de Havilland Herons

[tasdevil.f27]

I came across the former Airlines of Tas herron VH CLV the other day in the back junk shed of the museum, got me thinking about what were they like to fly?

[Mach E Avelli]

I only flew the originals with the Gypsy Queens and did about 1600 hours single pilot IFR with no autopilot (overseas operation where this was legal at the time). Also another few hundred hours two pilot where we used a sextant and a drift sight to find our way over vast bits of the watery stuff. Having four engines was a good feeling, even though I never had or knew anyone to have a bad moment with those crude pieces of Pommy engineering.
A bit of a trick to start them sometimes when hot, but when cool or cold they could even be hand swung.
Great range and payload for what they were and quite respectable field performance.
A bugger to keep all four engine RPMs in synch with the unusual single lever throttle/prop set-up.
Great handling - you could chuck it at windshear or just about any crosswind you could reasonably encounter, but the pneumatic braking system with free castoring nosewheel took finesse.
All round, a most enjoyable aeroplane which was only eclipsed by the appearance of the Twin Otter.

[Desert Duck]

I was lucky enough to fly the first Heron built - now in a junk yard at Jandakot.
Fantastic aircraft - good load and range. Perhaps a little slow.
Broome to Jandakot nonstop - 7.2 hours.
Did a lot of joyrides at local airshows & the punters loved it as well - they actually had some leg room.

[Wally Mk2]

Ah the old pommy 4 engined job:-) I recall the Herons out at Tulla operated by Kendell's. Wonder whatever happened to them? Would love to have flown one but only ever got to drive the Heron's baby bro, The DH104 Dove. Typical pommy plane, looked, felt (as far as I could tell) & flew like yr typical Dehav 2WW plane:-) Ergonomic nightmare they where. Over the years switches & stuff where added ad-hoc. Pneumatics where more like hydraulics in the airframes I used to fly, more oil then air in the tanks:E.Still the old Dove flew well & can imagine the Heron was the same.

'DD' how's ya hearin' these days?:)


Here's too real Aeroplanes:ok:



Wmk2

[Bigbus330]

Just wondering what sort of condition CLV was in? Is it just gathering dust in a storage area, or on display? Is it pretty much complete? Is it in the main museum in the city, or out at the old railyards site at Inveresk?

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

One also currently residing at the RAAFA Bull Creek museum Mr 'DD', in between the two buildings of the 'front' and 'rear' exhibition halls.

I think only the fuselage though, although the wings may be stacked up alongside as well......

Saad to see it thus...

Cheers:{

[zlin77]

I flew VH-KAM & VH-CLW with Kendell Airlines in the late 70's.....A very different aircraft to operate on the ground, with the fully castering nosewheel, brakes operated by a lever on the control column with differential pressure applied by rudder pedal displacement, our A/C had The IO-540 Lycoming conversion 290 H.P...a fair bit of torque effect which required from memory leading with the left out board throttle to counteract the swing then gradually feeding in power on all as the rudder became effecitve, once airborne a stable airframe, easy to fly, extremely effective rudder, I think from memory a 30Kt. crosswind limit..final landing flap was 60 degrees, very draggy...with our engines cruise was at 2,200 rpm. @ 22"...gave about 165 Ktas @ 220 litres/Hr.....Ergonomics in cockpit were non existant, bits and pieces everywhere and a very high noise level, the emergency brake handle was hidden well under the left seat, caused me a heart-stopping moment landing in Merimbula when the primary brake bags had a leak and I was groping everywhere under the seat trying to find offending handle as the runway end was looming up!!
First flight of the day was always preceded by a lenghty engine run-up to build pneumatic pressure for brakes/flaps..once the run was complete it was the F/O's unenviable job to then drain the pumps water/oil seperators, this often meant getting sprayed with the frothy emulsion that was drained.
Ours had a fairly standard avionics fit for the day ILS/VOR, ADF & DME, our only ice protection was pitot-heat, not nearly enough for the heavy icing conditions often encountered over The Southern Alps on runs from MEL-MER-MCO & WGA-CBR...a few puckering memories there!!

[Wally Mk2]

Thanks 'zlin77' you pretty much expanded on what I said about the Doves.
One day after T/of @ EN I couldn't get the gear up do low air press (that was from extensive use of brakes taxiing too the rwy) & the twr guys said yr gear is still down, I guess I was dumb to get into the plane in the first place!:)

On the application of pwr the 2x IO720's (as was the Riley conversion of the Dove) the fuel flow gauges went off the scale!
Did you have any engine failures? With say 3 left to play with that's plenty of levers left to fondle:)

Wmk2

[Desert Duck]

Wally - what was that you said?

Still have fond memories of a training day in the Heron - in the circuit, maintain 1000' until the piano keys disappear under the nose with full flap (60 deg) selected and land on the numbers.

Dove was a great aircraft as well - just a baby Heron

[tasdevil.f27]

Just wondering what sort of condition CLV was in? Is it just gathering dust in a storage area, or on display? Is it pretty much complete? Is it in the main museum in the city, or out at the old railyards site at Inveresk?

It is sitting in one of the back sheds at Inveresk, minus its wings & covered in dirt & dust. They intend on putting it back together & have it on display at a later date.

[Fris B. Fairing]

zlin77

VH-KAM is in the Queensland Air Museum (http://www.qam.com.au/aircraft/heron/VH-KAM.htm)

VH-CLW (DQ-FDY) is with a private collection at Mudgee.

Rgds

[zlin77]

Fris-B...Thanks for the info

Wally Mk 2...Just one in-flight shutdown due to a severe oil leak, no failures as such, engine-out performance was quite reasonable with 4x290Hp. compared with 4x250 Hp of the original Gypsy Engines...
Zlin..

[Desert Duck]

Can not find a copy of the paperwork, but I recall having an approval to ferry the Heron with one engine inoperative, & that was with the Gypsy Queen 30's.

[dhavillandpilot]

Three engine ferry approval was with the prop removed. Forget now which side but the ops mannual went into detail about one of the outers being more dangerous as a ferry.

[sms777]

I think it works the same way as working out critical engine on a twin considering direction of props rotating. I stand corrected though....

[Exaviator]

I flew the Heron back in the late 60s, did about 600 hours on it, single pilot IFR on RPT ops.

One of the most laterally stable aircraft that I have ever flown. Trim it out and it would fly hands off all day – lots of dihedral - which was just a well as it didn’t have an auto pilot.

Ah memories are made of this :ok:


http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/ae22/Exaviator/DQ-FAF-1.jpg

[PA39]

was it jack Rudge that used to operate them years ago?? help me out here. I think he ditched one into botany bay???

[john_tullamarine]

Ex-TAA/AA Ted Rudge at Essendon I suspect you are thinking of although he operated Doves.

Had a problem one evening (Dec 1993) in DHD and the bird ended up parked against a wall in a front yard down towards North Essendon. None hurt and we all breathed a sigh of relief ...

Nice bloke and still out and about I gather, although I've not spoken with him for quite some time.

[Animalclub]

Fiji Airways (now Air Pacific) used to operate Herons with a three man crew out of Honiara to Nadi via one or two places. The Engineer was so obliging he used to find places to hang suit bags in the cabin... especially for ladies!!!

[Wally Mk2]

Great pix there 'exaviator':ok:

'PA39' as 'JT' mentioned it was 'Rudgy' (Ted) who parked a dove in someone's back/front yard out of EN late one arvo. I recall this very well as I was flying a dove (not his types) on the same night taking off the same rwy @ EN. I got dozens of Ph Calls on my Mob Ph that arvo when I landed after he went in as my family thought it was me, scared the hell out of my mum that day.
Would loved to have flown a Heron, 4 piston engines & props, that's becoming a rarity these days.

Just as an off shoot here I noticed a Dove looking rather sad up at YBMK the other day parked east of the main rwy. Looked like an ex RAF machine, anyone know of it's history? Forkie you get around a bit you must know:)


Wmk2

[rocket66]

Might just be me but did anyone else get concerned about the emergency air bottle between the pilots legs that held 800psi?

I was lucky enough to have some time with VH-DHI many moons ago. Was a fantastic machine but as people have mentioned very heavy in roll.


Rocket

[Plow King]

Just as an off shoot here I noticed a Dove looking rather sad up at YBMK the other day parked east of the main rwy. Looked like an ex RAF machine, anyone know of it's history?

Wasn't one of the Rudge aircraft an ex-Royal Navy Devon?
I remember chatting to the pilot of it as it passed through PF in the mid-late
'90s delivering bags of plastic granules used to make Holden dashboards, or something like that.

[PA39]

John T and Wally.....thank you. i remember now.

[Wally Mk2]

'PK' not too sure if it would have been one of 'Rudgies' but I could be wrong anyway. I've seen Rudgies doves over the years didn't seem to fit his.
I'll get a piccy when next I pass thru MK & post it here, someone must know of it's history.:)

'rocket 66' that's a LOT of psi close to ones own 'psi':E I imagine the Heron was like the dove as in you could fly it all day without touching the control wheel just using the trim wheel which was sensitive & the rudders for turn due the large dihedral. Did this many a time as we got bored in flight:ok:
God I've got some funny stories about the old Doves, we ought to start a funny story thread only:-)

Wmk2

[john_tullamarine]

Wasn't one of the Rudge aircraft an ex-Royal Navy Devon?

Memory's getting a tad blurred but I vaguely recall that was the case.

[clunker]

http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/th_ess.jpg (http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/?action=view&current=ess.jpg)
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/th_001.jpg (http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/?action=view&current=001.jpg)
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/th_Image2.jpg (http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/?action=view&current=Image2.jpg)

[CharlieLimaX-Ray]

Flew the beast at Airlines of Tasmania in 1988.

First multi-crew aeroplane, first aircraft above 5700 kgs, first aircraft ever flown from the right seat, first RPT gig and the only aircraft to have to been given a taxi endorsement for.

V1 65, VR 70, V2 74 and climb at 110 knots.

110 kilos in the nose locker and 340 kilos in the rear locker.

Took some getting used to beast, when the captain selected 60 degrees of flap on short finals.

The joy of 0300 depature to Hobart stuffed with the mainland newspapers on a winters morning.

Whatever happen to the chief engineer Dave "macca" McKenzie?

[Bigbus330]

"Took some getting used to beast, when the captain selected 60 degrees of flap on short finals."
Or when the Chief Pilot (NP), doing your endorsement circuits, dumped the flap in the flare because your 1st Heron landing (ever) was "too good"..........!!
Great days though, even if you did have to wear garbage bags on your feet in winter when the thing leaked and the footwells filled up with water!
:ok:

[Aye Ess]

Charlie Lima Xray & Bigbus 330.....you guys must surely have some piccys. PLEASE can you put them up for all to admire? Thanking you in advance :)

[clunker]

does it have to be airlines of tassie?

[Aye Ess]

Clunker,enjoyed your 3 piccys,but would love to see any Herons,particularly Connair as they were the biggest fleet in Australia.

[clunker]

http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/th_Image5-1-1.jpg (http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/?action=view&current=Image5-1-1.jpg)
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/th_Image6.jpg (http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/?action=view&current=Image6.jpg)
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/th_Image7.jpg (http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/?action=view&current=Image7.jpg)
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/th_Image8-1.jpg (http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/?action=view&current=Image8-1.jpg)
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/th_Image9-1.jpg (http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/qq284/V2square/?action=view&current=Image9-1.jpg)

[hurlingham]

Bigbus330

If you had cleaned out the footwell drain regularly no water stayed in the footwells.

[Aye Ess]

Clunker,thank you,enjoyed those.....as the Heron was in Australian service for around 40 years,I'm guessing there are a lot of ex Heron drivers out there. So come on folks,some more pictures please.

[Slasher]

Anyone know what happened to this Connair Heron in DRW?

http://www.aussieairliners.org/dehavilland/vh-clz/1920.009.jpg

[hurlingham]

Slasher - did CLZ ditch in the swamp at Cairns?

[zlin77]

Cairns accident VH-CLS 23-10-1975, crashed on final approach RWY 15, 11 fatalities...

[AIREHEAD]

CLZ scrapped at Launceston around about 1987 due to corrossion. Remember the capt at AoT who wore waterproof plastic trousers in the winter?

[Brian Abraham]

Never flew the bird, but had many an enjoyable hour as a teenage pax beginning 8th August 1957. The first Heron into Oz.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m56/babraham227/VH-ASH.jpg

Not as good as the aircraft it replaced - auditory excitement that is.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m56/babraham227/abh.jpg

Then the Heron was replaced with a kero burner - nice but no character.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m56/babraham227/G1.jpg

[dhavillandpilot]

Brian,

Unfortunately ASH was not the first Heron into Australia . That honour goes to Arthur Butler - Butler Air Transport around 1952. They were both series 1's with fixed undercarriages. When Ansett took over they were returned to the UK.

I know this only to well as my father was an Airspeed Ambassador/Elizabethean Captain with Butlers at the time.

[Brian Abraham]

Thanks for the history DHP. The "first" may have been Mk II perhaps?

[Fris B. Fairing]

AIREHEAD

Last I heard CLZ was with the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston as a spare/reserve for CLV which was to go on display. If CLV is still in storage has CLZ indeed been scrapped?

Rgds

[Stationair8]

Don't forget Southern Airlines operated a Heron in the mid 1950's.

[CHAIRMAN]

Anyone here with maint experience on Doves/Herons in the Brisbane area interested in a bit of pro bono to help get VH-DHI back in the air?

[629bus]

easly distracted by shinned things.....

[scotbill]

From the other side of the world - the Heron operated the scheduled service to the beach at Barra in the Outer Hebrides for sixteen years from 1955 - and countless air ambulance flights all over Scotland.
Had to be fixed undercarriage and washed down after every Barra flight because of salt water.

http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa453/scotbill/barra/20heronbeachb_2.jpg

[Jamair]

Didn't Connellan have a bunch of them at ASP? Seem to recall a film of their conversion process from Gypsies to Lycos, and some film of landing Herons right next to Ayers Rock.

[Tmbstory]

Jamair:

If I remember correctly that strip used to be the only one at Ayers Rock.

Later on they built others.

Tmb

[clotted]

Eddie Connellan had his own private strip next to the Rock when it was known as the Rock. It was very close to where the walk to the top commences. From memory it was also close to the place where dingos eat babies.
He kept it exclusive so that he had a monopoly on air tourism to the Rock. It went out of use at the time that the Rock became Yulara and the commercial airport was built.

[Animalclub]

In the 70s American tourists loved the Heron flight from ASP to ISA. If the connection had been reliable at ISA with Bush Pilots to CNS TAA wouldn't have started the F27 ASP CNS service.

[Tenmen]

The Connair Herons went all the way ASP-ISA-CNS.

Bush Pilots from ISA to CNS was via Doomagee, Mornington, Karumba and Normanton. We did some DC-3 tourist flights ASP to CNS after Connair shut shop.

[Aye Ess]

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a401/alan_spears/ConnairHeron.jpg?t=1308123309

Acrylic on stretched canvas 40cm x 50cm.

VH-CLV in the mid 1970s. A time when the big red monolith was known as Ayers Rock,traditional land custodians of alleged indigenous appearance were known as aborigines and girl flight attendants were called hostesses.

Eddie Connellan (founder of Connellan Airways/Connair) fought for about 8 years to get approval to put his airstrip next to the rock. He put the airstrip in in 1959,& it operated til 1980 when due to cultural & environmental concerns it was moved to the present site.

The old airstrip is still visible just to the north of the rock. VH-CLV was chartered by Ansett Airlines of NSW to provide 4 flights per week from Sydney to Lord Howe Island. The charter was for 5 months. Imagine the crews used to desert,heat,red dust & flies,suddenly operating over vast areas of water,in humidity to an island surrounded by a turquoise lagoon. :)

[CharlieLimaX-Ray]

Good old Charlie Lima Victor, looks very smart.

The pneumatic system is in good condition, no undercarriage legs hanging down.

One can thank Mr Riley for coming upwith the idea of replacing the underpowered Gypsy Queens with the Lycoming IO-540's.

Imagine if Connair had converted a few of the airframes into the Saunders Turbine Heron.

[i.dingbat]

Scotbill

Thanks for posting that picture of the Heron at Barra. It combines a beautiful location with great scenery, and brings back some memories for me.

The D.H. Heron was my first Airfix model (1968), and I flew out of Barra in a Loganair Twin Otter back in 1990.

Good times.

Dingbat

[Wally Mk2]

That's another top painting there Al:D Looks very 'Viscount-ish' also:-)



Wmk2

[tasdevil.f27]

Last I heard CLZ was with the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston as a spare/reserve for CLV which was to go on display. If CLV is still in storage has CLZ indeed been scrapped?


There is part of another Heron there, but only the forward fuselage - virtually cut behind the cockpit. So that was probably CLZ.

Some nice photos being posted!

[Dog One]

Indeed a gentleman's aircraft. The non-steerable nose wheel made life difficult for new recruits. Endorsement training was interesting until the steering was managed.

The pnuematic system for brakes and flaps was different. With 60 degrees of flap extended at low weights, you could approach slower than a Cessna 182. The system had a dump valve so that in the event of a go round, the flap would retract to the take off setting in 3 - 5 seconds. One had to manage the trim change with dexterity.

Engine failures were not a problem, and I have experienced an inboard failure past V1 with the FO flying. He did not notice it, as there was no swing, only a slight reduction in performance. It only became evident to him when the lack of fuel pressure on #3 was pointed out.

As part of the command endorsement, a two engine out (on the same side - at zero thrust settings) was carried out from 500', after full flap had been selected. It was quite a wrestle, but the aircraft would do it albeit very slowly.

In cruise flight, trimmed out, you could roll the aircraft to 45 degrees and take your hands and feet off the conrols, and it would continue in the turn.

Another difference was in the main undercarriage legs, these had rubber blocks rather than oil/air oleo's. This was a throw back from the requirement for the Mosquito to use the minimum amount of metal in the structure.

The brake bags were rubber which fitted into the brake drums. Two bags provided main and emergency braking. After use of the brakes, once parked, the FO use to leave the cockpit and chock the wheels so the brakes could be released to stop the hot drum heating up the brake bags. Air leaks were common with only a air compressor on engines #1 & 4, it took a while to get the pressure up. In the cruise the master air valve could be turned off to help retain pressure.

The undercarriage system had mechanical pins which backed up the undercarriage warning lights. The main wheel pins were on the wing above the undercarriage, and the nose wheel indicator was in the cockpit floor alongside the centre pedestral.

Spar life was 15000 hrs, and when Connellan did the spars, they also carried out the Riley modification. At 30000 hrs the spar centre carry through section had to be replaced. I was told that Airlines of Tasmania investigated doing it, but the million plus dollar price changed their mind. I understand that KAM in Caloundra was retired at 29,999 hrs 30 mins, but its retirement was kept low keyed by AOT management.

The re-engining program in Australia used Lycoming IO-540's derated. Prinair in South America used GSIO - 480's and GTIO-540's in their conversions, no doubt, due to the hot and high strips they flew into.

[Wally Mk2]

Thanks 'dog' it's always interesting reading when someone knows what they are talking about, brings back a lot of ugly memories for me, the Dove, same diff:ok: .Using assy pwr & full rudder in a x/wind T/off you almost never needed to touch the airbag brakes, just as well as there was barely enuf air left to pull the gear up after a looooong taxi:)
Putting those damn U/C locking pins in place up under the wheel wells when finished for the day/night left one looking like a member of the B&W minstrel show ! Drain the air tanks during a pre flight?......hahahah what a joke, more oil than air, now I know where that saying came from....oil over air:E !



Wmk2

[dhavillandpilot]

Dog One

Not all the Herons in Australia were so agricultural. the two operated by Heron Airlines both had Air/oleo struts. They were also fitted with air operated disc brakes. The oleo struts were are an optional d' havilland mod for the USA market to get certification above 12500lbs. The Discs were originally off the HP137 (early type J31) and the early HS125 and were introduced by Prinair as an STC.

These mods made the aircraft more usable, especially when long taxiing was involved the brakes didn't fade.

You are right about performance, lose an engine on a Riley conversion and you barely noticed it. Even in cruise you only lost about 8 - 10 kts. Unfortunately not the same with the Gypsy model, they had bracket propellors that didn't feather. Add this to the under power of only 1000hp and you could have a handfull on take off. In cruise the Gypsy was the sweetest aircraft to fly, even with on engine windmilling.

Spare life under the D'havilland system was 15,000 then an ultimate life of 30,000. But Prinair convinced the FAA that these aircarft were capable of exceeding this and introduced an STC which allowed the aircraft to go to 45,000 and ulimately 60,000 hours. When Prinair finally sucumb to Chapter 10 bankruptcy their lead aircarft was approaching 42,000 hours.

The comment about what if Eddie Connelan had converted his Herons to the Saunders PT6 type! That would have been something the ST27 was one of the best aircraft for its day, unfortunately the Canadian Government had to choose between the DHC6 or the ST27 when it came to providing development funds - the ST27 lost out.

One thing not many people know is the derevation of the EMB110 bandit. The Embrarer people obtained a Heron from the local Brazillian Operator TACOM and reverse engineered great sections to produce what we now know as the Bandit.

[Exaviator]

Those of you who flew the Heron will remember that there was an emergency escape hatch fitted in the roof of the rear cabin.

Years ago we had a pilot in Air Pacific who was in the habit of removing the hatch to improve ventilation whilst sitting on the ground at out stations.

On one particular flight to Savusavu, on Vanua Levu he had replaced the hatch just prior to boarding the passengers but he had overlooked securing the locking mechanism.

Take-Off at Savusavu is to seaward, and becoming airborne the flight path is immediately over the fringing reef.

Just after lift off the inevitable happened – the hatch departed from the aircraft. On being informed by one of the passengers that there was now a gaping hole in the roof of the aft cabin area, our intrepid aviator circled back over the airfield and spotted the hatch floating on the reef about 50 yards off shore - fortunately it was low tide.

A quick circuit was carried out and the aircraft taxied to the far end of the runway, engines were shut down and after a quick word to his passengers our enterprising aviator stripped to his jockey shorts and promptly waded out and recovered the hatch, which to his relief was undamaged.

With the hatch now correctly installed and locked, and our pilot back in uniform, the flight re-departed and continued on its merry way to Suva.

Unfortunately this aviator is no longer with us, but if there is an after-life I am sure he would be smiling at the memory of this incident.:oh:

[sms777]

That's one hell of a story Exaviator and no doubt true in all details. Love stuff like that. It was so relaxed back in those days.
Tell us more!
:ok:

[skylane]

I doubt if Heron Airlines would have done the modifications, they would have been incorporated before the aircraft were exported to Australia.

Connair modified their aircraft so that they were all identically equipped, including quick change engine mounts. All services through the firewall was by canon plug. When an engine wasdue for change, the replacement was set up on an engine mount. Four bolts and the canon plugs later the engine was swapped. Down time was about 4 hrs.

Connair's workshop could do 100% overhaul of all components and radio's.

[dhavillandpilot]

Skylane,

Actually you are wrong. The first Heron Heron Airlines had was aleady done, but the second NJP was converted with the mods in Australia by Airtex.

[Tmbstory]

Found this on a forum and it brought back some good memories.

Impressive Hunk of Rock !!

Tmb

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll161/Chalus/Scannerhats0950.jpg

[Dog One]

Was it true that a Department Test Pilot bent VH-CLX at ASP doing assymetric landings for certification after the Riley conversion?

[dhavillandpilot]

I believe you are right the Department of Aviation (to right them the correct title for the day) did bend CLX doing the certification flights. How they could do that is hard to beleive as the old Riley Heron was a very forgiving aircraft.

The current CASA at Bankstown use to have an FOI that had to be endorsed onto a Heron Airlines aircraft.

Anyone that has flown the type will know that taxiing them is an art, usually a pilot with around 2,000 hours TT could master it with about an hour on the ground. Poor old aircraft had differential braking for steering plus a very long wing which took some getting use to.

Anyway this particular FOI took 8 hours of ground handling to master the ground taxiing role. He then went on to get a first class endorsement with the training captain feeling very uncomfortable allowing the final command endorsement.

NO names no pack drill

[M14_P]

Wally mk2, I'll drink to that.
Interesting stuff folks. :)

cheers,

[cac_sabre]

Thought it might jerk a few memories
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/sabrejet/page%202/IMG_7289s.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/sabrejet/page%202/IMG_7295s.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/sabrejet/page%202/IMG_7297s.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/sabrejet/page%202/IMG_7298s.jpg

[Aye Ess]

WOW,cac_sabre....excellent job. With painting aviation art,I have to tackle 2 dimensions,but you have 3 to get right. Well done.

[donderwolkje]

Charlie Lima Papa, roper bar, cancel SAR, ta, ch cha char!!!!!

Regards

[Dogimed]

Tmbstory

The thread link is

Wings Over New Zealand - Central Australia and Northern Territory trip (http://rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=world&action=display&thread=9392)

Dog

[cac_sabre]

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/sabrejet/page%202/IMG_7383.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r68/sabrejet/page%202/IMG_7384.jpg

[Wally Mk2]

Nicely done there 'cac' although you may want to ruff them up a little as I doubt anyone would have seen a Heron in such pristine condition:ok:
BTW where's aileron's the mass balance weight on the Riley conversion model? Are they out of sight( R/H side only) or did they fall off due lack of maintenance?:E

Next time make RC version, love to see that:ok:


Wmk2

[cac_sabre]

I'll get onto it for the morning flight!