was in the paintshop at the time, the Wasp guys came over and asked for a couple of tins of paint as they were leaving ASAP and had to paint it in the hangar on the back of the ship on the way over.
A quick degrease and some work with the rollers and paintbrushes, no spraying. IIRC the orange only came up as far as the door sills. I have seen photos of it at work and I'm sure if I dig through the sqn history I'll find some and post them here.
Also the Aussies were taking helo's there as well and asked us for some paint so they wouldn't be shot at either, we didn't have any to spare so pointed them to the manufacturer.
Les.
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Post by Damon on Aug 17, 2007 20:00:27 GMT 12
Dave .
I got the info about the O.R Iroquois from the book written by Janic Geelen and Ross Macpherson called 'New Zealand Rotary Wings' .Some pic's of the Iroquois on ice .The book is well complimented with mainly civvie helicopter photos and very informative text.
I would highly recommend it and the book 'Take Off' about Helicopter NZ Ltd.An exceptional book! HNZ's activities at the Antarctic and else where make very good reading!
The info , kiwichappers, about the 'Dog' motif came from my old copy of a magazine called Scale Dimentions,now long since gone, produced by IMPS NZ. August 1989!. I will try to scan the diagrams accompanying the article and post them on this thread
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Post by kiwi on Aug 17, 2007 21:10:07 GMT 12
The Wasp looks hard case with the short legs , I don't think they squatted like that even fully laden .
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 18, 2007 12:55:51 GMT 12
Thanks Mike, what an experience indeed. I thought just going to the southern continent would be a fantastic event, but meeting Sir Ed there too, wow!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 21, 2007 17:55:17 GMT 12
Damon asked me to place this scan onto the thread - sorry it's taken a few days but photobucket wouldn't let me into my account for some reason  |
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Post by Damon on Aug 21, 2007 18:58:15 GMT 12
Cheers Dave! Thanks for posting it. Drawing by Mike Kernot then RNZAF.
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