Hi all,
Well it was a bit of a guess on my part that this was the exact one that Sir
Tim flew into the ground. Apparently the torque from this motor is enormous,
so that to fly straight when under full power, it is necessary to apply full
opposite rudder, or full opposite-rotation elevators (or something - I've never
flown a plane ever). Sir Tim either wasn't told about this little extra
feature, or
forgot, or couldn't handle it when he lead-footed it down the runway; or any
two of these things.
He spent months recovering and for quite some time his life was in doubt.
Makes you wonder how you could do aerobatics to either side equally well
under full power when being pursued. What if the enemy had a plane the
engine of which rotated the other way? Interesting. Gives a huge advantage
to jets which presumably have no such torque. One can also see the
potential advantage of the twin-engined Mosquito and Lightning. No torque
control of manoeuvres.
Wigram airfield. By 1995 was being used only for pilot training using radial-
engined Harvards, and for amateur pilots especially towing gliders aloft.
Harvards are incredibly noisy little beasts. I really don't understand why they
cannot be silenced somewhat.
As you can see from the photos, the city comes close to the airfield
boundary, so there was always complaint about noise..
http://homepages.caverock.net.nz/~bj/photography/zuikoholics/recent4.htm
The RNZAF then had 3 airfields; Ohakea, Whenuapai, and Wigram. As of
today, they plan to use Whenuapai for about another 10 years, then close it.
There is considerable debate about whether or not it should then be used as
another commercial airfield, converted to housing, or to an industrial estate.
There is a very nice airplane museum at Wigram, with some amazing planes
and motors.
Wigram was considered surplus to needs and the RNZAF was having
difficulty with its budget. Government was looking for additional ways to
compensate Maori under Treaty of Waitangi rulings, and the Ngai Tahu tribe
wanted it (and now owns it and it is being converted to housing and some
light industry or something). So it went.
Since then the airforce's fleet of aging Skyhawks has been sold off; and the
government wrestled with a proposal from the USA to refurbish some of their
desert-parked fleet of Skyhawks or something to replace them. In the end, it
was decided that there was little/no point on our nation of 4 million souls
trying to be one of the big boys in the arms race. So the Gov't developed
short arms and deep pockets as far as spending on fighters is concerned,
and we would concentrate our military air arm in running highly capable
surveillance aircraft for the seas around us (we are refurbishing our fleet of
Orions), and our fleet of Hercules for Antarctica and aid missions such as
East Timor and Ache.
So, if we are invaded, we will all have to become guerillas - or as the news
readers pronounce the word (seemingly being unable to handle the essential
difference), gorillas.
End of story.
Brian
...................
Which reminds me - heard this guy on the radio yesterday. From Canada.
http://www.iraqsnuclearmirage.com/
..........................
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