|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 15, 2008 15:20:52 GMT 12
That photo is fantastic! I'd love to have gone to Auckland in those days.
What else is in that book? Any more coloured NZ aerial shots?
|
|
|
Post by shorty on Oct 15, 2008 17:08:06 GMT 12
Looking at that photo I still think it has been hand coloured, in fact I'll wager my first born on it.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 15, 2008 17:23:30 GMT 12
The subsequent larger versions do have that hand-coloured look to them, I'll admit. It would be nice to find out for certain.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 15, 2008 17:27:35 GMT 12
Does anyone know what that huge building was along the coast on the waterfront, the apricot coloured building? It's huge. Would that have been a warehouse for the docks?
|
|
|
Post by Bruce on Oct 15, 2008 17:51:43 GMT 12
Its a block of trendy, overpriced leaky apartments... The building behind with all the chimneys is probably the old Kings Wharf power station. Not sure what the Apricot building would be, although I believe there was also an Abbotoir in the Kings Wharf area at some stage. Anyone notice all the air pollution? Note also the car ferry dock pre harbour bridge.
|
|
|
Post by contourcreative on Oct 15, 2008 17:52:58 GMT 12
Regarding the coloring these were photoshopped and then sent through again from my contact on the Wings of Peace forum (That's worth joining if you are interested in between the wars civil stuff BTW - need some more Kiwis there).
If this pic is hand colored then it certainly is very good, and I think once you expand the image a few things emerge. The building beside the terminal does appear to have a cream brush stroke across it and there is no lighter color in the distant buildings.
I'm not being the devils advocate here, but when I looked at the Pan Am terminal building in Waugh's 'Taking Off' the texture of the grass appeared to be the same as the concrete in front of it - although very slightly different in shade to the concrete itself. I could email Richard and ask him if you like.
The characteristic that would make it hand tinted is its panoramic quality. A very large image, painted for an office maybe and then scaled down for publication. I have a number of National Geographics from the same year and the colour (they call it Natural-Colour) does look like a great deal like tinted B&W photographs!
I wouldn't bet my first born just yet...and we have patches on the wings of the Shorts
But all this aside...I still need more pics of the blessed building
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 15, 2008 18:12:37 GMT 12
Also note the different colour of the water near the Clipper and how it's running with the current, like it has just emptied its bilges.
Some colour photo processes at that time looked just like this, look at some of the german coloured photos. I wouldn't rule it out are proper colour just yet till we know more about it. Either way it's a terrific photo.
|
|
|
Post by shorty on Oct 15, 2008 18:29:18 GMT 12
If I recall correctly from my days of working in the area in the early 60s the big building was a freezing works/cool store. Note in those days the trains used to run along the middle of Quay Street to the wharves and we're not talking little diesel locos but real fire breathing monsters shoving rakes of wagons back and forth up the road.
|
|
|
Post by steve on Oct 16, 2008 4:55:48 GMT 12
Very interesting thread. I am in Costa Rica at present and took a look at their cessna airforce after spending a while in USA exploring more aviation museums. Thats by the way but well worth the time and money. I can add a small piece of info regarding the large mustard coloured building in the background. It was the farmers cool store I believe and during WW2 it had on its roof a significant AA emplacment ialong with a few of the other buildings in queen street. Endean buildings and the US South Pacific Pacific command centre dilworth near by which provided more protection for the port.
|
|
|
Post by contourcreative on Oct 16, 2008 5:46:24 GMT 12
Here’s the text to the photograph: (Pacific Pioneers: The Rest of the Story, P.378) “ This rare color photograph of Pan Am’s New Zealand base was taken on July 18, 1940 after arrival of the American Clipper on the first scheduled airmail flight to New Zealand. The Pan Am clipper is berthed in the foreground at the floating dock at the Pan Am base on Mechanic’s Bay, Auckland New Zealand. The Tasman Airlines “Aotearoa” is tied up at the dock next to the American Clipper at the terminal of Tasman Empire Airways. Another Tasman aircraft, “Awarua”, is at her mooring in the harbor.” Mike then adds his comments:
If it’s colorized, they sure went to an awful lot of detail, like the flag on the clipper….the oranges arn’t quite identical on the flying boat wings and neither is the aluminum paint…..how would anybody know to colorize that ? Not to mention the muddy eddies in the water…. My take is that it’s authentic but faded with time….
I also sent the image to an expert in old photographs and photo coloring and his immediate and unequivocal conclusion was that it was a genuine color photograph and echoed my earlier comment that adjusting these things in photoshop does give them a vivid hand painted look.
So we should all be happy...
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 16, 2008 11:10:28 GMT 12
The idea that it has faded makes sense. I've found that trying to enhance faded coloured photos that are even more recent make it look handcoloured. I am happy that it's genuine. Are we able to see the entire photo in an untweaked state please?
Also, if we know the publication and date i wonder if the negative is still out there and if a new print can be made as it possibly won't be so faded.
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Oct 17, 2008 2:59:10 GMT 12
Dave the last Pan Am clipper was Pacific Clipper which Arrived approx 7th dec 1941 - a significant date. It went back to the USA the long way - via the middle East and Africa - due to a sudden change in the pacific political climate. There is a great article about it in the latest "Sport Flying" Magazine.... Two different Boeing 314 Clippers used the name "Pacific Clipper". The first was from the second batch of 314s (in actual fact the 314A model) and that was NC18609. However, sometime prior to December 1941, that particular aircraft swapped names with NC18602, originally named "California Clipper" — the first Boeing 314 to visit New Zealand. It was in reality NC18602, formerly "California Clipper" but renamed "Pacific Clipper" that was the last 314 to fly into and out of Auckland. I have in my possession two books that contain a lot of information about the Boeing 314s (including operations to Auckland). The first is "Last of the Flying Clippers — The Boeing B-314 Story" by M. D. Klaás (1997 — ISBN: 0-7643-0562-X), published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd, PA, USA. The second book is "The Long Way Home" by Ed Dover (1999 — ISBN: I-888962-07-0), published by Paladwr Press, Virginia, USA. The second book is specifically about the round-the-world journey by NC18602 (carrying the name "Pacific Clipper") via the usual route to Auckland, NZ; then west via Africa and South America back to the USA. I also own another book, but it is currently in the possession of a friend (whose father is Captain Geoff White, ex of TEAL including the Solents, as well as commanding the first DC-8 flights into Wellington later in his career) and this other book deals with First Day Covers flown on significant Pan Am flying-boat flights, including all the survey flights to NZ, the first mail flights, and the first passenger flights. The book also has the full passenger lists of those early passenger flights.
|
|
|
Post by contourcreative on Oct 19, 2008 11:36:11 GMT 12
Here's another C class with orange wings...
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 19, 2008 14:55:55 GMT 12
I wonder if those orange/red wings were an international marking to denote it was a civil airliner so the germans didn't shoot it down?
|
|
|
Post by shorty on Oct 19, 2008 16:28:03 GMT 12
No, Pan Am aircraft had it earlier than 1939 and AMAs routes were between Auck and Sydney, far away from German theatre of operations.
|
|
|
Post by contourcreative on Oct 19, 2008 16:51:20 GMT 12
The Hi-Viz markings were for when, or if more correctly, IF one of these aircraft wound up in the drink...
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 19, 2008 18:10:08 GMT 12
The Tasman Sea was certainly an area of operations for the German military in 1939-40, they had raiders in there sinking ships in NZ and Australian waters.
But yes my original thought was for high visibility in case of a forced landing, I mentioned that a few pages back I think.
|
|
|
Post by contourcreative on Oct 19, 2008 19:02:53 GMT 12
The best thing thing is that for the modelers among us, we can add a bit of color. "Tart them up" as a friend would say..
|
|
|
Post by shorty on Oct 19, 2008 19:52:19 GMT 12
"Pimp my Empire"
And Dave I naturally meant air operations but then again British Empire aircraft were fair game regardless of whether they were civvy or not. It was just the the Americans that were still neutral.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 19, 2008 20:42:39 GMT 12
Not so, BOAC had the right to fly their airliners to the neutral territories in Europe such as Scandanavia and the lowlands before they fell to the Nazis and to Switzerland and Sweden later, and legally the Germans were not allowed to shoot them down. So we could have (and did) flown the Empire to the neutral USA with such protection. The Empire was shot at by the yanks at Pearl Harbor but that's another story!
Plus, the NZ'ers didn't know that the German warships didn't carry aeroplanes, after all, ours did.
|
|