Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

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Don Clark
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Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by Don Clark »

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Last edited by Don Clark on Sat 18 Jul 2020, 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Don Clark
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by Don Clark »

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Last edited by Don Clark on Sat 18 Jul 2020, 11:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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K5054NZ
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by K5054NZ »

Dispersal of the collection is well underway:
- the Hudson was gifted to Bill Reid (of Avro Anson Mk.I fame) a few years ago and is currently on display at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre
- the two Harvards have been transported to Ardmore Airport, Auckland, with NZ1068 to be restored to airworthy by Nick Sheehan
- the P-40E has gone to Omaka and is to fly with Mike Nicholls and John Saunders
- the P-51D is for sale
- the Vampire parts cache is for sale as a lot
- The Mosquito, P-40N and Tiger Moth ZK-BQB will be conserved and placed on public display at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre

Both P-40s have been at Omaka since early this year.

I never had the chance to met John and a selfish part of me is upset about that - and not being able to see the collection in situ - but the way things have been dispersed has been great to see, particularly the Mosquito and Gloria Lyons going to the OAHC. My big hope is that the Mustang also stays here - currently this is the sole ex-RNZAF Mustang in this country.
Last edited by K5054NZ on Sun 19 Jul 2020, 12:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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GeeRam
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by GeeRam »

K5054NZ wrote:
Sat 18 Jul 2020, 12:10 am
My big hope is that the Mustang also stays here - currently this is the sole ex-RNZAF Mustang in this country.
Lets hope it doesn't stay in NZ.

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K5054NZ
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by K5054NZ »

GeeRam wrote:
Sat 18 Jul 2020, 8:20 am
K5054NZ wrote:
Sat 18 Jul 2020, 12:10 am
My big hope is that the Mustang also stays here - currently this is the sole ex-RNZAF Mustang in this country.
Lets hope it doesn't stay in NZ.
Ok, against my better judgment: why?
Zac in NZ
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Andyph
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by Andyph »

K5054NZ wrote:
Sat 18 Jul 2020, 11:54 pm
GeeRam wrote:
Sat 18 Jul 2020, 8:20 am
K5054NZ wrote:
Sat 18 Jul 2020, 12:10 am
My big hope is that the Mustang also stays here - currently this is the sole ex-RNZAF Mustang in this country.
Lets hope it doesn't stay in NZ.
Ok, against my better judgment: why?
Because he's a Pom and wants the P51 to go to Pomgolia?

GeeRam
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by GeeRam »

K5054NZ wrote:
Sat 18 Jul 2020, 11:54 pm
GeeRam wrote:
Sat 18 Jul 2020, 8:20 am
K5054NZ wrote:
Sat 18 Jul 2020, 12:10 am
My big hope is that the Mustang also stays here - currently this is the sole ex-RNZAF Mustang in this country.
Lets hope it doesn't stay in NZ.
Ok, against my better judgment: why?
Err........... :flushed:
I was sure I wrote "Lets hope it does stay in NZ".... :thinking:
Well, that was what my brain was thinking, but clearly the message never reached my fingers (that's old age for you) :persevere:

ErrolC
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by ErrolC »

Fantastic!

Brendon Deere Joining our collection at Biggin Hill will be ex RNZAF P51D Mustang NZ2423. This aircraft has been part of the historic collection of the late John Smith at Mapua near Nelson for the last sixty years. The aircraft is a complete time capsule but like the other RNZAF Mustangs sold surplus from Woodbourne in 1958, it had its wings cut off just outboard of the main undercarriage for transport to the buyer in Nelson (these are with the aircraft). Once the aircraft is at Ohakea, we will begin the process of planning its return to airworthy.
NZ2423 was based at Ohakea for its entire operational life, serving with No.2 Territorial Air Force and also 42 Squadron. It conducted the last ever RNZAF flight of the Mustang when it was flown to Woodbourne for disposal in 1958. It was built at North American‘s Dallas factory in 1945 and was part of an order of 160 Mustangs purchased by the RNZAF to replace the Corsairs. ...
It will join the collection's flying Spitfire PV270, Avenger "NZ2518", and Harvard NZ1037.

ImageOhakea Arrivals by Errol Cavit, on Flickr

ImageLocal Harvard by Errol Cavit, on Flickr[/quote]

Some earlier mainstream reporting
www.stuff.co.nz/national/121990112/trea ... -the-light

GeeRam
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by GeeRam »

Excellent news :sunglasses:

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K5054NZ
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by K5054NZ »

The best! Really made my day...the fact RNZAF Ohakea is about 30min drive from my home is a bonus!
Zac in NZ
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K5054NZ
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Re: Mustang 45-11513 in New Zealand

Post by K5054NZ »

The Mustang is getting prepped for her trip home and the first parts left Mapua yesterday ahead of the big move next week:
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by K5054NZ »

Disassembly of the Mosquito for transport has begun. The Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre team has shared more details and photos about the Mossie mission today on Facebook:
It was a magnificent weekend here in the Top of the South which saw a large team from the Omaka aviation community, head to Mapua to prepare the John Smith Mosquito fighter bomber for her journey to Omaka in Marlborough. It was a big day and a productive one with fantastic team spirit shared by a great crew of dedicated supporters. Thank you to everyone who participated and the many more that offered. We look forward to sharing more of this epic journey with you. Click on the images for more details & if you would like to contribute financially any assistance big or small is much appreciated, please visit see our Give-A-Little page https://bit.ly/3jvpAL6
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 150820 OAHC 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Start of the day - John Saunders at left explains the journey travelled so far to reach the point at which the gathered team could prepare to ready the aircraft for its big shift. This line-up features key people in the mission. from left, John, Mike Nicholls, family members Jo, George and Robbie Smith, Bill Reid, and newly appointed Project leader, Al Marshall.
For those unfamiliar with the name, Al Marshall is the brains behind the restoration of Omaka's resident Bristol B.170 Freighter to taxiing condition.

ImageNZ2336 Mapua 150820 OAHC 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
By the late afternoon, much progress had been made with a key milestone being reached with the removal of the propellers by a team from Airbus at Woodbourne. By this stage Cowls and flaps are off, props, gun access doors, ammo boxes, bomb bay doors. Jay's JEM Aviation Ltd team has the port engine ready to lift out (that was a huge job) and the starboard nacelle is off with the port nacelle nearly ready to come off too.
The Fighter Flights team, which operates Reno racing Yak-3 Full Noise, has also been sharing photos of the work underway:
The innards of the Mosquito expose just how complex it is to create a multi role aircraft. Not only does this Mossie carry 4x 20 mm Cannon and 4 x .303 machine guns but there’s still room for bombs and Chelsea golden syrup as well. Awesome.
Image

ImageNZ2336 ammo and gun doors Fighter Flights via FB by Zac Yates, on Flickr
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nuuumannn
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by nuuumannn »

Brilliant Zac! Thanks so much for posting those. Not on facebook, so great that you keep us informed with these messages.

ErrolC
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by ErrolC »

Just noting here that various other Mosquito parts have gone to AvSpecs, and this includes the substantial remains of Mosquito TE881 (NZ2345).

https://rnzaf.proboards.com/post/287950/thread

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K5054NZ
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by K5054NZ »

The Mosquito's fuselage and wing were separated and the airframe moved to hangarage at Omaka yesterday. The Mustang's engine was removed the day before.
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K5054NZ
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by K5054NZ »

Omaka-based restoration shop JEM Aviation has posted on Facebook about the Mosquito move:
A big weekend with the final dismantling and moving of the Smith family Mosquito to Omaka.
Al’s advance crew were able to extract her from her long term hangar on Friday and then on Saturday the rest of the team role in to get the fuselage removed from the wing and both installed on Avspecs shipping frames.
The Avapecs previous experience with these machines certainly helped and the job was pretty painless, helped by great weather conditions.
Unfortunately a missing piece of the shopping frame meant a new piece had to be fabricated and this put pressure on time frames to get her back to Omaka....
She got there in the end though, no doubt due to the commitment of the Muscles Lifting crew.
As before, many of the JEM Aviation crew were there in their own time to assist with this historic move.
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 260920 JEM Aviation 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 260920 JEM Aviation 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 260920 JEM Aviation 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 260920 JEM Aviation 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 260920 JEM Aviation 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 260920 JEM Aviation 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 260920 JEM Aviation 07 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 260920 JEM Aviation 08 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 260920 JEM Aviation 09 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 270920 JEM Aviation 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ImageNZ2336 Mapua 270920 JEM Aviation 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
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TEXANTOMCAT
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by TEXANTOMCAT »

This is absolutely terrifix - there must have been some 'heart in the mouth' moments prior to the separation of the wing and fuselage as IIRC this is a weak point. Mind you the perfect team to do it!

Well done to all concerned

TT

GeeRam
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Re: Mosquito FBVI TE910 in New Zealand

Post by GeeRam »

Marvellous :sunglasses:

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