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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 14:26:53 GMT 12
On Saturday the 10th of May 2008, my mat Mike Cater (or Captainspace on the forum here) and I were priviledged to attend the annual Hobsonville Old Boys Association Reunion, which this year was combined with a mini-reunon of the General Reconnaissance Units Association. The former group's members are all airmen and airwomen who at some stage served at RNZAF Station/Base Hobsonville, from its earliest days and through the flying boat era right up to the latter days of the helicopter era. The latter group, the General Reconnaissance Association, is now pretty much defunct sadly, and this was their last reunion as most members are too old to attend reunions. Their members covered anyone, aircrew or groundcrew, who served with the many GR and BR squadrons and units in New Zealand and the Pacific, and some of them go right back to the prewar Territorial Air Force days. Apparently attendance at the reunion on Saturday was 133 people, which was great. The Sunderland Lounge was packed. Of them, just seven former GR and BR personnel were able to attend, but for me this was the highlight. i got to meet up with two men I'd met and interviewed before - Arthur Hoffman and Merv Davies, great blokes. I also met two chaps whom I'd interviewed for my book by phone before and this was our first personal meeting - Arthur Strother and Bill Goer. And lastly I met three chaps who were new to me, Robbie Robinson, Merv Brown and S.M. Pratt. I now intend to interview these three for my book too. So that's a huge bonus. The reunion began with the Hobby Old Boy's AGM formal stuff, which was lead by Sqn Ldr Ian Ronalds (rtd.), who is their president and incidentally was my CO while I was at No. 1TTS in 1990-91, and later my CO at Technical Squadron, Wigram, through 1992-93. Ian was assisted by the association's secretary, Peter Burch. During this period in general business I was asked to give a brief talk about my book on the General Reconnaissance Squadrons. We broke for lunch, and my what a lovely spread it was. A1 Caterers put on some delicious food for the reunion. At this point we were treated to a small concert while we ate by the excellent RNZAF Base Auckland band. The band above, with Ian Ronalds is standing second from right. Some of the attendees enjoying the lunch During lunch I caught up with all the GR and BR chaps, though Bill Goer and his daughter Chris Stratton decided to leave at this point as Bill had a bad back sadly. But I managed to get the other six together for a photo, thanks mainly to Arthur Hoffman's much appreciated help in rounding them up. Arthur Hoffman on the left has been an unmeasurable help to me in the research for my book. He served as a teenager in the Wellington (Territorial) Squadron prewar, then when war broke out he was in the Wellington GR Squadron, the New Zealand GR Squadron, Unit 20 in Fiji, and No. 40 Squadron and then he retrained from Air Gunner to Pilot and went to the UK where he flew Mosquitoes! Beside him is Arthur Strother, another huge help to my prioject. He was in the gang who were sent to Seletar to pick up the Short Singapores, and then flew in one out to Suva where they formed No. 5 Squadron. He served with the Singapore squadron till it disbanded and he joined No. 6 (FB) Squadron flying in Catalinas as a Flight Engineer. More soon...
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 15:10:13 GMT 12
More photos from the event: [ Above is Robbie Robinson who was a mechanic on the Short Singapore and later the 6 Squadron Catalinas. Here are the six GR Squadron men I managed to get together. From left to right are Arthur Hoffman, Merv Brown (Air Gunner on Hudsons), Arthur Strother, Merv Davies (Air Gunner on Hudsons), Mr Pratt and Robbie Robinson. A great bunch.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 15:43:15 GMT 12
After lunch we were treated to a talk and q&a session by Group Captain Edward Poot, who is the Commanding Officer of No. 485 Wing at Whenuapai, and also senior man on Base Auckland. He talked about the current RNZAF, all the deployments and the upgrades and new purchases at the moment. It was quite informative, though much of it I knew already thanks to the forum. One thing he mentioned that I never realised before was the new NH-90 helicopters have rear ramps so can be used like Andovers and Hercules for rolling on and off cargo. Then the Hobby Old Boys Association presented an award to a Corpoarl from Whenuapai who runs the Tyre Bay there. I forget the name of the award but it was quite a special moment, I think the recipient's name was Cpl Mike Wilson. After this there was some spare time, so Mike and I went for a wander around the base. I had not been there since 1991, and Mike had never been there. I found that it was a real amazing trip down memory lane, much of the base is currently the same as when i was there, except sadly many of the buildings are empty, most of them are run down and degraded badly, and all the hangars are full of boats instead of planes. Here are some very nostalgic (for me) photos. Above: The Officer's Mess. This beautiful old building must be worth millions! The iconic palm trees are forever burned into my memory. it was one of these which my CO at Whenuapai fell out of and broke his leg whilst drunk, or as Phil82 says, 'tired and emotional'. The two above are the same building. One side was the Cafe run by a father and daughter for the AFCC when I was there. It was a frequent haunt for us No. 1TTS students, especially the back room with the pool table and pinball machine. The other side was the base library. I cannot recall which one was which, but I think the cafe was right and the library left? A view of the former No. 3 Squadron hangar from one of the car parks. The base swimming pool. Am I imagining it (confusing it with Wigram?) or did there used to be a water tower on the north-western side of the pool? I may be wrong. I know there was a sign in my days saying if the siren sounds, get out of the pool, as the firetrucks would hook into hydrants that sucked the water out of the pool and you could be sucked under and drowned it was so powerful a pump. So on that basis I guess there was no tower and the mind is playing a trick. The old Base Headquarters, now occupied by the cadets by the look of things. It was mentioned at the reunion that there's a plan to turn this building into an RNZAF Hobsonville museum. That could be good.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 15:59:26 GMT 12
The back of the Sunderland Lounge above, the building on the right being what was the Airman's Club (Baggies Bar) when I was there, but now is apparently the Bandroom for the RNZAF Base Auckland Band. A view looking west on Hudson Bay Road towards the former 3 Squadron Iroquois helicopter hangar I don't know what this hangar was called, and for the life of me cannot recall what was ever in it when i served at Hobby. It backs onto Hudson Bay Road sort of opposite the Sgt's Mess. However during the war I understand this is where aircraft were assembled for the RNZAF. Though this looks the same, it's not. This is perpindicular to the last hangar and when i was there it housed the Wasps of the Naval Support Unit of No. 3 Squadron. This hangar backed on to No. 1 technical Training School in my days. Now both hangars seem to be boat factories. And they're rather shabby compared to my days.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 16:19:01 GMT 12
By the way when I took these photos there was a lot of glare and the conditions were terrible for photography in some areas, ending up with lots of silouhettes and glare. I have had to alter most in photoshop so you can see the subjects. Due to this the green of the grass is standing out more than usual. Other than that I think photoshop has worked miracles. Looking east on Hudson Bay Road A bit further down that road, the old Sgt's Mess on the left More of the former Wo's and Snows mess Hobsonville's street names are great, with very historic overtones, such as: Hudson bay Road (is it rememebring the Hudson as a type or the Hudson in the drink near Hobby?) Sunderland Avenue Hastings Crescent Buckley Avenue (after Air Commodore Maurice Buckley) Isitt Road (after Len Isitt, CAS) Neville Road (I assume after Arthur Neville, postwar CAS) Cochrane Road (afetr Ralph Cochrane, prewar CAS) Beach Road (which doesn't go to a beach) Marine Parade (which does not go to a marine parade!) Marlborough Cresent (after the Duke or the provence I wonder?) Catalina Place (after the PBY-5A) Morrison Drive (after Ian Morrison CAS) Kay Crescent (after Cyril Kay - CAS) Wallingford Way (after Sidney Wallingford, the RNZAF's first combat pilot) Carnegie Cres (after another CAS) Very historic stuff. There's also Clark Road after the chap who ran the brick company there, who's house is now the RNZAF Medical reseach unit, DEMU or whatever it's called.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 16:47:22 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 17:10:22 GMT 12
The RNZAF Base Bandmaster filled in as parade commander as the Base W/O was on leave. Here he reminds the Old Boys of what they were going to do in the parade.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 17:25:51 GMT 12
Turn to the left in threes, Left Turn! By the left, Quick March! Right Wheel!
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 17:45:15 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 18:11:50 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 18:26:10 GMT 12
From memory this area was known as G.D.F. when I worked there briefly in 1990. The buildings here and the old hangars to the right contained such workshops as the Metal Shop, Woodwork Bay, Paint Shop, Fabric bay, etc. When I worked at the Fabric Bay getting on the job training before my course, I'm sure it was on the second story of the two stoey building. I worked there with Sgt Bill Billings, LAC Leon Coy and I think LAC Jo McGillveray from memory. Now the hangar at the extreme right next to the shore has a Fabric Bay sign so it must have moved. The jetty. I used to fish off there on the weekends with a few mates when I was on my course. I caught a few good ones too but we threw them back as we lived in barracks. The Greenhithe Bridge
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 18:41:56 GMT 12
The slipway The view from the jetty One of the Marlborough Crescent homes from down on the jetty. State houses had style in the 1930's!
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 19:08:03 GMT 12
The rustic pier, I love stuff like this When I lived at Hobsonville there were three H-block barracks in this area. They were Ventura Block, Meteor Block and Hudson Block. Ventura has been removed and the space is now just rubble and long grass, a sign of things to come I expect. However Meteor (closest to the camera) and Hudson blocks are surprisingly looking brilliant. I lived in Hudson Block right on the corner room as seen ion this photo. Back then Base Auckland had a moratorium imposed on the upgrade of any base buildings to save money so they could keep aircraft flying. So these barracks and those at Whenuapai were dreadfully run down with paint flaking off. Now they have new rooves, new windows and frames, new side cladding. They look like new facilities all together. And they're most probably empty! This used to be the Airman's Mess This was hands down the best Airmen's Mess in the RNZAF during my time. The food was always top notch and was restaurant quality. Unlike some Messes on bigger bases.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 19:17:59 GMT 12
The last lot: The Sunderland Lounge on the right and in the background the old Airman's Club One last look at the former No. 3 Squadron Hangar And also a very historic looking entrance. Was this part of the Squadron's HQ?
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 19:20:20 GMT 12
I hope some of you found the above photos of interest.
Does anyone have one of those base maps with all the sections on for Hobsonville from around 1990-91? I'd be curious to see one.
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Post by skyhawkdon on May 12, 2008 20:13:16 GMT 12
Thanks for the memories Dave - it all looks amazingly familiar even though it has been 23 years since I was posted there!
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 20:30:53 GMT 12
No problem Don. That's what I thought too, it is pure nostalgia to see it looking so much the same. I had prepared myself for shock and horror like I had when returning to the devastation that was once proud RNZAF Base Wigram. But was pleasantly surprised to see almost everything intact, if a little run down.
Sadly most of the buildings will soon be gone however The Sunderland Lounge and a few others are scheduled to stay but the rest including the airfield will soon be housing, shops and two schools it seems.
The Hobby Old Boys are planning to erect a memorial near the flagpole but nothing has been decided yet as to what form it will take and who'll care for it.
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Post by sniff on May 12, 2008 21:53:40 GMT 12
From memory, the 3 Sqn colours painted building was on the opposite side of Hudson Bay Rd to the hangar (correct, Dave?) and was the Training Flight. The Sqn HQ was the long low prefabricated building between the hangar and Hudson Bay Rd. Another popular misconception was the Nevill Rd was spelled with a final 'e'. I am sure that the AVM would turn in his grave if he knew! Even Wises Maps has served to alter history. As a resident of 2 Nevill Rd for a number of years, it was an uphill battle to educate even family and friends on the correct spelling. A short road, with some select residents. Dunc and Angie Middlemass, Barry and Brenda Hardaker, Norm (?) Cook, the Barrack Warden - a very handy neighbour - and the late Brent Baldwin. Finally, Marine Parade goes down to a beach - now mangrove - where there used to be a wharf for the Upper Harbour Masters launch. His house is behind Husdson and Meteor Blocks and is now a MQ. This predates the use of Hobsonville by the RNZAF. Hudson and Meteor were given a very drastic overhaul when the SAS arrived on base, the troops (married and single) lived in these two blocks.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2008 22:20:24 GMT 12
That's right about the 3 Squadron building. I did see the other building in between and noticed a sign saying Orderly Room and the 3 Squadron symbol, I wondered if both buildings were part of the same purpose. Thanks for clearing it up.
Also thanks for the correction on the spelling of Nevill. I was looking at the Smaps map as I typed. I just checked. It's spelled wrong too.
I never even knew there was a house behind the barracks there. And I lived in them for 7 months. Do you mean the Upper Harbour Master lived there pre-1928? I know there is a row of houses on the other side of the Parade. There used to be a Wasp pilot who lived opposite our barracks door, we always saw him going to work when we were lining up to march to the school.
Great, so the SAS who're used to roughing it got better barracks, but we Blue Orchids had to live in run down squalor. ;D
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Post by sniff on May 12, 2008 22:40:01 GMT 12
Yep, I lived in that one too from 91 to 93, so we probably crossed paths somewhere, Dave. It was quite different as a MQ, not state house style at all, more a Californian bungalow with exceptional views.
SAS were always on call, and the place was usually buzzing - even on Christmas Day. So I guess they deserved some creature comforts; I presume the refurb came out of an Army budget.
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