Daniel in PNG....National Geographics comes to SSW

Daniel...do you recognize any of these blokes? Ol' Dad was in NG during War2, and there are some terrific color slides from the So. Pacific. Today, my brother happened to email me these, and I thought some would be interested. Dad is on the right of the Chief (Chief's left) in pic #2, and is the dude in with the sub-Chiefs in the last picture. The C-45 is pretty neat. I hope Leonard isn't too upset with the starkers....or the Catholic Priest, for that matter!

After the war, Dad found himself the 1st Base Commander at Holloman AFB, aka White Sands Missle Test Range, in New Mexico. Werner VB and the Boys from Berlin were there at the time. This biplane (pic #1) appears to be scratch built, and was taken there, sometime before '50. Probably OTS legit, tho it wouldn't stunt very well. I'm pretty sure I still have the wheels, down in the shop. Steve

Steve Helmick
Renton, Washington
USA

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Hi Steve - You got me stumped on the natives in the pictures. I need to find out from my colleagues where these guys are from and will revert. There used to be a group flying R/C and C/L but not anymore now for a number of years. I believe I am the only lone ranger doing this and am trying to get others interested. But first, I must learn to fly properly. Perhaps I could link up with one of you guys in Brisbane for lessons.....

Contrary to the very unkind media that thrives in sensationalising news , PNG is a beautiful country with lovely people. There are of course the odd rascals but which country doesn't have theirs? It is probably one of the last places in the world that has not been spoilt by tourism. If anyone is looking for something different in an outdoor holiday, deep-sea fishing or scuba diving, this is definitely the place! There are a number of US visitors who come here just for diving and they tell me that it is very good.

Kind rgds

Daniel....In the email accompanying the pics, bro said that one of the (cardboard) slide frames said "Mt. Haugen". With a map of PNG, you should be able to figure out what area that is. The Chief was given a Ronson table model cigarette lighter, which he was quite taken with. Probably wore it out within the week.

It occurred to me that the PNG historical society (if any) might be interested in these pictures. I can email bigger files, if so. Steve


Steve Helmick
Renton, Washington
USA

Probably Mt Hagen. About 450km north west of Port Moresby in the Western Highlands.

Edit: here's a map


Daniel, did you say you are in Lae?

cheers,
Colin

Gents - It is likely to be Mt Hagen then. I will let you know if there is a national historical society that may be interested in the photos.
Colin - I am based in Port Moresby but I do travel to Lae monthly.
Rgds

That's interesting. Lae was where Sakai Saburo and the infamous Lae wing were based in 1942. The Americans and Australians flew out of Port Moresby. Reading the accounts, I thought Lae was to the West, on the south coast, but apparently not. Interesting that one can drive between the two these days, back then there was the mountain range and a lot of forest in the way. The main Japanese base was in Rabaul, in New Britain, to the East. Very interesting geologically, too - Australia and PNG are moving north, riding over the Pacific Plate, and a little to the west, slamming into the island of Timor. One day there'll be something like the Himalaya there.

At high school, one of my class mates was from Rabaul, and my great uncle spent some time there on overseas assignment with the Bank of New South Wales (now called Westpac).

Both gave interesting accounts - a very nice, laid back small tropical city. Relaxed that is, except for the fact that it resides in an active volcanic caldera and is ringed by active cones of recent origin.

Rabaul has been badly affected by three major eruptions over the last150 years, the last in 1994 caused 50,000 people to be evacuated. The 1937 eruption was particularly interesting because a brand new volcano appeared near the mouth of the harbour.

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Account of 1937 eruption:
http://www.janesoceania.com/png_rabaul_volcano/index.htm

Account of a 1943 bombing raid over Rabaul:
http://www.kensmen.com/cromie.html

cheers,
Colin

And indeed , my dear father was stationed in Port Moresby during WW2. When he was there they were being bombed daily by planes from Rabuol. The Eneny tried to send a unit on foot over the mountains from Raboul to Pr Morseby but somehow they never made it across the mountains and never heard from again. I have Dads army footlocker with shrapnel from those enemy bombs. Small world , huh?
Jon Ramsden
<@_@>

Fascinating thread, gentlemen. Thank you for continuing my education.

Randi

*edit to remove "s" from "educations". The internets sometimes confuse me.

Rabaul, considered to be an excellent natural harbor, is believed to contain the sunken hulls of several WWII ships and aircraft. Wasn't there recently an eruption from an active volcano there?

Mike Keville

That is interesting ,My father was stationed in PNG in WW2 as an electrician in the raaf making the airstrips,He was at MADANG,GOODENOUGH and AITAPE i will see if i can locate some of his photos.

G'day Jon,

"The Eneny tried to send a unit on foot over the mountains from Raboul to Pr Morseby but somehow they never made it across the mountains and never heard from again."

The trip from Rabaul to Moresby also includes a fair stretch of H2O. The Japanese tried to reach Moresby over the Owen Stanley Ranges, on what is now called the Kokoda Track. This was defended by the Australian militia until the 7div soldiers were freed up from saving the Middle East.

They were indeed heard of again as we pushed them all the way back to Buna, Gona and Sananda, with some help from our American allies.

See this link http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww2/bfa/kokoda.html

Thanks for bringing this up as our combined histories need to be constantly refreshed at the risk of losing them.

Regards

I stumbled across this picture online...that appears to be ol' Dad on the left, rt. hand on hip. Maybe sneering? Could be wrong, tho. We're checking.
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The fellows in dark uniforms are the Japanese delegates to sign the surrender, boarding a C-54 on IE Shima. Near as I can figure, IE Shima is about the last island short of Japan itself. There were explicit instructions about how they were to arrive, what kind of plane they were to fly in, that they would be met by P-38's and escorted in, etc. Steve

Steve Helmick
Renton, Washington
USA

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>G'day Jon,
>
>"The Eneny tried to send a unit on foot over the
>mountains from Raboul to Pr Morseby but somehow they never
>made it across the mountains and never heard from
>again."
>
>
>They were indeed heard of again as we pushed them all the way
>back to Buna, Gona and Sananda, with some help from our
>American allies.
>Regards

Indeed Greg,

At one stage (over-night) there was only one platoon of 28 men holding the Japanese from Port Moresby. They were reinforced, and the turning point came, when the Australian army dragged their artillery up the mountains. Local industry was able to produce (within weeks) a cut-down light-weight short-range version of the standard British 18 Pound gun that was able to be broken down and carried in backpacks.

My father-in-law, who was in the artillery, claimed however that the Japanese would have never actually taken Moresby because there were well supplied batteries of 18 pounders waiting for them between the mountains and the town.

The only American involvement was in dropping supplies and writing press-releases.

My dad was at Buna, and later Lae. He "messed" (ie ate) with the American Army for a while at Lae, and got a rather curious opinion of American cuisine. For example as kids he told us that Americans ate their main meal and desert all on the one plate. We thought that this was very odd.

regards Ray

"My dad was at Buna, and later Lae. He "messed" (ie ate) with the American Army for a while at Lae, and got a rather curious opinion of American cuisine. For example as kids he told us that Americans ate their main meal and desert all on the one plate. We thought that this was very odd.

regards Ray"

Not unusual for 'camping out', which is pretty much what the Army Experience is. At home or restaurants, the salad and desert will both be on seperate plates or bowls, just like we were civilized folk (or kinda close).

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The above picture was taken at Alamagordo, NM, at Dyvad's airstrip, which I think was the muni airport. The Stinson 108 was new, 1948 was the year. I wish it showed the N numbers, but no luck. I'm the guy on the right, 3 years old. Brother Hugh is holding the pooch, but it wasn't our dog, and it didn't go on the flight. It was our first time for being airborne. I'm still not that fond of being in an airplane, actually. If you Google "Alamagordo Dyvad", you will find some interesting things about the fab "Roswell Incident", OBTW. Steve

Steve Helmick
Renton, Washington
USA

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Not unusual for 'camping out', which is pretty much what the Army Experience is. At home or restaurants, the salad and desert will both be on seperate plates or bowls, just like we were civilized folk (or kinda close).

Steve,

fifty years of watching American TV programs have corrected any mis-information about American eating habits. There may have been some wonder mixed up there in the story given that sweets were a regular part of normal meals in the US Army. Desert may not have happened very often in the Australian Army, particularly in PNG.

regards Ray

Steve,

Talking of wars, artillery, the American and Australian Armies and aeromodelling, I took the pics below on the way back from a practice team race day at St Ives, Sydney in February 2004.

On the way back home I ran into this chap at a petrol stop about an hour up the highway. He’s a member of a reinactment group. He's dressed as a soldier of the first real unit of what could be called the Australian Army. Its formal name was the 103 Regiment of Foot, also called the New South Wales Corps, but we know it as the "Rum Corps". It was set up in Sydney in 1791 and disbanded in 1810.

What was particularly interesting was the (real) cannon he had with him. Originally it had been a twenty-pound Royal Naval Cannon from 1820. It's marked such on the barrel. The bare barrel was given to him by a friend whose family has passed it down through the generations as a curiosity. He mounted it on a carriage he made himself, to make it a field piece. It's fired often and is the centre piece of the many ceremonies where the group appear. This day he was returning from the 200th anniversary of the convict rebellion at Castle Hill in Sydney, which the Corps brutally surpressed in 1804.

So what's the American connection?

Well my GgggggFather was a soldier in the Rum Corps and he also fought against the American Army in the Revolutionary War, as a loyalist. He was born in New Haven Connectuit in 1764.

I'm afraid I don't have his picture, but if I did he would surprise you!

regards Ray

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Ray,
That chap looks just like John Walker! Thats no cannon - it's a pulse jet - wheels on the dolly look a bit big though, but good on rough grass, I'd guess..

>Ray,
>That chap looks just like John Walker! Thats no cannon - it's
>a pulse jet - wheels on the dolly look a bit big though, but
>good on rough grass, I'd guess..

Dave,

I think that John's father might have been a milkman!

I left a pulse jetty type thing at work when I retired. It ran on LPG and was meant to go on one side of a small homebuilt helicopter rotor. I think there was supposed to be another on the opposite blade. It was about the same size as the cannon. Only saw it run once and was impressed by the noise and the way the tailpipe glowed red in close proximity to the gas tank! The bloke that bought it off the departmental budget left shortly afterwards. Always had plans to take it up to the HVC and outdo John, but in the end just forgot about it.

Now that I think about it, flying a small homebuilt copter powered by pulsejets on the rotors would have been a courageous act! I guess that the lpg tanks would have gone round and round as well as the jets.

Ray

Edit: This was a man carrying copter not a model.

Ray,

It can't have been a very realistic reenactment. He's not covered in blood ans S*it!!

I like the Pulsejet theory tho' Reckon you might need 2 lines .018"x60'.

Talk soon

>Ray,
>
>It can't have been a very realistic reenactment. He's not
>covered in blood ans S*it!!
>
>Talk soon

Yep, "Tommy Lobster", I think that the tunics were coloured red so the blood didn't show so well around the bullet holes.

Ray

Moving the subject of the thread slightly, here's some shots I took in the Solomon Islands. Any aircraft buffs recognise the object, and what particular aircraft it belongs to ?

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I originally intended going to PNG to do some wreck/artifact searching on the old abandoned airfields but it proved to be too difficult to organise, so I went to the Solomons instead.

And here is one of the many hazards encountered when wreck searching.

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The bottom two pictures are of an artillery shell that has become exposed on the beach and is merrily smoking away.

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>
>
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>
>
>The bottom two pictures are of an artillery shell that has
>become exposed on the beach and is merrily smoking away.

Luke, I would have taken the smoke to be a message from beyond to go somewhere else!

Ray

There's a story behind those pictures Ray. My friend and I were trying to find Red Beach where the first US landing happened in Guadalcanal. We were directed to a beach past the Lever Bros plantation and headed there is a rented FWD. There are no signs, or warnings for that matter. What we found instead was rows of rusting mortar shells, disintegrating aretillery shells and various bombs along the side of the track. When we came across the smoking shells (there were several) that was it for me. I took two pictures in retreat and we fled. As we turned the vehicle around ( a three point turn in a very narrow track) I noticed something beside the road and yelled at my friend to stop the car. We almost ran over an aerial bomb.

We had been inadvertantly directed to the Australian Army's collection point for all the unexploded ordinance they gather. They then bury it in the sand with an equivalent charge of plastic explosive and blow it sky high. They really should have had signs up, or a fence. My legs were shaking after coming across this lot. Unstable as h*ll too ! The bombs, not my legs.

An early Corsair with the "Birdcage" canopy, same country as the other stuff.

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Seargent Instructor: Private, what steps would you take in this situation?

Private: Large ones, Sir, in the direction of away, Sir.

>Moving the subject of the thread slightly, here's some shots
>I took in the Solomon Islands. Any aircraft buffs recognise
>the object, and what particular aircraft it belongs to ?
>
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>
>
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>
Luke,

I thought it might be the gun blister on top of a P61 Black widow, but on closer look I think not. In short I don't know.

Greggles, you win a cigar. I sent the shot to Justin Taylan's Pacific Wrecks website a few years ago and it was identified as a Black Widow gun pack. I don't think it's the top turret though. I was suprised to see they sent P61s to the Solomons.

>Greggles, you win a cigar. I sent the shot to Justin Taylan's
>Pacific Wrecks website a few years ago and it was identified
>as a Black Widow gun pack. I don't think it's the top turret
>though. I was suprised to see they sent P61s to the Solomons.

Some B-25's were also fitted with gun packs on both sides of the nose. Maybe similar enough to be confused? Steve


Steve Helmick
Renton, Washington
USA

The B25 gun packs were quite different. Justin sent my pictures on to an aircraft historian, and from memory (and this is where it allways becomes grey) it was confirmed as a bellypack for a P61.

There were/are a lot of wartime artifacts lying around where I found it. Unfortunately the locals became very wary of tourists wanting to view this stuff due to being ripped off badly in the past. Munda was a scene of lots of action and I recommend anyone with an interest in it to read the book Munda Trail, all about the US's experiences with some pretty intense fighting early in the war which helped them decide how to go about dealing with the Japanese. Serious reading.

A little research involving Dr Google, shows that what I thought was a pulse jet, was actually something called a pressure jet. We had often fantasised about fitting it to the departmental dingy but it never eventuated. Looks like something that Gary Weaver would be interested in.

See: http://www.vortechonline.com/jets/gallery/

I particulary like the jet powered hang glider, sort of a homemade Messerschmitt Me 163.

Ray

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Not for the faint-hearted, this was "Wallaby Airlines" in 1966, Menyama (Western Highlands) and Taipini (Eastern Highlands) during a training mission. Not shown is the snow on the high peaks of the Highlands, not what you would expect in the tropics.

The main hazard for flying in PNG is "Cumulus Granitis", to be avoided at all costs.


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>Not for the faint-hearted, this was "Wallaby
>Airlines" in 1966, Menyama (Western Highlands) and
>Taipini (Eastern Highlands) during a training mission. Not
>shown is the snow on the high peaks of the Highlands, not what
>you would expect in the tropics.
>
>The main hazard for flying in PNG is "Cumulus
>Granitis", to be avoided at all costs.
>
>
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>
>
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>

And would this be the ubiquitous C7 Carbou - arguably the loudest aircraft that I have ever been in.

V/r

Bob

Hmmm.. looks mighty small for a 20 pounder. Didn't know the Royal Navy used 20 pounders, there was a 18 pounder and a 24 pounder. Long 18 pounder needed 10 men for its crew. Might've been a carronade, which was sort of a short ranged mini-cannon for smaller ships, though it doesn't really look like one. Then again, if this was from the 1820s, that was a little after the period of time I've been reading about. Not that I think things would've changed that much - rifled and breech loading cannon were still some ways off, and there was tons of Napoleonic era ordnance around.

>Hmmm.. looks mighty small for a 20 pounder. Didn't know the
>Royal Navy used 20 pounders, there was a 18 pounder and a 24
>pounder. Long 18 pounder needed 10 men for its crew. Might've
>been a carronade, which was sort of a short ranged mini-cannon
>for smaller ships, though it doesn't really look like one.
>Then again, if this was from the 1820s, that was a little
>after the period of time I've been reading about. Not that I
>think things would've changed that much - rifled and breech
>loading cannon were still some ways off, and there was tons of
>Napoleonic era ordnance around.

Twenty pounds is what I remembered the owner said. But of course I may be mistaken. I have the ownwers contact details somewhere I'll ask for further information.

Ray

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>Hmmm.. looks mighty small for a 20 pounder. Didn't know the
>Royal Navy used 20 pounders, there was a 18 pounder and a 24
>pounder. Long 18 pounder needed 10 men for its crew. Might've
>been a carronade, which was sort of a short ranged mini-cannon
>for smaller ships, though it doesn't really look like one.
>Then again, if this was from the 1820s, that was a little
>after the period of time I've been reading about. Not that I
>think things would've changed that much - rifled and breech
>loading cannon were still some ways off, and there was tons of
>Napoleonic era ordnance around.

Isky,

I've found the contact, see: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~anaaust/members/marines/index.htm

It's a 1820 9lb Muzzle loading Carronade. I've clearly confused the date with the capacity! You were right.
regards Ray