Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates

SpazSinbad

SpazSinbad

Active Member
You may be aware that a LONG Long long time ago the RAN Fleet Air Arm had fixed wing jet aircraft. Oh No. I was fortunate enough to be a No.2 wingman in two NAS Nowra Air Day displays in two aircraft - Vampire in 1969 and Macchi MB326H in 1974. The pair aircraft aero displays were necessarily simple because we had few aircraft and little time to prepare as we had other duties. Also I flew the Vampire in the 'mixed fixed wing formation flyby' in 1969 at NAS Nowra Air Day. Photo shows the view from the Vampire with the photographer ASLT Murray Smythe taking the photo of the A4G Skyhawk with the lead Dakota in view (other two aircraft not seen on other side of DAK). Video shows flyby with the DAK going downhill from about 2,000 feet as fast as it could go to allow the heavy with drop tank fuel A4G Skyhawk especially to have some maneuver airspeed - notice some flap down on the A4G.

Mixed Flyby 1969 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mueKRfbkXw

My leader and I attempted a more complex display in 1974 (compared to 1969). One maneuver was leader to fly inverted down runway at 500 feet with myself flying in 'mirror' upright below for the time allowed inverted (10 seconds IIRC). Not many do a mirror formation however the Macchi & PC Roulettes used to do it AFAIK. Remember these are 'part time' teams & not 'professionals' such as 'Red Arrows/Blue Angels' etc.

[ame="http://s98.photobucket.com/user/SpazSinbad/media/NewNewAllBum/RANFAA%20Macchi%20MB326H%20Formation%20Air%20Day%201974%20NAS%20Nowra%20Forum.jpg.html"]RANFAA Macchi MB326H Formation Air Day 1974 NAS Nowra Forum.jpg Photo by SpazSinbad | Photobucket[/ame]
 
SpazSinbad

SpazSinbad

Active Member
I'm not forgetting about other ADF aero teams but question was Macchi/Miracle. The RAN 'Checkmates' of the 805 Sea Venom and VF-805 A4G Skyhawk era must be mentioned along with in same eras the 'RamJets' of 724 & VC-724. Last but not least a short clip of 1974 Air Day at NAS Nowra Macchis. The solo aircraft lead the formation takeoff with me as the right side member. Then solo did display after we did our pair formation with me as No.2. The solo really yanked it around apparently however I cannot say - never saw it - I was in display. :-(

RANFAA Macchi MB326H Air Day 1974 Solo Leads Take Off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN3NYgIYXYo

Courtesy ADF-serials an RAAF Macchi takes off on R/W 03 (uphill) at NAS Nowra sometime in the 1980s:

Macchi MB326H RAAF Low Take Off R/W 03 NAS Nowra 1980s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vACCIMg-jhE

Early jets with non zero / zero ejection seats stayed low after lift off to gain minimum ejection speed quickly and / or have zoom climb potential to turn back to a runway if engine failed at that critical juncture.
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AWM has an RAAF Roulette Video: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F02807/

https://www.awm.gov.au/video/F02807.mp4 (8.4Mb .MP4)
 
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t68

t68

Well-Known Member
It would be nice if we cold have a full time fast jet acrobatic display team such as he blue angels, you see a lot of solo runs at Bathurst and so-fourth as well as the roulette's

I'm not knocking the the Roulette's the do a fantastic job and display,is just when ou see a flight of fast jets doing their thing it always wants to make you look up
 
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hairyman

Active Member
SpazSinbad says he was wingman in Vampires in 1969. Did we still have Vampires then? I remember in 1954 I was in the ATC and we were given a weekend at Laverton, they had us kids washing down the Vampires with Kero. I ended up with excema as they did'nt supply us with rubber gloves or anything.
 
oldsig127

oldsig127

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
hairyman said:
SpazSinbad says he was wingman in Vampires in 1969. Did we still have Vampires then? I remember in 1954 I was in the ATC and we were given a weekend at Laverton, they had us kids washing down the Vampires with Kero. I ended up with excema as they did'nt supply us with rubber gloves or anything.
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RAAF Ops ceased in September 1970 and RAN FAA in 1971 (Source:RAAF Museum)

Looks like Spaz' memory is good

oldsig
 
R

rossfrb_1

Member
SpazSinbad said:
I'm not forgetting about other ADF aero teams but question was Macchi/Miracle. The RAN 'Checkmates' of the 805 Sea Venom and VF-805 A4G Skyhawk era must be mentioned along with in same eras the 'RamJets' of 724 & VC-724. Last but not least a short clip of 1974 Air Day at NAS Nowra Macchis. The solo aircraft lead the formation takeoff with me as the right side member. Then solo did display after we did our pair formation with me as No.2. The solo really yanked it around apparently however I cannot say - never saw it - I was in display. :-(

snip
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Thanks for that Spaz
Didn't know about the Deltas.

The clip I remember had 4 to 6 craft flying a series of aerobatic routines. It was professionally shot and presented with a stirring soundtrack.
My memory wants to say they were Mirages.
Was I the only one to stay up late in the 70s?

rb
 
SpazSinbad

SpazSinbad

Active Member
For 'hairyman': a good way to refresh your memory may be found at the links here - follow the instructions:

SpazSinbad A4G | Fleet Air Arm Association of Australia

Perhaps interestingly for some I flew the second last Sea Venom flight in December 1970 at NAS Nowra. I did not record the last Vampire flight but I have a date for my own a month or so earlier. I was trained by RAAF QFIs at RAAF East Sale to fly the MB326H Macchi so that when it was first available at NAS Nowra (as a junior pilot) I could fly it on Fleet Support sorties whilst the instructors and former Macchi trained sprog pilots were got up to speed (a few former Macchi trained had to learn the Vampire idiosyncrasies when they first arrived at NAS Nowra from Pearce). By the end of 1970 in the space of a four week period I was current and flew the Vampire, Sea Venom, Macchi & Skyhawk. And then those oldies were gone by the end of 1970. The Video shows first RAN Vampire pilot now a CMDR flying the last Vampire sortie (a few weeks after they actually last flew - the film event he flew & it was specially staged for CMDR Lee).

As for the 1971 date - I dunno - once a meme gets started by an 'authoritive' source it is impossible to stop on the internet. WinSome - LoseSum. For example even the FAA website (run by someone not familiar with these old tymes) has not changed the incorrect date here: http://www.faaaa.asn.au/photos/de-havilland-mk-t22-vampire/

I think people see a date for when the Vamps were sold or something (probably an incorrect date in a reference book for example) and use that incorrect date. However I have my pilot logbook where my last flights and of course all my flights are recorded. You can find it on OneDrive....

My last Vampire flight was 30 Sep 1970 after returning from East Sale from conversion to Macchi. My last Sea Venom flight was 03 Dec 1970. All this is perhaps interesting only to me but I have tried to correct inaccuracies ever since the internet started - without much luck obviously. One can see I have no credibility because my dates are wrong. But hey - look at my logbook - look at a dozen years of research into those olden tymes collected in the 4.4Gb PDF online. NAH - no one has time for that - they go to wickedpedia instead - which reminds me - what do they say?

CMDR N.E. Lee Last RAN FAA Vampire Sortie NAS Nowra 1970
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCwA_RirdsE

About 'washing down a Vamp with kero' I will suggest you used a water bucket with a smidgeon of Kero in it (if any)? Yes 'health & safety' was unheard of all those years ago and today it dismays old timers here - but not me. The Vampire fuselage was mostly of wooden construction, plywood over spruce stringers, with the wings all metal. The fuselage was usually covered with silver painted canvas glued onto the plywood. This canvas could strip so that it would flap against the fuselage creating a great racket in flight. The trainer Vampire was a most excellent training aircraft for the times but was obsolete by 1960 and soldiered on nevertheless. In the RAN we did not refer to the Vamp as a SEA VAMPIRE as some 'authoritative' sources would have it. A SEA VAMPIRE was in the UK under test and brief time on UK carriers. It was a single seater with a hook - to arrest one with (similarly housed as with the Sea Venom - which I did not carrier land).
 
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H

hairyman

Active Member
Thanks for the reply SpazSinbad.. It was definitely kerosine, maybe with a bit of water. It was the kerosine that caused my excema though. Anybody else have similar experiences re washing aircraft?
 
G

Gibbo

Well-Known Member
hauritz said:
I am surprised that they globe-hopped these things around the planet. Probably kind of fun ... but I would have thought they would have packed them off on a ship.
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Ooooo...a few jealous Kiwis here! ;)

Actually quite happy with our T6C... they too were flown out, although the distance from Texas to NZ via Nth Atlantic was a fair bit longer than your new babies!

The RNZAF had their own instructors as 2nd man on many of the delivery flights... what better way to get to know the new mount! And yes I hear on some legs the RNZAF guys did the bulk of the work! So there are some advantages to flying them out, other than avoiding costly re-assembly on arrival.
 
gf0012-aust

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
hauritz said:
Apparently two more will spend the next 6 months with a US navy squadron. The remainder are ready for delivery and are currently in storage.

According to a Flight Global article I saw they will actually spend 75% of their time operating with naval and ground forces.

It will be interesting to see how they are used.
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the RAAF has had exchange officers with USN, USMC for quite a while, so they are getting a broad cross section of skills
 
t68

t68

Well-Known Member
hauritz said:
Apparently two more will spend the next 6 months with a US navy squadron. The remainder are ready for delivery and are currently in storage.

According to a Flight Global article I saw they will actually spend 75% of their time operating with naval and ground forces.

It will be interesting to see how they are used.
Click to expand...
Does that mean they could possablly go to sea?
 
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