Acknowledging ANZAC Day

Bob

Don't know much of the history other than what you have said , but i do get it, the people that serve for your freedom ...

Thank You Rod. We must never forget.

http://www.flandersfieldsmusic.com/thepoem.html

Flanders Fields Poem wrote:
The World’s Most Famous WAR MEMORIAL POEM
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium.

It is that time again.  Just got home from the ANZAC march and service.  Always appropriate to stop and reflect.  I watched the film "1917" last night.  It shows not only the horrors of trench warfare but also highlights the incredible emotional toll that it took (takes) on those involved.
Lest We Forget.

Oldenginerod wrote:Gentlemen (& Ladies), as is my normal practice I want to acknowledge ANZAC Day, celebrated here in Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium and Turkey.

We remember the great and brave sacrifice of those who fought & died at Anzac Cove, Turkey, on the 25th of April 1915, along with the many thousands who perished on the Western Front, Fromelles, Villers-Bretonneux and the many other battle fields in France and Belgium where Australians (and others) gave their lives for our freedom.

We also acknowledge those who served in all subsequent conflicts, to this very day, where brave young men & women are still willing to risk their own lives so that others in this world can enjoy the freedoms that we have.

Went to the dawn parade this morning. I was impressed by how many turned up this year with all that's been happening. Service was slightly shorter then usual, not as many speeches which from my point of view was no problem.
Then I got a whisper through the grapevine that the Spitfire  was going to do a flyover about 10am.
So out with the ladder and up on the roof fully armed with my camera and a very good surprise as 10am approached. Not only the Spitfire but the Grumman Avenger and two Airforce Texans.
I have included an approach shot so one can get an idea of the flight positions and height relative to each other. Avenger in front with a Texan on each wing and the Spitfire just behind and slightly below. In the next photo, now knowing that the Avenger is furthest from the camera and the Spitfire is the closest, you can get a good idea just how big they are. Makes the Spitfire look like a model.  






Quadraphonic Music

As a history buff, I am well familiar with ANZAC day through the benefit of PBS and Smithsonian channels.  And Dave there is no forgetting that Spitfires shape, but those "Texans" look an awful lot like P-51 Mustangs.  And Georges Flanders Field poem.  Beautiful.  

Tragically, right now poppies are growing in Ukraine because of Vlad the baby killer.  Yesterday a mother and her three-month-old child.  My blood boils.

rsv1cox wrote:And Dave there is no forgetting that Spitfires shape, but those "Texans" look an awful lot like P-51 Mustangs.  

To me they look more like a Pilatus PC-9 or similar.  Modern craft with turbine engine.

Oldenginerod wrote:

rsv1cox wrote:And Dave there is no forgetting that Spitfires shape, but those "Texans" look an awful lot like P-51 Mustangs.  

To me they look more like a Pilatus PC-9 or similar.  Modern craft with turbine engine.

Slim nose, four blade prop, squared off vertical stab, wings.

They are Beechcraft T-6 Texan II
They were replacements for the A-4K Skyhawks and MB-339CB Aermacchi’s that were withdrawn from service following the disbandment of the RNZAF’s Air Combat Force in 2001. Wussy Government, the less said about that the better.

Oldenginerod wrote:To me they look more like a Pilatus PC-9 or similar.  Modern craft with turbine engine.

Bingo! https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104548/t-6a-texan-ii/

U.S. Air Force wrote:

T-6A Texan II

Mission

The T-6A Texan II is a single-engine, two-seat primary trainer designed to train Joint Primary Pilot Training, or JPPT, students in basic flying skills common to U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots.

Features

Produced by Raytheon Aircraft, the T-6A Texan II is a military trainer version of Raytheon's Beech/Pilatus PC-9 Mk II.

 

Unfamiliar to me.

This is the T-6 Texan that I'm referring to.



Radial engine, tippy vert stab. Navy called it the SNJ. They were still active at NAB Pensacola when I was there in the 1950's. Row, upon rows of them. I looked on with envy.

This is what I'm familiar with.

The PC-9 was the basis for the RAAF aerobatics team the Roulettes for many years, as well as being our primary trainer.  They've now been replaced by the PC-21.

[quote="rsv1cox"]Unfamiliar to me.

This is the T-6 Texan that I'm referring to.  



Just like Australia, we had those too Bob, Manufactured by North American Aviation in Dallas, Texas, their designation with us (British Empire) was North American T-6 Harvard. The RNZAF operated a total of 202 Harvards between 1941-77. Originally reserved for advanced pilot training during World War Two, the Harvard later became the RNZAF’s principle initial pilot training aircraft. I believe they were ordered and paid for by the British Government of the day so that is most likely how they got the Harvard name.


Our family home was only about five miles from Ohakea Aerodrome and when I was kid you could hear and see them flying all the time. The have a very distinctive engine note and as soon as you heard one you knew straight away what it was. One still sees them flying occasionally down here. They always have some flying at the Warbirds Displays

I love that model Dave, and as I mentioned there were rows of them at Pensacola when I went there in 1956. But by then they had transitioned to the T-34 Mentor which didn't have the same appeal.



This one hangs in the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola.