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SIR EDMUND HILLARY ( Ed to all we New Zealanders ) moved on through the light to another great adventure
January 11 2008 aged 88. He will be sadly missed and indelibly set in all our memories, not only for his achievements
and adventures,but for his common sense and sensibility, a rare quality !

Sherpa Tensing and Ed Hillary
There is a vast amount of information covering his exploits
as we all know, but very little covered with his WW11 RNZAF
wartime service as a Sergeant Navigator with
No 6 Flying Boat Squadron flying Catalinas,
and operating out of Halavo Bay in the Solomon Islands area.

Sir Ed - left.....Ron - right.
We have been very fortunate to have as an early member of our organisation Ron Ward MBE.
Ron was a great friend of Ed Hillary.
They both crewed on the same Catalina together
and formed a bond and friendship that lasted up to
the time of Ed’s passing.

There were no coloured photos of this particular aircraft it was one of the unusual Lancasters with
a radial engine instead of the Rolls Royce Merlins It was powered by Bristol Hercules V1 or XV1 engines,
and is flying on the port outer engine with the other three feathered, probably demonstrating flight
with minimum load, note the ailerons, the control is hard left holding the port side down.
This particular aircraft flew with 408 Canadian Squadron No 6 Group stationed at Linton-on-Ouse and was lost on a bombing raid over Franfurt on the night of 20/21 Dec 1943 along with 13 other Lancasters which failed to return out of a total of 390 Lancasters which were on the Raid.
There were 300 Mk 11 Lancasters manufactured by Armstrong Whitworth at Whitley, Coventry,
the total number of Lancasters built were 7377 – as follows 3434 Mk 1, 300 Mk 11. 3030 Mk 111, 180 Mk V11, and 430 Mk X.
The Mk 1 had Rolls-Royce Merlin 20,22, or 24 engines, Mk 11 Bristol Hercules, Mk 111, Packard built Merlin 28,38,
or 224 engines, these were also used in the Canadian built Mk X A.V. Roe& Co built the majority
others were built byMetropolitan Vickers Armstrong, Vickers and Austin Motors. 3800 Lancasters were lost in WW11.

SNIPPETS FROM OUR ARCHIVES

Grumann AG Cat
Model Aero Club -Napier
1934/38
East Coast Air Services
Celebration.
D.H. Express
Beacons Drome


DH-60 Moth,wings folded, an apparent undercarriage
collapse having occurred. The odd thing about this is that
the propeller is of oppositerotation to all Gipsy variants except for the US- built Wright-Gipsyconstructed under license in that country.
Thanks to Graham Orpham, editor of the Australasian quarterly magazine Classic Wings Downunder.

DH60 Moth ZK-AAU.
Auckland Aero Club aircraft.
Napier Embankment Drome circa.1936.
Does anyone know passenger or pilot??

Hobsonville 1953-54.
Alan Bates standing on cowling of a MitsubishiA6M Zero-Sen.
Saved from scrap, restored and on display in the
Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Alan is a Hawke's Bay-based ex RNZAF serviceman.



Link to the
Service Personnel section
Desoutter 1 ZK-ABY

Gisborne Air Transport Coy.
Presented by ex-RNZAF HB pilot.
No date or location.

P40 Kittyhawk mishap.


P40 as it should look.



The Fletcher was introduced
in 1954. Pilot Gerald Hooper
climbs into the cockpit.


PBY Cat - Napier 1997
A number of (choice) PV1 Venturers, with one wing removed,
never to fly again. Part of the "lend lease"contracts.
Ohakea - 1946/47

"OUR ROVING REPORTER"
HEC MAYHEAD, one of our committee members visits the UK now and again, and
can't keep away from the opportunities there to visit aviation museums and airshows.
He is a regular visitor to family on the
Isle of Wight, and on this particular trip
they provided him with this "high-powered"
means of getting about the Island.
Here are some photos from Duxford & Sandown.
Dragons
at Duxford
American Museum B17 Duxford Lockeed Electra 12A
Spits & Hurricanes
at Duxford
Vulcan Counter Rotating Griffon F4F Wildcat

Lancaster Dux 9 5 05 F4U Corsair F6F Hellcat IOW

 
 
 
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