New Zealand Victoria Cross thefts 2007..

[ausreenactor]

Just bouncing through some NZ items on EBay and found a book on the Distinguished Conduct Medals awarded to New Zealand personnel. A Google hunt just found this..

Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz

Never knew about it... Was in Timor-Leste with 3 Sqn RNZAF at the time and thought it would have rated a mention.

All were recovered, the 'baddies' dealt with two years later.

 

[ausreenactor]

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[Otter]

I visited that museum, very nice displays and dioramas, worth visiting. Great pies in the restaurant and a good cup of coffee. Small arms displays were very interesting with some unusual German weapons.

 

[Otter]

The training area next to it looks quite difficult. Tussock grass and bog, little cover, swept by cold winds coming down off "Mount Doom".
We stayed at Chateau Tongariro, a bit down the road, 10 Celsius colder than down by the lakes. Next morning we were flirting with the bottom of the clouds, wet snow about 200m above us. I did a couple of walks to see some water falls, then second morning we took of for Nelson in rain an 7 Celsius. Two hours later in Nelson, 25 degrees and sunny. Different world up there.

 

[Smithy]

The training area next to it looks quite difficult. Tussock grass and bog, little cover, swept by cold winds coming down off "Mount Doom".
We stayed at Chateau Tongariro, a bit down the road, 10 Celsius colder than down by the lakes. Next morning we were flirting with the bottom of the clouds, wet snow about 200m above us. I did a couple of walks to see some water falls, then second morning we took of for Nelson in rain an 7 Celsius. Two hours later in Nelson, 25 degrees and sunny. Different world up there.

Very "wind swept and interesting" round there.

This is from the last bomb toss exercises there with 75 Sqn's A-4s. Very short but oh so sweet (and low ;-)

 

[Otter]

Nice !
My job used to be shooting down jets trying to do things like that. He is being unsporting making it difficult like that !

 

[ausreenactor]

Nice !
My job used to be shooting down jets trying to do things like that.

Why would you do that?

 

[Otter]

AD arty, 105 AD Rgt, RA. Hey , its our job, or it was. Blowpipe then Javelin, we had the distinction of firing the last live blowpipe rounds, at the time each one cost the equivalent of a small bungalow.

 

[Smithy]

One thing with the Kiwi A-4 pilots was that they were masters of low-level stuff and when I say low level I mean seriously low level. 2 Sqn operating out of Nowra and up against the RAN and RAAF because their hardware wasn't as good as the Aussies had to spoof radar and long range Sparrow missile attempted locks by flying on the deck and/or dramatic altitude changes before dipping back down again, really low stuff on the ground attack and maritime strike stuff. With fighter to fighter combat if they could spoof the initial long range missile launches and force what they called the "knife fight in a phone box" engagement (very close range ACM) they usually did extremely well, much to the surprise and consternation of Aussie Hornet, Singaporean F-16, etc, etc.

An interesting fact, the Kiwi strike wing did more ACM training than any other major air force, one of the reasons why when it was disbanded they were snapped up very quickly by the RAAF, RAF and the Saudis.

 

[ausreenactor]

We were the planners for EX ANZAC ROTOR this year, right up until it got onto the RONA Coaster....
RNZAF Woodbourne? And the training area at the very north of the south island....

A-4s were a nimble little jigger!

 

[Smithy]

We were the planners for EX ANZAC ROTOR this year, right up until it got onto the RONA Coaster....
RNZAF Woodbourne? And the training area at the very north of the south island....

A-4s were a nimble little jigger!

The Kahu upgrade made an unbelievable difference. The A-4 because of it's size (small radar signature) and extreme manoeuvrability, once you put basically F-16 avionics and current (for then) missile capability, it was a great little aircraft.

Shame those same knucks never got to cut their teeth on those seriously up-engined F-16s that the US had agreed to sell to NZ. All that ACM training would've been amazing in those high engined, light weight F-16s which the NZ government had signed off for.

 

[Otter]

There is a reason why the A4 was used as an aggressor aircraft in the Top Gun program and why it was known as the Scooter. Did well against us in the Falklands, some seriously balsey pilots.