Surprising visit to Wigram in June 1943
SURPRISING VISIT TO WIGRAM IN JUNE 1943
I am curious that this visit to Wigram was not widely known. Few that I have spoken to knew anything about it at all. The purpose of the visit was to raise money for the war effort and the New Zealand target of 5,000,000 pounds was oversubscribed. Not a bad result from the dropping of thousands of leaflets encouraging participation. The Lancaster pretty well covered most of the country over a period of several days. Certainly the visit created a lot of interest, the boys of Auckland Grammar School Cadets were drilling on the top of Mount Eden and they were thrilled to observe the leaflet drop over their school, from above! When they landed at Wigram the number of spectators and the level of enthusiasm was likened to the turnout for Kingsford-Smith in 1928.
Queenie’s visit to New Zealand was a complicated exercise. She had come off the production line at A.V.Roe’s factory in Manchester, England as Lancaster Mk III UK number ED930/AustralianA66-1, one of a batch of 247 Lancasters built between March and June 1943. Brand new, she was flown to Prestwick in Scotland and from there her journey to the Antipodes began. Isaacson, his crew and Queenie then made seven giant hops across the world: On 22 May Prestwick to Montreal Canada, the longest leg of the trip taking 15 hours and 45 minutes; Montreal to Toronto, the shortest leg of the trip, taking 2 hours and 20 Minutes: Toronto to San Francisco USA; San Francisco to Honolulu; then to Canton Island; and on to Amberley near Brisbane; then to Sydney; finally to Ohakea on June 11 1943.
The only other Lancaster to call must be the one now at MOTAT when it was gifted from France.
after landing at Wigram, Port Hills in the background
THE JOYS OF AGING
Without coffee, I’m always walking into rooms and forgetting why I am there. With coffee, I still don’t remember, but at least I have something to sip while I try to figure it out.
So I was at the bar last night and the waitress screamed - “Anyone know CPR?”
I said “Hell, I know the entire alphabet”
Everyone laughed ….. Well everyone except one guy.
Laughing at your own mistakes lengthens your life.
Laughing at your wife’s mistakes shortens it.
Out of town members may be interested to note the following article which appeared in this week’s edition of the STAR:
