Warbird Information Exchange

Whatever is the safest way to ship it. I'd be worried about a container falling off the ship into deep water.

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"According to the map, we've only gone 4 inches."

You really have nothing worthwhile to contribute here do you? Just a few snide comments and useless chatter that have nothing to do with anything (most of the time) even close to aviation. A quick look at a few of your posts really does back that up.

The latest announcement is that KA114 will be at Wings Over Wairarapa Jan 20th. There is another (not so warbird-themed) show in Auckland (North Shore, not Ardmore) the weekend after.

It won't fit in a container-



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http://www.biplanerides1.com/

Not to veer off topic, but I do agree with the above as a matter of forum etiquette. I remember when the IAC (aerobatic) email list started, every time there was a post with just a name as the subject, the first line of the message would read "We lost .... today". I still get a sickening feeling every time I see an email with a name as a subject, though for some reason many people now do that when looking for someone's phone number.

Actually, there is a decent chance that the wing would fit on the diagonal of a 53'. Whether the shipping companies have those slots available on their services to NZ is another matter. Anyway, JY said in September that containerised shipping wasn't an option.

There is a regular cargo air service from NZ capable of taking it, and the Christchurch - US leg is often under-utilised in the early southern summer. Unfortunately it looks like JY hasn't managed to convince a congressman to organise a lift on the C-17 express, and that option is frozen out?

Pity it's not going to Canada. Hmm, it is Canadian built!
http://rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?bo ... 031&page=5

Yep. Sunshine and daisies.
I have never claimed to be anything but a retired ground pounder who appreciated the air cover and who likes to tease people when they're being jerks. I don't even claim to be particularly intelligent, although I get by. Because I am but a humble grunt, and possibly not very intelligent, I try hard not to act supercilious, because I don't want to be made fun of or thought a jerk. I readily admit I have a lot to learn, especially about aviation, which is why I generally lurk here instead of posting wonderful thoughts and brilliant observations about life, the universe, and Chuck Yeager's pecker size.
You, OTOH, are sort of supercilious and are easily made fun of for it.
I'm sure you've added a lot to WIX, and I'm grateful for it. But don't expect me to refrain from making fun of you when you're a *edited by WIXMOD-Baker to remove a term that was considered personal*. It's just too much to ask. I'm just not that strong a man.

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Sorry about the thread title guys. Never thought about it that way. FIXED!!!!!Now enough with sarcasm. I just wanted to know the status of his museum, not to have this turn into a barb throwing debate. Thats why people leave the WIX.

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The more I learn about aircraft, the more I realize I still have to learn.

It's in New Zealand. Australia (Oz) is the other one down there.

I happened to be sitting in the lounge of a Mr Powell with a Mr Yagen and several other interested people when we discussed the question in September (events have moved on since). IIRC, as one of the Mozzie experts there checked, when you remove everything from the Mozzie wing, it gets to 51 ft (the wingtips come off). and with flaps, nacelles etc removed it becomes narrower in chord, about 8 ft. (Can't remove the leading edges, they're built in.)

The US railroad extended container was discussed as an option, as were several other choices. No conclusion was reached except it would be expensive and the chainsaw option (used for the trip to NZ) was ruled out.

As to how they got them 'here' and to NZ before - they flew them of course! A Mosquito is a long range high performance aircraft, and no other way would be particularly sensible in the era. NZ is a water crossing from Aus of approximately 1400 miles or 2,250 km. There's a couple of islands where smaller a/c can make stops, but for something like a Mosquito, it's not a big deal, and the British and Australian built examples flew East to the Antipodes. The Pacific crossing as a flight is possible for a Mosquito, but it seems to be a risk beyond consideration (and then a continental crossing of the US would be required, a lot of engine and system time just to get somewhere).

Regards,

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Man! When you point out how far NZ is from Oz, it sort of makes the size of the Pacific come into focus, doesn't it?

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Yes, NZ is a long way from anywhere. What I should've added above is that from Europe to Australia, it's possible to fly with very few long, overwater crossings, nothing like that Aus-NZ leg - if course quite a lot of that land is pretty inhospitable!

The Pacific was a big challenge in the pioneering era; however people did manage to fly most of it - people, in this case mostly being Charles Kingsford Smith ('Smithy') and co and 'the old bus' his Fokker F.VII trimotor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kingsford_Smith

There are, of course, enough islands with runways in the vastness of the Pacific, now to make most routes viable, but it's still a lot of water and required engine reliability.

Regards,

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Currently the Air NZ 777s need to vear north a bit going LAX-AKL. If they clear them to ETOPS-240 (from 180), they will be able to 'straighten-up' to closer to the great circle.

During WW2, there was no airfield at Lord Howe Is (not sure about Norfolk Is).
There is an enthusiast on Lord Howe who shares photos of interesting aircraft passing thru. Recently the route has been used by the Avenger returning to NZ (but not the DC-3 arriving, runway too short for required loading).

Lord Howe, without a runway, was one of the last places served by the big flying boats; Islander, the Sunderland now with Fantasy of Flight, and the Sunderland Beachcomber at the Southampton Hall of Aviation. It now has a runway, and no flying boats.

I hadn't realised, until checking because of Errol's post, but Norfolk Island's airfield was indeed a W.W.II product.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Island_Airport

Regards,

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

I think the only regular (civilian) cargo aircraft flights to NZ are the DHL trans-Tasman B757, and horse transports (757s too?). There are various Antarctic support flights (e.g. South African civil Herc, Aussie A319) so it would be merely very expensive (as opposed to extortionate) to air cargo it. Even if you used e.g. the Antonov delivering NH-90s at the manufacturer's cost (not sure if these have all been delivered yet) you will still be paying a bundle.
You can check out dimensions at http://www.airnautic.fr/en/avion-en/

Indeed, but Australia is (sort of) 1400 miles further away from the USA than NZ, and you'd have to get the th/wing from NZ to Aus - I doubt it would net a 'local pickup' discount.

Either way, I'm sure a) the Kiwis aren't worried that it's still there while a plan is made and b) I'm sure it'll be a hit in the USA (and Canada!)

Regards,

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com