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Post by nikkortorokkor on Nov 14, 2009 5:33:08 GMT -5
Well, we got the blustery weather that was predicted, preventing any of the biplanes getting up. Good news, I get into the next show for free (20th January if anyone wants to plan a trip Downunder). The caWWII monoplanes got up, however, & there were a couple of other surprises. All pics were taken with my elderly Oly digital. Please excuse the purple fringing. I also had the Minolta XE1 and a Phenix body with a handful of Minolta, Seagull & Vivitar/Kiron lenses. Results yet to be processed.  This one is for Peter W - hope it brings back memories.  Pity the gunner. The gun isn't an interrupter and there is an aweful lot of spar, wing and string to block his aim.  RNZAF Harvard - Smokin' it up  Young, in control and magnificent. Didn't we all want to be him?  SE.5a Lineup  The opposition  British Mk IV "Spring Chicken" heads into combat  & meets the Hun!  FE.2b The nose gunner has to stand for the entire flight. No seat!  Wow!  More Wow! The P40 Kittyhawk in AVG "Flying Tigers" livery. New Zealanders also flew these in the Pacific - a big step up from the Brewster Buffalo Zero fodder which they were first supplied with. This one really tore up the sky - quite a contrast to the smooth, well mannered Harvard which just seemed to slide through its stunt routine. The P40 was much more fast & furious. For those who like this sort of thing, my album is here: picasaweb.google.com/Tooheym1/20091114MastertonAirshow# |
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Post by nikonbob on Nov 14, 2009 8:45:34 GMT -5
Well that settles it, if we ever get a chance to visit NZ I'll have to time it to take in one of the shows. The Oly and you did pretty well.
Bob
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Post by Randy on Nov 14, 2009 10:06:26 GMT -5
That Flyin Tiger did it for me, WOW!
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Nov 14, 2009 11:56:14 GMT -5
Nice set of pictures, Michael. Thanks for posting the shot of the Tiger Moth, it did bring back memories. The Moths we had at the Primary Flying Training Scool to which I was posted for just short of a year in 1949 were mostly built during the war, but a few had airframe numbers dating them from the 1930s. None of them had the flat "tail bed" in front of the fin and rudder, which you see on quite a few pictures of these planes, but they all had a modification which I have not seen on any photographs on the internet. This was a pair of tethering half-hoops bolted under the lower wing to match up with the anchor points of the main struts. If the day was at all windy then as well as putting chocks under the wheels when the Moths were parked in the open around the dispersal "frying pan" we used to screw things like giant corkscrews into the ground under each wing and tie the wings down with rope to the tethering hoops. The hoops were also used for ground crew to "catch" the plane if it were flying when the wind increased above the Moths' stalling speed which, if I remember rightly was about 50 knots The drill was that the pilot brought the plane in to land, head into the wind, aiming it between two ground crew who stood wide enough apart to be clear of the wings. The pilot held the plane at just above stalling speed - anything from 0 to 5 mph ground speed - while the two ground crew ran in and hooked an arm over the tethering hoop. As soon as he felt their weight on the plane the pilot snapped the throttle shut and more ground crew ran in, some with sandbags with a rope and hook attached which they hooked to the tethering hoops and two more on the tail to hold it down. If the pilot tried to land without thse "human anchors" there was a distinct possibity that the plane would flip over on to its back as soon as he closed the throttle. The procedure was practiced about every two months, without the plane flying (once for each new intake of pupil pilots) but I can remember such conditions for real only twice during my time on this station. It must have been quite a un-nerving experience for a pupil pilot with only a few hours solo, so one of the ground crew would wave and call out "Well done. Piece of cake really". What with that, and hand-swinging the propellor to start the engine, looking back at it ground crew in charge of Tiger Moths lived quite a dangerous life but at the time we accepted it as part of the job. The Harvard picture also brought back memories. We had those as well, and the pilots moved on from Tiger Moths to Harvards before getting their wings. The momentum starter (commonly but wrongly called inertia starter) on the Harvard's Pratt & Whitney engine had an endearing habit of sticking and had to be engaged by hand, standing on the wing, unbuttoning the cowling side panel and reaching inside, then buttoning things up in the howling gale from the propellor when the engine fired. Not appreciated on a cold and frosty morning. But that's another story. Nice picture of the MkIV WW1 tank. We have a similar tank displayed at Ashford where I live. It is kept clean and painted by the local Territorial Army Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It's "female" tank, ie it has machine guns but no six-pounders, but it has been gutted inside and the entry doors are kept padlocked. It stood in the open for many years but a few years ago it was given a canopy to protect it from the worst weather. You can see a picture of it at www.geograph.org.uk/photo/279802PeterW |
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Post by nikkortorokkor on Nov 14, 2009 13:36:33 GMT -5
Thanks for the comments and reminiscences.
Peter, a pilot pressed into commentating duty said "there are only 2 kinds of pilot: those who have ground looped and those who are going to ground loop". It sounds like your Moth "grab rings" were a good investment.
The Mk IV is wonderfully distressed. I presume it, like the aircraft, has been funded by a certain Mr Jackson, who made a dollar or three by making films about hobbits, orcs and other such strange folk. Although I have no doubt he is following every lad's dream by amassing all this stuff, I can't help suspecting (along with a lot of other people) that there is a WW1 "epic" in the wings. Although I'm not the biggest PJ fan, (his King Kong still can't hold a torch to the original), he sure can shoot battle scenes, so any forthcoming film will be spectacular. The obsessive attention to detail on the aircraft is breathtaking, a legacy, I'm sure, of deep pockets and a fanaticism for detail that was prominent in the LOTR films.
Bob, It was the intimacy of the event that made it special. Big airshows have a much bigger range spectacular aircraft, but being so close to the WW1 fighters and the pilots (separated only by a two wire fence) made me feel very privileged. I wanted to find the boss & sign on for a job - not a feeling one gets at big events which separate "performer" and "audience" much more rigidly. It had a real community feel that makes me pleased that we've moved here to Masterton.
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Post by olroy2044 on Nov 14, 2009 15:04:16 GMT -5
There is only one word that will work. WOW!
I've never seen any of those aircraft except the Harvard ("Texan" over here) and the P-40. Thanks for posting, and can't wait to see more!
Roy
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Nov 14, 2009 21:08:00 GMT -5
Looking through your album, Michael, I noticed that the FE2b has the same sort of tethering/grab hoops that we had on our Tiger Moths.
PeterW
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photax
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Post by photax on Nov 15, 2009 11:24:32 GMT -5
I absolutely agree with Roy: WOW !The album-pictures are also great. Thanks for showing !
MIK
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2009 11:27:23 GMT -5
P40 was better than the Brewster but still had problems outperforming a Zero in anything but a dive. A pilot had to know is limitations and those of his opponent. I may be wrong but I think alot of what was leared with the P40 was used to develop the P51 Mustang--arguable the greatest prop-driven fighter ever made. The early British version of the Mustang looked a lot like the P40--including the cockpit.
Several of our local parks had Sherman M4 tanks. A number of years ago a National Guard unit at the other end of the state was trying to restore a Sherman for parades and the like. They discovered an M4 sitting on a pad in our town complete with engine, instruments --pretty much everything but it's machine guns. Apparently it had been driven onto the pad 20 years earlier. They shut down the engine, welded the hatches shut and left it there. The engine was pulled out to use in the parade tank.
Now the local park has an M60 tank. The Abrahams M1 has made everything older obsolete.
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Post by John Parry on Nov 16, 2009 14:19:49 GMT -5
Wayne
I'll always think of Oddball when I hear about Sherman tanks - leaning over the top shelf of the stores, and saying to Kelly "Maybe you could use some armour - three Shermans can give you an edge"
Michael
We used to have a teapot in the shape of that tank, but for some reason the lid had Winston Churchill riding on top. Could never understand why, as Winston was at the Admiralty in WW1. I believe they originally towed a pair of wheels behind, because they didn't believe you could steer without wheels. They soon found that you could when the wheels got blown off!
Regards - John
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2009 15:19:54 GMT -5
The Sherman wasn't really that good of a tank--but there were a lot of 'em. They had a gas engine (some of them at least had radial engines). Because they were gas they had a nasty tendency to "brew up" when hit. They sometimes were referred to by their crews as "Ronsons" as in Ronson cigarette lighters. I think the German 88 could go in one side and out the other. U.S. never produced a really good tank until the M! Abrahams--still probably the best in the world.
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Post by nikonbob on Nov 16, 2009 16:02:16 GMT -5
I have also heard Shermans referred to as Zippos and Tommy Cookers. I think too I have read that if the turret was not centered when put out of action that either the driver or bow gunner could not open their hatch to get out.
Bob
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Post by pompiere on Nov 17, 2009 7:12:48 GMT -5
I'll always think of Oddball when I hear about Sherman tanks - leaning over the top shelf of the stores, and saying to Kelly "Maybe you could use some armour - three Shermans can give you an edge" I loved that movie. The tank mechanic was funny, always complaining about the Shermans'shortcomings and praising the Panzers. I need to find it on DVD. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2009 10:33:47 GMT -5
John:
You are correct. The original British "Tank" had two wheels attached to the rear for steering purposes. They dispensed with the wheels after discovering they could steer by simple braking the tracks.
I was in an M60 tank once on a hot summer day. We were on a asphalt road going one direction when we decided we needed to go the other direction. The driver locked one track and left the other one turning which allowed the M60 to turn around basically in its own length. The M60 weighs more than 50 tons. The asphalt was soft because of the heat. Boy, what a mess!
Wayne
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Post by John Parry on Nov 17, 2009 17:36:26 GMT -5
Wayne
I have a lovely daydream. I'm travelling up the middle lane of the M6 Motorway at 65 mph in a Chieftain tank. A Volvo truck comes up my backside and starts flashing his lights for me to move over. Then I revolve the gun-turret....
Regards - John
ps Yes - I got the impression from Oddball and Moriarty that they weren't too keen to tangle with those Tigers - unless they could sneak up behind them!
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