Few on Pprune would have heard of Stan Gajda who died in a Perth hospital today. I met Stan circa 1982 when he lived on Nauru and I was flying for Air Nauru. We remained in regular contact for years. His main interest was aviation archeology. His knowledge of wartime aircraft wrecks in the Pacific region was phenominal.
See link:
https://pacificwrecks.com/people/vis...jda/index.html
We corresponded often. Stan was an expert on what was known as the Battle for Tarawa or perhaps more specifically Betio Atoll which was the scene of a bitter three day battle in 1943 between US marines and the Japanese defenders of Betio atoll on which was a runway. Stan worked for the Kiribati Department of Works on Betio in the 1980's and was later instrumental in guiding searchers from the American War Graves Commission (Pacific Region) locate the remains of the war dead on Betio.
One of his stories was about the time the Australian War Museum contacted him on Nauru and asked him if he could find undercarriage legs for a couple of crashed Japanese Zero fighters that were on Nauru since 1941. These were needed for a re-built Zero fighter held by the AWM. Stan was able to locate these parts for which the AWM were most grateful. In return, during a visit to the AWM some time later, Stan was given several 20mm ex Gloster Meteor cannons as thanks for the Zero parts he had rescued from Nauru. Stan loaded the cannons on his vehicle and drove to Yulara NT where he was working at the time. At no time did any police stop him to ask about these guns.
Another of his explorations took place when he worked on Ponpei atoll in the SW Pacific area. There were several wartime Japanese two-man tanks in the jungle and Stan restored them to working condition. One day a visiting US Admiral landed at Pohnpei and asked to see these small tanks. Stan gave him some dual instruction on tank driving and the Admiral drove his tank down the dusty main street of Pohnpei. The Admiral then presented Stan with a medallion thanking Stan for all the work Stan had done in saving Pacific wrecks.
One of the last jobs Stan undertook before he retired due ill health, was back on Nauru at the invitation of the Government of Nauru to set up the Nauru Cultural Museum. That was about four years ago.
Stan suffered a debiliating stroke a few weeks ago while camping alone.