During the summer of 1964 the RNZAF had an Air Force Day with representatives from Australia, Great Britain, Canada and the USA bringing some of their aeroplanes to show.
42 Squadron was the host squadron for looking after the visitors, and we got quite busy at times.
These included:
USAF F105 Thunderchiefs aka thuds.
They arrived.
Quick trip down the runway.
Regulation fighter buzz and break.
Landed with the tail drag chute deployed, passed our 14 Squadron Canberras.
Taxied around the corner to their parking area
And parked.
On display.
There was a couple of practice days before the real day, and the F105 was one of, if not the first, aeroplane to break the sound barrier in New Zealand.
On the first practice they came in from the west, low, and fast, made the big bang, and climbed out of sight.
That night the Government was hit by hundreds of claims and complaints, everything from broken windows to chooks stooping laying eggs.
Every other time the F105s broke the sound barrier they did it in reverse, taking the big bang out to sea. The fish weren’t able to complain so everybody was happy.
Each aeroplane was given a reminder of where it had been.
[“Dayglo orange” sticky paper guaranteed to stick at 300 mph when applied properly. ]
USAF C118 Long Range Transport.
USAF KB 50 Aerial Refueling tanker, the origin of the phrase
“4 a turnin, 2 a burning, come in and drink”. given to the jet pilots when they wanted a refuel in midair.
The jet engines on the wings are needed to give enough speed to the tanker so the fighter jets weren’t stalling at the normal slower speed of the tanker.
Unusually the jet engines on the tanker used 100/130 octane petrol to burn rather than the usual Avtur aviation kerosene.
It was interesting to watch the crew, they put on their parachutes before they got into the aeroplane, and claimed to fly with one hand on the pull ring of the parachute at all times.
The bomb bay was filled with a large tank filled with Avtur. Like petrol, Avtur will find the slightest chance to leak, and is highly flammable.
The red cover on the wing is the jet intake.
USAF C130 long range transport.
USAF C130 getting it’s “ I’ve been everywhere, man” sticker.
US Navy Orion, similar to one the RNZAF have been operating for the last 50+ years.
Preparing to take off.
RAF Agrosy Medium range transport . Some of these were purchased from the RAF and used by a civil airline in New Zealand to carry freight across Cook Straight, from Wellington to Woodbourne.
When withdrawn from service SAFE [Straights Air Freight Express] left one for a centerpiece in the Woodbourne kids play ground.
Argosy from the front.
RAF Victor long range bomber. One of the RAF’s V bomber,
Victor, Vulcan and Valient.
From the front
RAF Bristol Britania long range transport.
RAF Britania and Victor doing a fly past.
RAAF Neptune antisubmarine and marine surveillance.
RAAF C130
RNZAF DC 6 on a high speed run down the runway.
RNZAF DC 3 , the Queen Dakota, hand polished every week.
RNZAF Bristol Freighter.
RNZAF Hastings.
14 Squadron Canberras 9 out of 11 on display and ready to fly.
[RNZAF Official]
Some of the over 100,000 people that attended.