Very rare coloured photos prewar

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Take a look at the photos I ahve posted onmy forum, prewar, wartime and postwar NZ aviation in colour

Coloured film was really rare here till about the late 1950's it seems, so these are treasures.

http://rnzaf.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1128315212&page=1

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The Sunderland looks particularly forlorn.....

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Great pics Dave.

Stunning stuff.

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The Sunderland looks particularly forlorn.....

Yes indeed. It was awaiting its sad fate. Here is that aircraft's history in brief from adf.serials.com/nz

NZ4120 was broken up and scrapped at RNZAF Station Hobsonville during December 1966-January 1967. Many other Sunderlands and Catalinas also saw their last days on that airfield. :(

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Wonderful, many thanks for sharing them.

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Great stuff Dave. Did I see a Vildebeeste being restored at the RNZAF Museum a couple of years ago? If so how's it coming on?

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Hi Ozplane, yes they are restoring a Vildebeest, in fact they have two airframes there and I believe one is a Vincent, but I don't know if both are being restored. There are at least two other Vincents in NZ too, one of which is certainly being restored, to static only.

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Hi Ozplane

Great stuff Dave. Did I see a Vildebeeste being restored at the RNZAF Museum a couple of years ago? If so how's it coming on?

There is one being restored there and another with the Subritzkys (Spelling) near Auckland - thje latter is very advanced and very original - neither will fly but both are fantastic restorations - if you were desperate i think there are the makings of a few more in NZ - I personally love them - imagine something this big - with the bomb load of a B17 - all being hauled about the sky behind a single Pegasus - Wow!!!

Regards
John P

PS
There are pics of both aircraft on my webshots account at
www.webshots.com/user/setter125 and look for the NZ stuff

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I too have always loved the type, but in recent months they (and the Baffin and Vincent) have grown much ccloser to my heart as I've been interviewing many of their crews and groundcrews and building up a really nice picture of their operation.

I'd love to see one fly but doubt anyone would take that on

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Hi Dave

tell me more about the Baffin - anything left of one

Regards
John

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There is apparently the remains of one left, in the ownership of Charles Darby I believe, who also owns the only Fairey Gordon. Both were recovered from crash sites I understand.

I'd very much love to see the Baffin revived, such a neat old plane, loads of great stories.

I'd have to confirm this officially, but one No. 3 GR Squadron flight mechanic told me when the squadron reformed in 1941 they were initially to be a fighter-bomber squadron, with Baffins. But when they set up a forward firing gun on on one and tested it, they shot the prop off, so it was decided to stick to bombing and reconnaissance work only!

A load of other groundcrew have told me of how the Baffin had no brakes so there job was to run after one as it landed and grab the wingtips to slow it down and stare it back to the flightline, etc.

Some have also mentioned that as it was a carrier aircraft they were built tough as nails and took all sorts of punishment, including enforced massively hard landings at Rongotai (if you've ever been to Wellington Airport you'll know about the terrible conditions pilots any pilot suffers due to crosswinds and also wind shere where the plane crashes down onto the runway - well in the prewar and wartime days the hill had not been removed there and the conditions were worse!)

Baffins seem to have been well liked and good aircraft but they lacked range, and as the German raiders began to sink our ships, the Vildebeests and Vincents that had been used mainly for training pilots replaced the Baffins in GR work as they had around twice the range. The are actually comparibly much the same size, though the Baffin looks more sleek and business like.

Note what looks like bog on that coloured Baffin photo where patches have been made! That would have been an early photo when they first entered service with the New Zealand Territorial Air Force I'd think as it retains the FAA serial. The day war broke out all the Baffins and their crews and groundcrews instantly bacame part of the regular RNZAF, and formed the backbone of NZ's defences for the best part of a year.

One Baffin ditched in Cook Strait. I have the full story and an eyewitness account, but the story is that it had a flotation device installed which saved it from sinking. An Italian fisherman picked up the pilot and they towed the plane back to shore. And RNZAF team were sent to recover the aircraft, but on arrival they found it was a wreck in two large pieces. They thought the pilot had survived a horrific crash, till he told them that the plane was perfectly intact when they towed it back to shore. But the Army had turned up full of gusto ahd roped it upo, and in the attempt to haul the plane out which was full of water, tore it in two! The RNZAF was not best pleased!

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great stuff, any idea what the red two seat bipe is? very Gipsy Moth but different!

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great stuff, any idea what the red two seat bipe is? very Gipsy Moth but different!

A Simmonds Spartan, according to the title above it. Looks not unlike a member of the Parnell family?

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Your link didn't work for me I'm afraid John.

However the caption from the magazine read:
"Not as sharp as the others but still remarkable - Simmonds Spartan ZK-ABU. Imported into New Zealand in 1931, the Spartan was used by "Mad Mac" McGregor to fly mail between Invercargill and Auckland in one day, 12 November 1931. Later purchased by Hokitika pilot A H Nancekivell, the red and silver biplane pioneered many a West Coast route and strip before the more well known Captain "Bert" Mercer began his airline, Air Travl (NZ) Ltd in Novemebr 1934. The photograph would appear to have been taken after February 1936 as the Spartan is back in a two seat configuration. Flown by West Coast United Aero Club from Greymouth, ZK-ABU was cancelled from the register in March 1939.

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It seems Mad Mac had anotehr Spartan too, see my website page here
http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Scotty%20Fraser.htm

Mac had been a WWI pilot and afetr the war tried all sorts of schemes. He started Hamilton Airlines which took passengers between Hamitlong and other centres including Cambridge in the days when it had an aerodrome. He also famously performed a loop around a bridge in Hamilton on the Waikato River too! Stunts like that earned him his nickname. He was killed in a crash at Rongotai before the war.

Just additional info. Invercargill is at the bottom of the South Island and about as far from Auckland as Lands End is from Jon-o-Groats, but with several more mountain ranges and a rather lage wet bit (Cook Straight) in between, so quite a fete.

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I have just added more photos by the way

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John, that is a different Spartan - ZK-ABZ which was also owned by Bert Mercer's Air Travel (NZ) Ltd airline at one point.

A Google finds that Mac MCGregor did the famous mail run in Spartan Arrow ZK-ABU, the one in the picture. but he flew both aircraft at various times. This site lists all sorts of flights Mac made in the aircraft plus more
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/wclark/page4.htm

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This was "progress" to date on the Vickers Vincent when I was last at Wigram, about six monthe ago . . . . .

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6904/vickersvincentwigram20059in.jpg

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Thanks chaps, for the updates on the restorations. It's good to see that such rare types might yet be seen again as static redtorations.