For a guy who doesn’t know what his top gate altitude was... that’s a pretty bold statement. I’d risk aircraft collision any day before ground collision. The ground is much bigger and solider.
Steve Evans great point. They used to send the Bristol Freighter up on really windy days to let the tower know if anyone else had a chance of getting off the ground. I’ve seen it engines roaring barely making headway, but going up steadily.
From Australian Traveller, Issue 76: Another time a pilot - who was more used to flying land planes - was returning to Sydney and forgot he was in charge of a flying boat. He was making an approach to a runway at Mascot when the first officer leaned over and reminded him they had no wheels, only a hull. After pulling up, they were finally on the water at Rose Bay. He thanked the first officer, saying ‘I would have looked a damn fool had I attempted that landing’. He was so embarrassed he quickly turned around and stepped out of the door without looking, and splashed straight into the harbour.”
Airshows back then were really entertaining! Risky for pilots and spectators, but entertaining. I especially liked the touch-and-go notation in his logbook of the co-pilot of the Sunderland flying boat. He just had to write that down.
My Nan was there watching all that that day! She told me about the Vulcan incident! I kind of took her story as only partly true, but there we go, she was spot on! She’s 81 in December, can recall memories from the 50’s and 60’s like it was yesterday. Great video!
At 7:01, it shows the air to air refueling operation. The middle plane behind the refueling plane is the A-3 Skywarrior. That is the plane type that I took care of when I was in the U.S. Navy, in an aviation squadron, back in 71-75. The A-3 was designed to carry one atomic bomb in the bomb bay. Thankfully it never had to be used in war. The A-3's were converted into mostly air refueling tankers and also electronic warfare counter-measures planes. My squadron was an electronic counter-measures outfit and the A-3 bomb bay was used to seat about 3 electronic warfare officers that operated different kinds of ECM gear in the bomb bay. The A-3 also had the distinction of being the largest Navy plane to ever be deployed aboard the aircraft carriers. To watch the RUclips videos of flight deck operations and see an A-3 come in and land is amazing. They were neat planes to take care of; we had 4 of them and each one had it's own 'personality' and quirks. I will always have great memories of my squadron days. Oh, notice that the refueling plane was still a prop job. This re-fueler had to go as fast as it could and the three jets had to go as slow as they could without stalling. The refueling job was turned over to jet planes as soon as it was possible.
@@leifvejby8023 Yep, what a name to have !! But...soon after I got to my squadron, one of our A-3's had a malfunction in flight and at 14,000 ft. it went inverted and crashed, making a big crater. Two of the young officers bailed out. One of them went out the upper escape hatch but got smashed against the vertical stabilizer and died. The other officer blew the bottom entry hatch and slid out but was also smashed back up against the fuselage and also died. The pilot went in with the plane. At least I think that's how they died; it's been a long time since 1972. It should not have happened. The Plane Captain did the daily inspection and reported something wrong. The young pilots were eager to combine a regular training flight with an excursion down to Florida to see their girlfriends and so the pilot over-rode the Plane Captain's negative report and off they went. They had been in the air for maybe only 1 hour...maybe even a lot less....can't remember exactly, but it wasn't very long when it happened. From then on, a pilot never pulled rank on the enlisted Plane Captain if he said that the plane wasn't ready for flight. Not long after that, I decided that I wanted to be a Plane Captain for our A-3's. I was trained to be an aircraft electrician but I loved being out on the flight line and being involved with the launching & recovery of our planes and the refueling and packing those big drag chutes, and all that, so I trained to become a Plane Captain and I chose our A-3's. We also had two F-4 Phantoms, four of the A-3's, four A-4 Skyhawks, and one beautiful, old prop driven Super Constellation. The squadron was an ECM ( Electronic Counter-Measures) squadron. Our A-3's were actually designated as ERA-3B. So...about 2 years later, we were in Hawaii at Hickam Field for about 10 days of exercises. One day, I went out to do the daily inspection on one of the A-3's that was scheduled to fly soon, and as I opened one of the inspection doors I spotted something that wasn't right. I noted it on the report, stating that the plane wasn't ready for flight, and told the control room about it. The officers that were scheduled to fly that plane found me and thanked me very profusely for finding that bleed-air problem. They said if I hadn't seen it that the A-3 would most likely have had a major malfunction and they might have been killed. It took a tragedy to be reminded of just how important it was to follow procedure, but we never had any more accidents.
The refueling plane is a KB-50J with the added J-47 jet engines so it could refuel the swept-wing jets. The jet on the left is the F-101 Voodoo and the right side is the F-100 Super Saber and I'm thinking that it is all U.S Air Force and that the middle plane is the B-66 Destroyer. If it wasn't for the U.S. Navy developing the A-3 Skywarrior the Air Force may not of had the B-66, it has visual similarities , J-57 engines vs J-71 and I think the later B-66 were converted to use the flying boom refueling, while the U.S. Navy used the probe and drogue.
Great video. I had never heard of these incidents. Luckily all survived. I used to watch the Vulcans in Omaha, Nebraska when I was a kid. They were so exotic. I watched the reporting about them on TV during their mission to the Falklands from a British pub in Pasadena, California. Lots of inebriated Brits cheering wildly. Later I understood that they were just days from complete retirement before the Falkland Islands missions. Maggie Thatcher gave them a temporary reprieve I guess. Beautiful to watch in the sky and on the ground.
Terrific video which brought back all those memories - I was there (8 years old) sitting on the hills of Oriental Bay. We lived on the flight path into the airport and for two weeks before I'd been watching all these amazing planes flying in - heaven for a plane-mad little kid. The Vulcan incident was unforgettable, as was the sight of the Britannia taxiing backwards down the runway, and the Voodoos and Sabres - first supersonic aircraft ever seen in NZ.
wow .. what a story, 12g and 3 m above the ground, might be my new favourite aviation story, better than the speed check in an SR71, and what awesome images
That aircraft was grounded at some point after this airshow, I don't know how long after but it was found it had a bad habit of the empaniage falling off in hard maneuvers,,, you think 12 Gs would have been hard enough.
10:27 - have a close look at the photo. You can understand how the Vampire pilot was able to describe the Vulcan short landing incident in such detail. You can see their Vampires lined up with a full front on view over everything.
My grandfather was one of the test pilots for the F-4 Corsair during World War 2. He had a number of humorous stories regarding that, including one where his oil pressure tanked on him, so he had to land on a beach, but (and he didn't see them in his initial descent as he had more pressing issues to attend to at higher altitude) there were beach-goers there, so he bounced the plane, which then rolled over, and (I'm not absolutely sure of this detail, as it might have been added for flavor, though that wasn't his way) his seat and him both got ejected from the airplane. He was fine, less a little shed blood in the form of minor cuts and abrasions from sliding along the sand and the roughness of the crash.
Very nice film from the past and i liked the Vulcan action the best! What an airplane it was indeed together with craftmanship from the past, indestructible !!
The Vulcan represents something special for me. In the modern day the vastest majority of bombers are a generic tube with wings approach. I wish we could have the kind of innovation we did back then.
Whoooo, fun packed day for pilots and spectators..I will never forget one airshow at Wigram. Mid 70's and a low cloud base. Someone put on a display with a high performance glider and looped it below the cloud base. i lost sight of it below the heads of the crowd on the pull out. That guy no doubt nearly crapped and the show organizers most likely enlarged his arse muscles as well. Closest to seeing a real crash in the flesh I have ever had.
It could have been Ryan. I think it was the same airshow that the F111's done a fly by. It was really low cloud and the shockwave over the wings was an unforgettable sight. I left NZ end if 81 so it's quite possible.
What an amazing little vignette ! I was there a 10 year old sitting on the bank overlooking the airport in Berhampore . I watched through binoculars as the Vulcan hit the lip of the tarmac and jumped for cover as the vampire hurtled towards the hills on the completion of their final break ......I am thrilled this little video was made ! Thankyou !
I was 6 when the airport was opened. My grandparents lived at 90 Wexford Road ( northern end of runway) and we watched the opening up on top of the hill on Wexford Road. As a young lad from New Plymouth, I spent many holidays sitting up on this hill watching the comings and goings with all the different types of aircraft - Viscounts, Friendships, DC 3's, Bristol Freighters etc and the highlight was watching the Lockheed Electra arrive from Sydney - that was amazing. My dad had a friend who I think was the head controller in the control tower and I remember going there twice and watching them at work - especially looking out the windows down onto the runway. Somewhere in a cupboard at home I still have the complete newspaper coverage of the opening - showing the Vulcan with its broken undercarriage etc. Great memories of early childhood
My Dad was Head Controller at the Airport and kept the airport running while they built the nw runway. We ha Lived in one of the houses after it was moved to Kilburnie on the recovered landfill in Evans Bay His name was Ray Allan. I watched the show from the Cliff on Miramar side of runway. What memories .
@@caroleeaton1511 Hi Carole. I now remember the name of the controller that we knew. His name was Brian Meachem. My parents played tennis with him in Wgton at I think either Kilburnie or St Pats. As a youngster, I used to walk from Wexford Road to the airport terminal and stand out on the observation deck for hours and watch the comings and goings. You cannot do that now - security threat rubbish
Watching the central over the damaged wing when the pilot corrected and put on power was fascinating the condensation where more or less over the whole wing.... aerodynamics at display!
I don't know that I totally agree that there has never been a major accident at Wellington, although I suppose that depends on your definition of ''major''. On 17 February 1963, Vickers Viscount ZK-BWO, ''City of Dunedin'' over ran the Southern end of the runway and crashed down onto Moa Point Road, with 41 people onboard. While nobody was killed or injured, the aircraft was very substantially damaged.
We were watching that coming in over Evans Bay from the front window up at Mt.Vic. Dad said he is taking his time pulling up, then over the end he went. 'Right, everybody in the car.'
Holy cow...what a story. I have flown into Welly on a commercial late night flight and it was the roughest landing I have ever experienced...period. The whole flight thought we were going to die when there were four massive rudder corrections on touchdown...never forget that. It's a problematic airport to land at for sure 😬
The RAF Vulcans are absolutely priceless. There is a lot of love out there for the Vulcan, and I'm sure this footage would be really appreciated on some of the British aircraft YT channels and sites, etc.
The temporary terminal was the old Dehavilland aircraft factory. Was there that day with my father and grandfather. If the pilot of the Vulcan hadn't saved it i wouldn't be here today.
The Sunderland incident reminds me of an RAAF Mirage undershooting the 09 runway at Ohakea. As the area before the threshold is a fairly steep embankment, the aircraft hit the dry dirt there, there was an enormous dust explosion, and I was sure the aircraft had been destroyed, but it somehow appeared out of the cloud, bounced high in the air, and landed again about half way down the runway. The high nose up angle of attack of these aircraft must have made it very hard to judge landings. New respect for the people who design the undercarriage. After watching that, I always obeyed the flashing lights signalling you to stop on the outside road when there were aircraft on approach to land just inside the perimeter fence.
Yeah. It looks close on the film but the still really shows how close it was. The quantity of fuel onboard too! I'm glad I made a real effort to see the Vulcan before her final flight.
Blimey I drive past welly airport almost daily I'll never look at it the same way again. I heard the Vulcan story before but hadnt realised the day was quiet that eventful.
Great commentary. As a radio op we were taught though you cannot be "Over and Out" you can be "Over" (Over to you) or "Out" (ceasing transmission). - (Ex Vulcan 101 Sqdn - RAF Waddington)
Now I know what tetrapods are called in English. In South Africa, where they were invented (to the best of my knowledge), they're called "dolosse" or mad/frantic ox/oxen. Funny name.
Add my thanks and appreciation to the list. Excellent production. The Shoreham airshow Hunter crash puts this into perspective. They must have been right on the cusp of a high speed stall in the bomburst breakout. That plus the very thought of a ground looping Vulcan is utterly terrifying.
We missed this excitement by 15 yearsa but not the joys of the temporary terminal. Quite a charming dump it was, greatly enhanced by convenient, free parking. Should be restored.
@@juststeve5542 From what I understand it made the return trip to Hobsonville, where the pilot orientated the plane to line up with the slipway (EDIT: He beached it, I've since learned, which makes more sense), and made the shortest landing he possibly could to ensure as little water could be taken on as possible . Must have been a thing to see in itself. As for the Vulcan, which at that time made up a significant proportion of Britain's nuclear capability, it was laid up at Ohakea for repairs for six months. No word on how long it took to clean the Vampire pilots' trousers.
@@kwerk2011 I would bet that the trousers were none the worse for wear afterwards, which points out how dire the situation truly was. To take a fright into soiling one's self is one thing, but to have a fright that doesn't give you time to do so is a wholly different affair...
@@juststeve5542 Coming up the harbour to Hobsonville the aircrew were stuffing inflated life jackets in the holes. I was told by the guys in the hangar who were there that the hull looked like a giant file had been scraped along the bottom.
My father was there and saw it happen as a little guy. As a commercial pilot I've now got about 1000 landings there, fortunately all incident free 😀 great video and history
So quality story telling can be done, no melodramatic music, endless recaps , breathless narration or actor re-enactments. Bravo
I was there for all that. I will never forget that day. Wonderful!
This is a SUPERB documentary, a VERY well done and bravo to the producers of this hidden gem.
"We were in awe of their skills but not so sure about their judgement."
Dry humor at its best.
So modest for his skilled training, he's amazing!
I HAVE to remember that......
the touch and go entry in the log book for the sunderland was better.
For a guy who doesn’t know what his top gate altitude was... that’s a pretty bold statement.
I’d risk aircraft collision any day before ground collision. The ground is much bigger and solider.
That was a howler!
Touch and go in a Sunderland - you’ve made my day!
Is that what pilots mean by 'beating up the airfield'?
that's Air Vice Marshall (rtd) Robin Klitscher absolute legend
Not many airports have had a Sunderland touch down at them!
Steve Evans great point. They used to send the Bristol Freighter up on really windy days to let the tower know if anyone else had a chance of getting off the ground. I’ve seen it engines roaring barely making headway, but going up steadily.
@Jacob Zondag Mark in logs "runway resurfacing effort at Wellington"... sand down a wee bit of the centerline, and off you go :)
Sunderland was like "tag you're it"
From Australian Traveller, Issue 76:
Another time a pilot - who was more used to flying land planes - was returning to Sydney and forgot he was in charge of a flying boat. He was making an approach to a runway at Mascot when the first officer leaned over and reminded him they had no wheels, only a hull. After pulling up, they were finally on the water at Rose Bay. He thanked the first officer, saying ‘I would have looked a damn fool had I attempted that landing’. He was so embarrassed he quickly turned around and stepped out of the door without looking, and splashed straight into the harbour.”
@@pervertt as they say in flying circles, there are those who have landed wheels up and those that will.
Airshows back then were really entertaining! Risky for pilots and spectators, but entertaining. I especially liked the touch-and-go notation in his logbook of the co-pilot of the Sunderland flying boat. He just had to write that down.
They are still risky and entertaining, with the occasional disaster thrown in.
@@UncleKennysPlace Toronto 1995 ... I saw a Nimrod pile into Lake Ontario with seven souls on board.
awuma That particular accident preceeded a radical change in the regulatory oversight of military air displays.
The sunderland pilot is just like the sunderland soccer team ... crap 😆😅😆
SeaDub II I'm sure Martha McSally would disagree, seriously bad ass individual.
What a BRILLIANT story. LOVED the footage. Could not have been better. The Sunderland doing a Touch and Go....... priceless!
My Nan was there watching all that that day! She told me about the Vulcan incident! I kind of took her story as only partly true, but there we go, she was spot on! She’s 81 in December, can recall memories from the 50’s and 60’s like it was yesterday. Great video!
Well that brought old archive footage to life for me, I laughed , cringed and was in suspense, well done.
Yes this is a great watch, I'll show it to my aircraft daft pal too :D
At 7:01, it shows the air to air refueling operation. The middle plane behind the refueling plane is the A-3 Skywarrior. That is the plane type that I took care of when I was in the U.S. Navy, in an aviation squadron, back in 71-75. The A-3 was designed to carry one atomic bomb in the bomb bay. Thankfully it never had to be used in war. The A-3's were converted into mostly air refueling tankers and also electronic warfare counter-measures planes. My squadron was an electronic counter-measures outfit and the A-3 bomb bay was used to seat about 3 electronic warfare officers that operated different kinds of ECM gear in the bomb bay. The A-3 also had the distinction of being the largest Navy plane to ever be deployed aboard the aircraft carriers. To watch the RUclips videos of flight deck operations and see an A-3 come in and land is amazing. They were neat planes to take care of; we had 4 of them and each one had it's own 'personality' and quirks. I will always have great memories of my squadron days. Oh, notice that the refueling plane was still a prop job. This re-fueler had to go as fast as it could and the three jets had to go as slow as they could without stalling. The refueling job was turned over to jet planes as soon as it was possible.
Cool, thanks for the story.
All 3 Dead? ;-)
@@leifvejby8023 Yep, what a name to have !! But...soon after I got to my squadron, one of our A-3's had a malfunction in flight and at 14,000 ft. it went inverted and crashed, making a big crater. Two of the young officers bailed out. One of them went out the upper escape hatch but got smashed against the vertical stabilizer and died. The other officer blew the bottom entry hatch and slid out but was also smashed back up against the fuselage and also died. The pilot went in with the plane. At least I think that's how they died; it's been a long time since 1972. It should not have happened. The Plane Captain did the daily inspection and reported something wrong. The young pilots were eager to combine a regular training flight with an excursion down to Florida to see their girlfriends and so the pilot over-rode the Plane Captain's negative report and off they went. They had been in the air for maybe only 1 hour...maybe even a lot less....can't remember exactly, but it wasn't very long when it happened. From then on, a pilot never pulled rank on the enlisted Plane Captain if he said that the plane wasn't ready for flight. Not long after that, I decided that I wanted to be a Plane Captain for our A-3's. I was trained to be an aircraft electrician but I loved being out on the flight line and being involved with the launching & recovery of our planes and the refueling and packing those big drag chutes, and all that, so I trained to become a Plane Captain and I chose our A-3's. We also had two F-4 Phantoms, four of the A-3's, four A-4 Skyhawks, and one beautiful, old prop driven Super Constellation. The squadron was an ECM ( Electronic Counter-Measures) squadron. Our A-3's were actually designated as ERA-3B. So...about 2 years later, we were in Hawaii at Hickam Field for about 10 days of exercises. One day, I went out to do the daily inspection on one of the A-3's that was scheduled to fly soon, and as I opened one of the inspection doors I spotted something that wasn't right. I noted it on the report, stating that the plane wasn't ready for flight, and told the control room about it. The officers that were scheduled to fly that plane found me and thanked me very profusely for finding that bleed-air problem. They said if I hadn't seen it that the A-3 would most likely have had a major malfunction and they might have been killed. It took a tragedy to be reminded of just how important it was to follow procedure, but we never had any more accidents.
They have an A-3 on the USS Midway which is now a museum ship in San Diego.
The refueling plane is a KB-50J with the added J-47 jet engines so it could refuel the swept-wing jets. The jet on the left is the F-101 Voodoo and the right side is the F-100 Super Saber and I'm thinking that it is all U.S Air Force and that the middle plane is the B-66 Destroyer. If it wasn't for the U.S. Navy developing the A-3 Skywarrior the Air Force may not of had the B-66, it has visual similarities , J-57 engines vs J-71 and I think the later B-66 were converted to use the flying boom refueling, while the U.S. Navy used the probe and drogue.
Excellent production with a wonderful story to match. Worth watching.
That Sunderland "touch and go" description is peak British dryness.
Except that it's Kiwi dryness... :-)
@@JKPhotoNZ Probably trained in the R.A.F.
So dry that he had to explain the humor - got to love the old timers!
Great video. I had never heard of these incidents. Luckily all survived. I used to watch the Vulcans in Omaha, Nebraska when I was a kid. They were so exotic. I watched the reporting about them on TV during their mission to the Falklands from a British pub in Pasadena, California. Lots of inebriated Brits cheering wildly. Later I understood that they were just days from complete retirement before the Falkland Islands missions. Maggie Thatcher gave them a temporary reprieve I guess. Beautiful to watch in the sky and on the ground.
Terrific video which brought back all those memories - I was there (8 years old) sitting on the hills of Oriental Bay. We lived on the flight path into the airport and for two weeks before I'd been watching all these amazing planes flying in - heaven for a plane-mad little kid. The Vulcan incident was unforgettable, as was the sight of the Britannia taxiing backwards down the runway, and the Voodoos and Sabres - first supersonic aircraft ever seen in NZ.
Thank you for showing us this historical moments 👍😎
Absolutely phenomenal production!! Very well done. So glad you managed to get interviews and original footage as well. Wonderful
What a great story and beautifully edited. Thank you to all involved.
Great video , thank you so much for the upload.
Wow. Thank you for posting this. Great stuff!
wow .. what a story, 12g and 3 m above the ground, might be my new favourite aviation story, better than the speed check in an SR71, and what awesome images
Hell yeah
That aircraft was grounded at some point after this airshow, I don't know how long after but it was found it had a bad habit of the empaniage falling off in hard maneuvers,,, you think 12 Gs would have been hard enough.
I feel the same. I don’t think someone could beat this in my lifetime.
'Right Vampires, the Vulcan's given you a hard act to follow!' 'Challenge accepted!'. The days when airshows were shows.
Thanks for bringing this story to us, especially with all the extras. That's awesome
Brilliant! Great stories. Never knew that about the Vampires. Thanks for producing this slice of NZ aviation history.
10:27 - have a close look at the photo. You can understand how the Vampire pilot was able to describe the Vulcan short landing incident in such detail. You can see their Vampires lined up with a full front on view over everything.
Front row view
What a wonderful video! Great footage and interviews.
What a marvelous story and best of all, everyone lived to tell about it.
Sunderland: we captured the airfield
*gets kamikazied by a catalina
New WarThunder reference?
Sunderland was like "tag you're it"
@@sawspitfire422 --MORE LIKE; "TAG- I WONDER IF OUR BILGE-PUMPS ARE
SERVICED????"
Ah, nice, a War Thunder reference :) Speaking of, I've done the 'touch' part in-game, just not the 'go' part XD
Wow! Thanks for sharing this. Who would have thought that an airshows, so many years ago could still be exciting?!
Air incidents or even accidents can be awfully funny when they're not fatal.
ANY LANDING YOU WALK AWAY FROM; IS A GOOD ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Especially when the captain speaks in a cool, calm and collected voice and uses understated (British) humor.
We love professional pilots for it. :)
My grandfather was one of the test pilots for the F-4 Corsair during World War 2. He had a number of humorous stories regarding that, including one where his oil pressure tanked on him, so he had to land on a beach, but (and he didn't see them in his initial descent as he had more pressing issues to attend to at higher altitude) there were beach-goers there, so he bounced the plane, which then rolled over, and (I'm not absolutely sure of this detail, as it might have been added for flavor, though that wasn't his way) his seat and him both got ejected from the airplane. He was fine, less a little shed blood in the form of minor cuts and abrasions from sliding along the sand and the roughness of the crash.
packardexelence and any landing where they can use the aircraft again is a really good one!
Very nice film from the past and i liked the Vulcan action the best! What an airplane it was indeed together with craftmanship from the past, indestructible !!
The Vulcan represents something special for me. In the modern day the vastest majority of bombers are a generic tube with wings approach. I wish we could have the kind of innovation we did back then.
Great story about events and cool headed pilots doing their best to avoid both civilian and Air Force tragedies. Amazing.
Whoooo, fun packed day for pilots and spectators..I will never forget one airshow at Wigram. Mid 70's and a low cloud base. Someone put on a display with a high performance glider and looped it below the cloud base. i lost sight of it below the heads of the crowd on the pull out. That guy no doubt nearly crapped and the show organizers most likely enlarged his arse muscles as well. Closest to seeing a real crash in the flesh I have ever had.
@Allen Main: Are you sure that wasn't "Wings and Wheels" air show at the end of 1980.
It could have been Ryan. I think it was the same airshow that the F111's done a fly by. It was really low cloud and the shockwave over the wings was an unforgettable sight. I left NZ end if 81 so it's quite possible.
Excellent! Thanks for posting.
OMG! This is an absolute aviation historical jewel. Excellent story with the video to back up what is almost too crazy to believe.
Well said!
Wooow, what a video! Sat breathless watching it.
Truely miss the old air shows,
BRING BACK THE SHOW!!
Excellent, thank you for sharing this amazing story with us all
Wow the near accident at the end was crazy thanks for sharing history.
Great Video, thanks for posting!
What an amazing little vignette ! I was there a 10 year old sitting on the bank overlooking the airport in Berhampore . I watched through binoculars as the Vulcan hit the lip of the tarmac and jumped for cover as the vampire hurtled towards the hills on the completion of their final break ......I am thrilled this little video was made ! Thankyou !
Fantastic preservation of New Zealand aviation history!
Bloody excellent video! Thanks friends!
Blue skies and happy flying :)
Great little doco there guys. Onya for doing a great job.
I was 6 when the airport was opened. My grandparents lived at 90 Wexford Road ( northern end of runway) and we watched the opening up on top of the hill on Wexford Road. As a young lad from New Plymouth, I spent many holidays sitting up on this hill watching the comings and goings with all the different types of aircraft - Viscounts, Friendships, DC 3's, Bristol Freighters etc and the highlight was watching the Lockheed Electra arrive from Sydney - that was amazing. My dad had a friend who I think was the head controller in the control tower and I remember going there twice and watching them at work - especially looking out the windows down onto the runway. Somewhere in a cupboard at home I still have the complete newspaper coverage of the opening - showing the Vulcan with its broken undercarriage etc. Great memories of early childhood
My Dad was Head Controller at the Airport and kept the airport running while they built the nw runway. We ha
Lived in one of the houses after it was moved to Kilburnie on the recovered landfill in Evans Bay His name was Ray Allan. I watched the show from the Cliff on Miramar side of runway. What memories .
@@caroleeaton1511 Hi Carole. I now remember the name of the controller that we knew. His name was Brian Meachem. My parents played tennis with him in Wgton at I think either Kilburnie or St Pats. As a youngster, I used to walk from Wexford Road to the airport terminal and stand out on the observation deck for hours and watch the comings and goings. You cannot do that now - security threat rubbish
Watching the central over the damaged wing when the pilot corrected and put on power was fascinating the condensation where more or less over the whole wing.... aerodynamics at display!
Wow! I just love hearing from these pilots and their experiences.
That day was the definition of being cursed and blessed at the same time
12:30 Anthony Hopkins acting as a Kiwi acrobatic airman. Very convincing. He’s got that accent down perfectly.
Not the first time he's nailed a Kiwi role :)
Great original footage and explanations of what went on by the original pilots. A great history lesson. Thankyou.
I don't know that I totally agree that there has never been a major accident at Wellington, although I suppose that depends on your definition of ''major''.
On 17 February 1963, Vickers Viscount ZK-BWO, ''City of Dunedin'' over ran the Southern end of the runway and crashed down onto Moa Point Road, with 41 people onboard. While nobody was killed or injured, the aircraft was very substantially damaged.
Yes. I thought that on hearing the commentary.
We were watching that coming in over Evans Bay from the front window up at Mt.Vic. Dad said he is taking his time pulling up, then over the end he went. 'Right, everybody in the car.'
That's some great footage of the Beverly, thanks for this.
This is an amazing video. Thanks for posting it.
Wonderful stuff! Thanks
Bloody brilliant!!!
Those magnificent men in their flying machines! No end of guts and determination! Bravo!
Some very dry Kiwi humour from these pilots. Great stuff.
Holy cow...what a story. I have flown into Welly on a commercial late night flight and it was the roughest landing I have ever experienced...period. The whole flight thought we were going to die when there were four massive rudder corrections on touchdown...never forget that. It's a problematic airport to land at for sure 😬
GazLowe nah mate. just a normal day at the office. even the planes know how to do the Welly waltz.
problematic...pshhh...
Still remember my landing at Rongotai in one of the earliest B737's... very rough.
Someone once said that he liked landing at Wellington because he liked hearing all of the atheists saying "Oh my God".
What a superb film. Thanks!
Awesome video, thanks!
It seems we don't have airshows quite like that anymore!
The RAF Vulcans are absolutely priceless. There is a lot of love out there for the Vulcan, and I'm sure this footage would be really appreciated on some of the British aircraft YT channels and sites, etc.
RUclips is worldwide .... there is no need for this footage to be on other Channels .... anyone can watch it ...
@@HistAvFilmUnit I realise that- maybe I didn't explain what I meant very well. Anyway, it's not a big deal!
Brilliant! Thank you for posting this wonderful video.
6:18 I like the look he gives in the camera after he says "tongue in cheek." It's like "laugh, or I will do something bad to you."
Aaron R i
Tom Enright what a master of understatement. “Very Scary”! I love listening to people like him could listen to him all day.
The temporary terminal was the old Dehavilland aircraft factory. Was there that day with my father and grandfather. If the pilot of the Vulcan hadn't saved it i wouldn't be here today.
The Sunderland incident reminds me of an RAAF Mirage undershooting the 09 runway at Ohakea. As the area before the threshold is a fairly steep embankment, the aircraft hit the dry dirt there, there was an enormous dust explosion, and I was sure the aircraft had been destroyed, but it somehow appeared out of the cloud, bounced high in the air, and landed again about half way down the runway. The high nose up angle of attack of these aircraft must have made it very hard to judge landings. New respect for the people who design the undercarriage. After watching that, I always obeyed the flashing lights signalling you to stop on the outside road when there were aircraft on approach to land just inside the perimeter fence.
Bloody awesome vid !!! Thanks for sharing 😊
So the dear old Sunderland - without landing gear - was one of the first aircraft to do a touch and go!! Amazing!! 👍
Great upload... thanks
Thanks, these little pieces of history are pure gold.
Doesnt get much closer than that to a MAJOR tragedy!
Yeah. It looks close on the film but the still really shows how close it was. The quantity of fuel onboard too!
I'm glad I made a real effort to see the Vulcan before her final flight.
Excellent piece! Enjoyed it all, and has a really happy ending!
Wonderful piece!
B... hell. Hats off to all the crews involved!
I enjoyed that. Many thanks for uploading. :)
Blimey I drive past welly airport almost daily I'll never look at it the same way again. I heard the Vulcan story before but hadnt realised the day was quiet that eventful.
The "matchbox vulcan I had as a kid was my favorite toy airplane.
WOW - not other words. Amazing stuff.
We used to have an airport in Sunderland, but we never had a Sunderland land at Sunderland.
I don't think we had a Wellington land in Wellington either
Great commentary. As a radio op we were taught though you cannot be "Over and Out" you can be "Over" (Over to you) or "Out" (ceasing transmission). - (Ex Vulcan 101 Sqdn - RAF Waddington)
Nice haven't seen that footage before. It was nice to see so many British made aircraft, even though some of them nearly crashed!
1:13 "Massive concrete tetrapods"... man, when a phrase up and gooses your jimmy real good. I got chills.
Now I know what tetrapods are called in English. In South Africa, where they were invented (to the best of my knowledge), they're called "dolosse" or mad/frantic ox/oxen. Funny name.
Those were epic!
@@mervynwayburne5688 Where did you get the idea from that they were 'invented' in South Africa? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrapod_(structure)
Yeah, but when my girlfriend says "tripod" at JUST the right time....
@@sailorman8668 when you're from South Africa, EVERYTHING was invented in South Africa.
Fantastic video chaps!
What a great film.Thanks!!!
Fascinating, thanks.
Add my thanks and appreciation to the list. Excellent production. The Shoreham airshow Hunter crash puts this into perspective. They must have been right on the cusp of a high speed stall in the bomburst breakout. That plus the very thought of a ground looping Vulcan is utterly terrifying.
Great story and video , well done uploader
We missed this excitement by 15 yearsa but not the joys of the temporary terminal. Quite a charming dump it was, greatly enhanced by convenient, free parking. Should be restored.
And free showers in the rain !
Magnificent video,, thank you
Wow! The ONLY touch & Go by a Sunderland!!! Must have been very scary for the crew below.
Alycia Marrison Weren’t they just cool from what I heard in this video? The captain was not amused, that is for sure 😁
I'm now curious where it went and landed after that, as it was now not exactly water tight!
@@juststeve5542 From what I understand it made the return trip to Hobsonville, where the pilot orientated the plane to line up with the slipway (EDIT: He beached it, I've since learned, which makes more sense), and made the shortest landing he possibly could to ensure as little water could be taken on as possible . Must have been a thing to see in itself. As for the Vulcan, which at that time made up a significant proportion of Britain's nuclear capability, it was laid up at Ohakea for repairs for six months. No word on how long it took to clean the Vampire pilots' trousers.
@@kwerk2011 I would bet that the trousers were none the worse for wear afterwards, which points out how dire the situation truly was. To take a fright into soiling one's self is one thing, but to have a fright that doesn't give you time to do so is a wholly different affair...
@@juststeve5542 Coming up the harbour to Hobsonville the aircrew were stuffing inflated life jackets in the holes. I was told by the guys in the hangar who were there that the hull looked like a giant file had been scraped along the bottom.
My father was there and saw it happen as a little guy. As a commercial pilot I've now got about 1000 landings there, fortunately all incident free 😀 great video and history
Great film -thanks!
This is a spectacular slice of history! Riveting.
That was enjoyable. Luckily lots of scares but no injuries.👍✈✈✈👍
Back in the day when NZ could afford combat aircraft!
Oof
Ouch.
We had them, but we've never been able to afford them.
@@spudpud-T67 Is there an NZ air force ? Genuine question.
@@tylerama Yes we do but they have no combat aircraft just support planes. Hercules and choppers etc.
That was brilliant 👏👏 what an awesome piece of aviation history. 👍🏻👍🏻🙃🙃
The world is full of near misses ! I remember the Vulcan at Newbury ( I think ) airshow in early 1970`s , quite a noisy beast.
Wow what an amazing event and time in history!!!
The film "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines " comes to mind.
Incredible!
Great piece of history that I never knew about👍