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Post by Kereru on Sept 10, 2006 17:26:23 GMT 12
I took quite a bit of video at the Ardmore Airshow 2004 and thought I would display the RNZAF Boeing 757 going through its paces here exclusively for now.  File is around 3 mins 17 secs and 8 Meg. |
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Post by Kereru on Sept 11, 2006 8:11:43 GMT 12
Hawker Hunter  |
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Post by phil82 on Sept 11, 2006 9:42:34 GMT 12
Ahhhh, sweet nostalgia! I was fortunate enough to be stationed on airfields with Hunters , the FG9. twice in my career, and scenes such as this were a daily occurrence because you never, ever met anyone who didn't love to fly them! I got a ride in a T-bird because of a favour I did for two of 20 Sqn RAF pilots at Tengah! An interesting tale, but only if anyone wants to hear it because I'm aware that it may not, necessarily, be interesting to others!
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Post by flyjoe180 on Sept 11, 2006 17:04:43 GMT 12
Go ahead, Im always keen for a story!
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Post by phil82 on Sept 11, 2006 17:41:43 GMT 12
Right, make yourselves comfortable and get a glass of something nearby! Once upon a time there was a sort of war going on between Malaysia, and Indonesia, a war labelled by the politicians as Confrontation, not a war, despite a number of people being killed, mainly Indonesian invaders, and at least one Indonesian Air Force Herc was shot down!
14 Sqn RNZAF was at Tengah, alongside 45 Sqn RAF with Canberras, 39 Sqn RAF with a couple of PR9s. 60 and 84 Sqdns RAF with Javelins, 20Sqn RAF with the Hunter FGA9, and 103 Sqn RAF with the Wessex. There were lots of other aircraft around, the Victor SR2, and the Vulcan B2, all ready to go! Tengah was a busy place. A an airman on 14, I was asked to accompany two 20 Sqn Hunter pilots and a few other RAF 'erks' to the air-to-ground range at Asahan up in Malaya, so duly signed for an RAF Landrover, and off we went. I was a sort of standby range safety officer, and when the range was being used by the Hunters using their 30 mm cannon on undefended hessian targets, I just sat with the two plots who were supposed to measure the success or otherwise of their fellow pilots. They had gone up to the range, quite a few hours by road, in a Bedford three-tonner with all the gear. After flying there was usually a beer to be had, and these two guys turned out to be pretty good blokes one way or another, and I was the only Kiwi there! Come the pack-up to go home, which took me all of two minutes, like throw my gear in the back of the Landrover, these two pilots came over and asked me"could I drive a truck?"
"Of couse" I said, "why do you ask?"
"Weelllll," they said, "we have a very important dinner [ read:piss-up] in the Mess to go to, and the way things are going, we'll not get there in time, so we were wondering if we could have your Landrover, and you take the truck back to the Squadron". Now one of these guys was a Flt Commander on 20, and sensing there was a deal in the air, I immediately agreed to the proposal, but pointed out that I in fact belonged to 14 Sqn and the RNZAF, so what went on on tour had to stay on tour blah blah blah, then right at the end before handing over the keys, I said, I wish these were the keys to a Hunter!'.
"Err, we could probably arrange that".
So some days later I got 30 minutes in a Hunter! Magbloodynificent!
Wasn't it great when we had an air force that mattered?
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