World War II Veteran talk

I recently had the great experience of hearing an Australian Veteran of WWII give a talk here in Darwin. A veteran who had active service while based here in Darwin with 380^th Bombardment Group. Richard (Dick) Dakeyne was an Aussie among the Americans with 90^th Bombardment Group then 380^th BG then back to 90^th.

Dick initially trained as a part of a new Top Secret group for Radar Counter Measures (RCM) here in Australia and was embedded with the Americans who were under control of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) while based here in the Top End.  He became an Aussie among the Yanks. But he mentioned that the Americans at that time were not all Yanks. Only those from the North considered themselves Yanks. 

The talk was a part of the 70 years since Darwin was first bombed by the Japanese aniversary and was held at the Aviation Heritage Centre. The centre is well worth a visit and I will post some pics I took there in the future. http://www.darwinsairwar.com.au/home.html

The talk really opened my eyes wider as to what was going on here during the war years. The 380^th back then was lots and lots of B-24 Liberators. Dick was a waist gunner (50cal) and RCM.

Here is some random bits I remember.

- First encounters with Japanese pilots were a wake up as to just how skilled and experienced they had become after years of conflict in China and other places.

- Operational altitudes he described as very low most of the time. So low that a B-24 crew was lost when the very bomb they dropped on a ship exploded under them. He described them as much lower than in Europe. Due in part for flying under Radar detection.

- Distances they flew became HUGE! A target in Borneo (Balikpapan oil refineries) and return to Darwin was around 16 hours leaving about 10 minutes (or less) fuel.  Since the talk I have found that this mission was 200 miles further than the Ploesti mission in Europe. A company is actually making a doco about 'Shady Lady'. One of the Liberators that crash landed safely on the coast in Western Australia. I hope they do a good job.

- Bob Hope entertained them at one point but being an Aussie Richard didn’t get half the jokes. Gary Cooper also came but was a very poor entertainer but fortunately he was also accompanied by two good looking female actors.

- The crews had an event that really shook them up. A Liberator was rammed head on by a Zero. Well before the phrase Kamikaze was mentioned. It made them concerned about the resolve of the Japanese if they are willing to sacrifice man and materiel like this.

- Between Darwin and the Tiwi Islands they saw a Crocodile swimming in the ocean. It became target practice and was sent to the bottom.

- After a Japanese Air Raid Dick used a belt to save a life by stopping a severed leg from bleeding out. Dick was hurt in an Air Raid and spent 5 weeks in Katherine Hospital (I lived in Katherine a few years back. You can still see a bomb crater that was dropped by the Japanese there).

-On a mission they came across a plane that was the Japanese equivalent of a DC-3 so the Liberator became a fighter and they shot it down.

- A crate of whiskey was on offer for the crew that could knock down a factory chimney at a Nickel plant on one mission but it went unclaimed. This was an important target as it produced a huge amount of the Nickel supply for Japan.

Reconciliation.

- Years later after the war he found himself in Japan and met a local man around the same age. They discussed what they did in the War. The Japanese man was an AA gunner on the North Coast New Guinea. The very same location that Dick had bombed on at least three occasions. They could both laugh about how poor a shot each other was (as they both survived after all) and how the Japanese would collect dead floating fish after each raid (easy fishing).

Now and then. Dick 19 years old back in 1943.

Sandra Kay (named after the Pilots daughter I think) with crew including Dick.

An Important target with a Whiskey bonus. Dick shows us the black cloud of dust in the middle is from 50 cal strafing from the Liberator.

Bombing of Bombers. Talking about Japanese tactic of trying to bomb a Liberator with a Phosphorus bomb.
Madness.

When a bomber becomes fighter.

It’s amazing what you can find on the internet now. A little digging shines more info on Richard’s war experience such as a mission record of the SANDRA KAY (one of the Liberators Richard flew in).

http://380th.org/HISTORY/PARTV/MR/MR42-72790-071.htm

Two paintings of 380^th Liberators in action.

http://380th.org/IMAGES/AMBON_Harbor.jpg

http://380th.org/IMAGES/Balikpapan_harbor.jpg

Anyway cheers for now and I will get back to gaming hobby posts soon.
The Kiwi (Brendon)

Defence of Darwin Experience

Sunday, 19th of February, 2012, marks 70 years since the first devastating air raid on the town in which I live Darwin, Australia. Today we had a few events on but yesterday me and the family went and checked out a couple of associated things to see. First was an exhibition in a Gallery in the City with The Bombing of Darwin as its theme. 188, roughly shoe box sized, cardboard, paint and sticky tape WWII Japanese aircraft made by primary age children helped to give a visual realisation of what Darwin had to cope with on that day. Amazing.

The Defence of Darwin is a new extension to the East Point Military Museum and is well worth a visit. http://www.defenceofdarwin.nt.gov.au/index.php?id=22
It opened on Saturday shortly before we got there. The site itself is the base of a Coastal defence facility from WWII. It features a 9 inch gun emplacement in the Museum grounds and one outside it.

This recreated gun is not the original. That got used as scrap iron.

Here's me pushing a bomb under the gun.

New state of the art presentations in the Museum help tell the story to the modern audience and they have done an amazing job of it. I was impressed. A table showed an animated map with moving Zeroes and bombers flying over Darwin in 1942. Touch screens give you eye witness accounts and locations of those people during the bombing.

Darwin as a target was a part of the Japanese strategy of making it harder for USA to operate in the Pacific. In a chronological order in a very short time frame first Singapore Fell, Pearl Harbour was attacked and then the same bombers of Pearl swooped down on Darwin. They dropped more bombs on Darwin than Pearl Harbour. Darwin harbour had around 50 ships anchored at the time of the first air raid.

It was a hot weekend as it no doubt was back in 1942 and it was great to see so many Veterans around the City that have returned from all over Australia and also the globe.

Here is some gear you can see in the Museum grounds.

2 pdr Anti-Tank gun.

17pdr Anti Tank gun.

 Universal Carrier.

 Japanese weapons and flags.

 The kid in front of an Anti Air gun.

 Buffalo. It's a big beast.

Today (Sunday) I attended the official memorial ceremony. After that I got down to the Aviation Heritage Museum and a guest speaker who was a veteran of active service in Darwin with US bombers based here gave an extensive talk on his experiences back then. It was an absolute privilege to hear him speak but I will post more about that in the future.

Cheers for now (The Kiwi) Brendon.

Christchurch Air Force Museum, New Zealand.

This post is another another aviation themed collection of pics I took while on Holidays. While in NZ on our big Kiwi holiday we had a brief stay in Christchurch. As you would expect we saw significant damage here and there from the Earthquake action they have had and continue to have. Sometimes it felt like the City was under a siege and holding out against an unseen enemy. But the damage that enemy has done is obvious in many places and a big difference from when we visited the City 5 years previously. Some areas it was very shocking and confronting. Here in Darwin we can expect a Cyclone or two to attack us during our Cyclone Season but I don't imagine it doing the damage these days that one did in 1974 when Darwin was utterly devastated (Cyclone Tracy). However Darwin was devastated during World War II. We are about to have Commemorations of the 1st Bombing of Darwin on the 19th of February, 1942. But I will post more on that in the future. For now here are some pics of what I saw in the Museum. http://www.airforcemuseum.co.nz/
The Museum looked great despite the Earthquakes but we got there very late before closing due to some craziness but I still managed to race around and snap some pics.

1

 2

 3

 4

 5

 6

 7

 8

Well worth a look if you are in the area.
Cheers from Brendon (The Kiwi)

Saga first 4 points built.

I have slowly been getting back in the modeling saddle after being away from the paint and build table in my modest but messy man cave and have managed to put together some Vikings from the Gripping Beast Plastics. Enough for a 4 points starter warband. Not all the figures are 100% Gripping Beast though. I have a box of plastic Celtics from Warlord games and combined parts from the Vikings to make 4 Berserkers.


Above is 8 x Warriors (Spears), 2 x Hearthguard units of 4 (one with axes and one with swords), 4 x Berserkers and 1 Warlord with 2 command style figures (Horn blower and a Spear bloke who will have a small banner). The Warlord is a metal Foundry viking who is really huge. A Man-Mountain ready to have poets sing songs about his exploits in the great Saga's of his time. This group will be on the same larger base. I was undecided on basing but have settled on getting some round Renadra bases.

The bases won't allow them to Shield Wall this close of course but it looks kinda cool with Axes ready to hook and pull shields down to let the stabbers to do some nasty work (it would look even better painted!).

Change of Topic here...
Played my first Flames of War game last Sunday (5/2/2012) and we tried out the new V3 rules and it was really good. We both had Air Support. The rules have changed a lot for them and for the better in my opinion. Because of the change though only 1 aircraft model is required. The rules seem to be explained in a far more digestible and less fuzzy way. Should hopefully see a few less interpretation issues arising.
One area I never liked all that much was when teams enter buildings etc. New rules cover this area so much better. Lots of slightly altered rules and looks like 'Forced to Disengage' is gone for Recce and improved saves for many options like recce jeeps and warriors jeeps (3+) awesome. Less liability for transports so it may see more trucks on the table than previously. Lots of list revision in the future me thinks.
Anyway cheers for now
The Kiwi 

Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, New Zealand

While travelling around New Zealand I flipped through the Lonely Planet book for things to see and do I came across this Museum of World War I aircraft. The book actually said something like it is the highlight of Blenheim. A town in the middle of a big wine producing region. I really could not give a flying hoot for wines and wineries so for me it was probably the only thing to do in that town. We were travelling north from Kaikoura after doing an incredible Whale Watch tour on our way to Picton to get the Ferry to the North Island and it was easy enough to find.

In a word the Museum is INCREDIBLE! So unique and special. What is it? A collection of World War I planes like you have never seen before in your life and also lots and lots and lots of glass cabinet associated items. Some of the planes are reproductions and some are originals. The collection is from Peter Jackson. Yep, director of ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Bad Taste’.  He has been collecting WWI stuff since he was young. I have seen a real cool film that Peter Jackson created for the Canberra War Memorial Museum here in Australia (and that is a must go and see if you are ever in this nations capital) but at Omaka, Weta Workshop has deployed it’s incredible talent and craft as well. The planes have pilots. Many are set in context and in a scenario. As an example one plane has the pilot standing on the wing balancing his damaged plane to the ground over mud and trench terrain. The Red Barons plane is being looted after it has crashed landed.

Out the front was these two planes. I think they are recreations for the ‘Battle of Britain’ movie.

So very, very life like.

Lets get some momentos.

 Scale model next to the real sized plane.

 Couldn't stop from looking at this plane. So bird like looking, so different from how we visualise a plane these days.

Just a fraction of what you can see at the incredible Museum. Oh by the way, lots of the planes at the Museum actually fly! Incredible.

Cheers The Kiwi

Rangitoto Island Fire Command Post, Auckland, New Zealand

In the last days of being on holiday in New Zealand I decided that we could knock over something I have always wanted to do. Get to the top of Rangitoto Island. The old Volcano in the Harbour has always fascinated me when ever I visit Auckland and it's mention in a book I read when I was around 12 or 13 years old probably contributed to my eagerness to set foot on it as well ('Under the Mountain' by Maurice Gee).
Turns out on the Island there is some World War II constructions.

Above is the Fire Command Post.
Sign said..."From here the Fire Commander could direct the gun crews on adjoining Motutapu, Waiheke Island, and Whangaparoa Peninsula.
Construction began in 1937 but the Command Post was not operational until late 1941. Building on this site was not easy. A Tramway 400m long had to be built to winch materials from the road up to the summit. The walls and roof were made of concrete 20cm thick to withstand attack. For camouflage, turf was laid on the roof. The isolation, transportation difficulties, lack of cable power and scarcity of water led to a decision to transfer the Fire Command Post back to North Head only a year after the summit facilities had been completed. The Command Post, excluding equipment in it, cost 37,529pounds, an enormous sum for those days."

2 pics below are the Wireless Room further around the Crater rim.

 Wireless room interior.

From the top the view is amazing. Here is the view looking back towards Auckland with North Head in the middle ground.

It's a great walk and well worth it. If you are not so keen on walking then a Tractor gives tourists a ride along a track that takes you probably 95% of the way up. On the shore of the Island you can see some Lava flows that have long since cooled but they still have that liquid oozing look about them in spots. A great day out and it includes a Ferry ride from Auckland City to get there.

Cheers. The Kiwi

Back from a massive holiday.

I have been away from blogging and away from gaming for what seems like an age but me and the family have had an incredible time in NZ (4 weeks) and then Cairns (North Queensland) for 10 days. I managed to have a very quick sticky beak in only 2 Games shops in NZ. One in Christchurch and one in Auckland. Comics Compulsion in Quakechurch had some nice painted toys on display and the shop bloke was friendly. Vagabond games in Auckland City was stocked really well and at both shops I had a very quick flick through the Wolf and Bear late war Eastern Front books and it was good to get home and pick up my copys from Comics NT here in Darwin.
I visited some cool museums and took pics so I will get around to posting these on here at some stage in the near future. I had such a good time that I am so looking forward to doing it all again in the future.
Been some interesting FOW developments recently and no doubt the net is awash with discussions about Flames of War 3rd Edition rules. The bits I have seen only look like positive changes to the way we play our favourite game. Once again Battlefront have also excelled themselves by giving away for FREE small copys of the complete rule book! That is for those who already have a hard copy version but still that is an incredible undertaking for the 2nd time as well. This happened for version 2.
Anyway hope you all had a great Christmas and an excellent New Year and here is a pic I took recently of something I saw on the Cairns Esplanade. It probably does not register with most people who walk past what this is about.

Z Force was basically a special forces unit in WW2. Super Top Secret unit back in the day. They had a base here in Darwin during WW2 as well but trained in Cairns and other places for operations against the Japanese. In my opinion these guys had suicide assignments and missions. Read up on them and come to your own conclusion but they had some mad plans. If you visit or live in Sydney you can see a small boat called The Krait in the Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour. Z Force Commandos used this boat to go as far North as Singapore, sink some ships with limpet mines and get back to Australia (Operation Jaywick).

Anyway more posts to come in the near future, cheers for now.