Title: Now this is a REAL gun!! Post by: Kiwithrottlejockey on March 08, 2009, 12:40:32 pm Big guns invade in time for air show
By CHERIE HOWIE - The Marlborough Marlborough Express | Wednesday, 04 March 2008 (http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/RasputinDude/News%20Story%20Pix/1998150s-04Mar09.jpg) BIG GUN: An 88mm Flak 37 German artillery gun has come to town as part of the Classic Fighters Airshow at Omaka. The anti-aircraft gun can fire to 36,000 feet. — CHRISTINE CORNEGE/The Marlborough Express Picton was the scene of a military invasion yesterday, the first of many, those behind the incursion say. Residents and visitors may have been shocked to see an 88mm Flak 37 German artillery gun roll off a Bluebridge Cook Strait ferry, loaded onto a Simcox Construction flat bed truck and driven to Blenheim. The arrival of the seven-tonne World War II anti-aircraft and anti-tank gun is just the first of several items of vintage military memorabilia on their way to Marlborough for next month's Classic Fighters Airshow at Omaka. Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre chief executive Jane Orphan said the anti-aircraft gun was used by the German forces during WWII, particularly in North Africa, and would have been a formidable weapon. "You wouldn't want to see that in front of you." The gun, believed to be the only one of its kind in New Zealand, is owned by film-maker Peter Jackson's aircraft restoration and manufacturing company The Vintage Aviator. No-one from the company could be contacted for comment yesterday. Mrs Orphan said the gun was the first of several items of military memorabilia due to be shipped to Picton for the airshow. "We've got stuff coming from around the country," she said. Bluebridge spokeswoman Wendy Pannett said Bluebridge were shipping the memorabilia, including the artillery gun, for free as part of its sponsorship of the airshow's WWII scenarios. The gun was carefully manoeuvered onto the back of a Simcox Construction truck, which company owner Ian Simcox said was also provided free. A keen aviator, Mr Simcox said the free lift for the massive gun was his way of allowing Marlborough to see this piece of aviation history. He said Simcox had transported other aviation pieces in the past. http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/1997737/Big-guns-invade-in-time-for-air-show Title: Re: Now this is a REAL gun!! Post by: Kiwithrottlejockey on March 09, 2009, 09:30:10 pm They're actually going to be firing this beast at the Classic Fighters @ Omaka airshow during Easter. I have a feeling it is going to be extremely loud and will most likely make the ground shake! (http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/XtraNewsCommunity2/MSN%20emoticons/05emsmilep.gif) Title: Re: Now this is a REAL gun!! Post by: donquixotenz on March 09, 2009, 09:57:56 pm Talk about ground shake try being on board in the 60's firing off six inch naval barrages.... \. thank god they had replaced them by the mid sixties. hate to think it was like on dreadnaughts and battle waggons with 10 and 12 inch mudderfukahs
Title: Re: Now this is a REAL gun!! Post by: Kiwithrottlejockey on March 09, 2009, 10:24:35 pm How about sixteen inch guns like the US Navy Iowa class battleships had? One of them was in Sydney during the 1988 Australian Bicentennial Celebrations and I was over there for the Bicentennial Airshow at Richmond Air Force Base. I can't recall which of the battleships it was (it may have been the Missouri), but they fired off a few nine-gun broadsides off the Sydney Heads. We headed up to the top of the Manly Head to watch that (along with thousands of other people). The muzzle flash from nine of those big mothers was humungous (as was the noise)!! And the Japs built a couple of battleships with eighteen-inch guns!!! Title: Re: Now this is a REAL gun!! Post by: Kiwithrottlejockey on May 05, 2009, 01:49:35 pm Here is Peter Jackson's big beast Krupp F37 “88” as seen during Classic Fighters at Omaka Aerodrome.... (http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/April%202009%20South%20Is%20Pix/DSCH3-03145-800px.jpg) (http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/April%202009%20South%20Is%20Pix/DSCH3-03156-800px.jpg) (http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/April%202009%20South%20Is%20Pix/DSCH3-03158-800px.jpg) I found out PJ has actually aquired two of them....the other one is currently enroute to New Zealand. Title: Re: Now this is a REAL gun!! Post by: chevy on June 26, 2009, 10:47:27 pm And the Japs built a couple of battleships with eighteen-inch guns!!! May have been the Yamato class. Think it went down in Guada canal, Guam. war of the Pacific. wild guessing here |