Originally Posted by RevMan2
Can someone jog my memory? If I recall correctly (or perhaps not), 101 Squadron was represented at an RNZAF airshow at Ohakea in the mid-60s with a Vulcan (The same show where an RNZAF Sunderland did a slow (well, yes...), low flypast and grounded on the runway centreline)
Was 101 Finingley or Wittering based at the time? John Ramsden was STO at either (or both) stations, I believe.
Not so! The Wellington Airport opening incident was 1959, and the Vulcan visit to Ohakea was much later, 1964 I recall. The Vulcan at Wellington broke the port undercarriage and the wingtip actually scraped the ground before some brilliant flying got it back in the air where it landed on one leg at Ohakea, 100 or so miles north. It was repaired and subsequently returned to service. The Sunderland scraping the runway was not so clever, and resulted in a very fast beaching at Hobsonville near Auckland. No, I wasn't there! I think the last ever visit of a Vulcan to New Zealand was in the mid-70s.