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Post by agalbraith on Mar 30, 2009 9:06:21 GMT 12
Hi Guys
There is another thread somewhere about this mustang I am sure. I helped load the remains of 2427 into the container and snapped photos of her components for historic reasons (stenciling/colours etc...)
This was all stored in a shed at Luggate along with the remains of 2406, 29 etc....This subsiquently went to a guy in the UK and now into Bob Baker in the states. The dataplate and some fuse chunks were 2406's and a cockpit section of 29 as well as a ton of other parts. Bob has aparently finished the Fuselage and is waiting in the que to have the wings done. From what I hear the fuselage is immaculate and she will be in stock military condition with original stamps on the inside skins etc...So she is in good hands!
Whilst it is sad to see them leave our shores, they all have healthy futures ahead of them. Who knows, maybe one might return just like the Corsair did!
Cheers Anthony
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 30, 2009 9:34:02 GMT 12
It would be great if once Bob Baker's machine is flying a photoshoot could be done with Kermit Week's ex-RNZAF example too.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Sept 28, 2012 19:33:47 GMT 12
Then he told me of his latest project. New Zealand Rail were tendering off their seam locos, and he had won a tender for a Ja Loco.This eventually arrived at the section and I visited him a couple of times while he was working on it. This was about the time that I left Woodbourne, but I did hear that he dug a tunnel into the section behind his house, to store the engine and he used to run it out on rails, and steam it up. Fantastic photos and story there Doug! Thanks for sharing these memories. That must have been quite a thrill back then to run the Mustang. I know the P-51D is now in the UK but I wonder what became of the JA locomotive. That was JA1240 (the first of her class, built at Hillside Workshops, Dunedin in 1947). I understand that after Peter Colman died, the locomotive was purchased by Ian Welch (who lives in Wellington and owns a large number of steam locomotives) and is currently at Parnell in Auckland undergoing a gradual restoration to full main-line operational status. See.... www.trainweb.org/nzsteam/ja_class.html and www.trainweb.org/nzsteam/ja_reg.htmI had no idea (not being a train buff) that they built engines in NZ, I assumed they were imported. Was the famous JA engine a kiwi design? I remember Peter Coleman and his collection from some years back as he had a Rolls=Royce Kestrel out of a Hind that interested me. I also remember his making a turntable to turn the J locomotive round and actually turning it by towing it round with his Austin A40, the one pictured by the Mustang. Very ingenious. I visited Pete when he lived in Brian Barry Road in Blenhiem and he had a Pegasus (ex Walrus) complete with 4 bladed prop on a run-up stand in his back yard. Later I would visit him at Ben Morven. A lot of the Ja was transported to his property on a trailer behind his long suffering A40! He told me about his accident he had while motor cycle racing which knocked his head around a fair bit. He reckoned it was one of the best things that ever happened to him as he could do things that weren't "normal" (like having a fighter and a steam loco at home) and people would just say "oh, thats just crazy Pete, he's never been the same since his brain injury" and people quite accepted his quirky ways and he didn't have to explain his reasons to them, which was fine by him! Yep. About 90% of the steam engines in NZ from around 1900 were designed and built in NZ. The first one is still in steam - W192 from 1889 at Ferrymead. Thanks Jon, that's interesting. So NZ used to have a thriving locomotive industry and a thriving shipbuilding industry, but it's only since the 1970's that the aircraft industry has kicked in and even today it's a minnow. That's a pity. Not really Dave, we had an aircraft industry in the 1940s, producing Tiger Moths at Rongotai NZR railway workshops at Christchurch (Addington), Dunedin (Hillside) and Woburn (Hutt Shops) built hundreds of steam locomotives. A&G Price at Thames built a large number as well. All were designed in NZ and NZR mechanical engineers also designed most of the locomotives that were built overseas for NZ service throughout the 20th Century. In fact, one type of locomotive, the Pacific type (4-6-2 wheel arrangement) was a NZ invention with the first examples being built for NZR to the NZR engineers' design by the Baldwin Locomotive Company in the USA in 1901. The type was so successful, that it was adopted by locomotive builders all over the world (including in the USA) and further developed; and in fact the Pacific type became the most numerous type of steam locomotive world-wide. And it was a NZ invention! The J classes of locomotive were designed in NZ, although the first 40 were built by North British Locomotive Company of Scotland in 1939 due to the NZR workshops working at full capacity constructing Ka and Kb class locomotives. However, when the second batch of Js were built (35 "improved" Ja's), they were built at Dunedin's Hillside shops between 1946 and 1956 (including the one owned by Peter Coleman). A third batch of J-type locomotives came from North British in 1951, these being 16 Ja's for North Island service, with most of them being based at Auckland. Unlike the Hillside Ja's which were coal-burners, the North British Ja's in the North Island were oil-burners. So....we did once have really heavy mechanical engineering industries in NZ. Great thread - knew Pete as a kid in the early 1970s then caught up again 1988-89 when at WB in the mob. What a character he was ! ....and a good talker ... get him and John Smith together and just sit back and listen ...mind you little chance getting a word in edgeways. Nice guy - died 1989 I believe with cancer - the chemo was pretty hard on him. I recall the steam train up at his place on Ben Morvan road - house was called 'Biggin Hill' - believe he used to fire the boiler up and take it outside and around on his turntable. Used to run one of his Kestrals around at Brian Barry st as well. Nice guy. Rgds Hvd1041 Okay, an interesting update. Two days ago (the day before the Mosquito flew again), the late Peter Coleman's old JA-class steam locomotive (JA1240) was issued with its Certificate of Fitness (the equivalent of a Certificate of Airworthiness) which allows it to run out on the mainline hauling trains. The locomotive passed its boiler test last month and was issued with a boiler certificate. The end of a long, long restoration project (just like the Mosquito). The locomotive is still at Mainline Steam's Parnell locomotive depot (where it was restored), but on Saturday morning (the same day as the airshow at Ardmore), JA1240 will be departing the old Auckland Station platform in Beach Road, Auckland, working in multiple with JA1275 and will he hauling a special passenger train along the waterfront and through Glenn Innes to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, where it will be spending a few weeks being run-in hauling trains on that line, before it goes to work for real hauling excusion trains on KiwiRail's mainlines around NZ. I guess in some ways, it's a pity they didn't hold off on the run to Glenbrook until the day after the Mosquito airshow, but I guess that's the way things go. More info HERE. A photograph gallery running to many pages showing the locomotive restoration can be viewed HERE.
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Post by harvard1041 on Oct 27, 2015 2:53:57 GMT 12
Spent a couple of hours with Maurice Hammond in Norfolk last weekend...nice guy and had a good old look around his aircraft - two Mustangs ( 2427 being one ), Harvard, Auster, Stearman ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) Gave him copies of the various 2427 photos on here and a link to this thread...but wondering if anyone else had any photos of 2427- perhaps at Omaka, or in Pete's shed, or maybe Wanaka ? Cheers Hvd1041
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Post by baz62 on Oct 27, 2015 16:46:34 GMT 12
You do get around John. Fantastic that we have 3 ex RNZAF Mustangs airworthy.maurice does Merlin overhauls too doesn't he?
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raz
Leading Aircraftman
Posts: 2
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Post by raz on Jan 30, 2017 19:23:04 GMT 12
Hi, I also was at Woodbourne in 1967,and was at nz2427 engine run. I supplied the fuel from defuelled Bristol Freighter, and I recovered his spare Mustang rudder, nobefot the one that was on at engine run, picked it up and put it across seats inside PA Vauxhall.
Pete wanted to give me a large 2 bladed wooden propeller for helping him, but unfortunately did not pick it up. Somewhere I also have some colour slides taken on the engine run day.
Cheers raz
Update - NZ2427 crashed in England just before xmas December 2016 killing passenger in his 80, owner, Maurice Hamond now home recovering from crash.
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Post by kevsmith on Jan 31, 2017 0:38:47 GMT 12
Can remember hearing from Omaka Aerodrome, the Merlin being run on a couple of occasions in 1967/68. These hearings were on weekends but nobody at the Aero Club or Glider Club at Omaka seemed to know much about it at the time, so reading this thread has filled in a few gaps for me.
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Post by ZacYates on Jan 31, 2017 9:38:50 GMT 12
wondering if anyone else had any photos of 2427- perhaps at Omaka, or in Pete's shed, or maybe Wanaka ? I know I've seen colour photos of fuselage panels from 27 on a wall, for the life of me I can't remember if it was in a magazine or online somewhere. Likewise a photo of the fuselage in the AFC hangar.
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Post by Damon on Jan 31, 2017 17:35:44 GMT 12
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Post by ZacYates on Jan 31, 2017 19:00:09 GMT 12
Those are the photos! Thanks Damon.
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