{"id":330,"date":"2021-11-20T06:32:38","date_gmt":"2021-11-20T06:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saafmuseum.org.za\/6832\/mesmerize\/"},"modified":"2022-01-23T13:33:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-23T13:33:11","slug":"mesmerize","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/saafmuseum.org.za\/6832\/","title":{"rendered":"Front Page"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fish, an aircraft, a dedicated professor, a Prime Minister, a few far-sighted officials and a dedicated group of volunteers<\/h2>

On the 21st December 1938 a strange fish was caught off the East London Coast, a fish that was thought to be extinct for over two hundred million years. This event was the start of an amazing story\u2026<\/p><\/div> <\/div>

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The Fish<\/h4>

The first hint that western scientists had of a modern, living coelacanth existed was when 32 year old Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, who was curator of a museum in East London, South Africa, was inspecting local fish catches for unusual specimens in 1938\u2026<\/p><\/div>

learn more<\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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The Aircraft<\/h4>

Dakota 6832, the Flying Fish Cart, first flew in 1944 at the Douglas Aircraft Corporation factory in Oklahoma City, USA.\n
Purchased by Britain under the lease lend scheme she was flown to South Africa in February 1944 and was retired from service in 1992.<\/p><\/div>

learn more<\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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The Individuals<\/h4>

When Chris Teale hatched a plan to save the historic C-47 #6832, took it to the OC AFB Ysterplaat, and then enlisted the help of the Friends of the SAAF Museum, little did he know how succesful yet how frustrating the project would be.\n<\/p><\/div>

learn more<\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>
<\/div>
The Flight<\/h5>

Haste, planning, an interrupted Christmas, a fish-knapping and a lit stove in flight\u2026 <\/h2>

Extract: In the middle of all this hustle and bustle and vitally involved, were the aircrew comprising Commandant (Lt Col) J.P.D Blaauw, the mission commander, Capt P. Letley the captain of the aircraft, Lt D.M Ralston, the navigator. Lt W.J Bergh, a newly qualified navigator under training, Corporal J.W.J van Niekerk, the Wireless Operator and Corporal F. Brink, the Flight Engineer\u2026<\/p>Learn more\u2026<\/a><\/div> <\/div>

The Call<\/h5>

Interrupt the Prime Miniter on his Christmas Holidays is a good plan. Smith finally got through on the telephone to Dr Malan, who was on holiday at the time, on the evening of the 26th of December\u2026<\/p><\/div>

In-flight coffee was not a good idea<\/h5>

He also asked if he could light his small primus stove to make us some coffee, which request was turned down because of the risk of fire on board \u2013 one of the worst nightmares for aircrew. He was rather miffed\u2026<\/p><\/div>

Uncertainty<\/h5>

The only information available on the airfield at Dzaoudzi was that it had been built by the South African forces during the invasion of Madagascar during WW2. There was no guarantee that the airfield was in fact serviceable\u2026<\/p><\/div>

Planning<\/h5>

Prof Smith had opened his trunk and produced some fruit, biscuits, dried figs and cheese which he shared with us. I learned later that there were also several hundred cigarettes in the trunk for trading with the locals if necessary!<\/p><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>

Join us! It will only take a minute<\/span><\/h2> <\/div>
GET STARTED TODAY<\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>

Our Team<\/h2>

Over the many years since the project began, the team of Volunteers, drawn from the Friends of the SAAF Museum, has changed. Here are some of the past and current members who have been involved over the last two decades.<\/p><\/div> <\/div>

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Chris Teale<\/h4>

Museum Curator<\/p>

<\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>
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Kevin Furness<\/h4>

Project Godfather \/ Lead<\/p>

<\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>
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Cameron Kirk Kinnear<\/h4>

Sponsor, Project Lead<\/p>

<\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>
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Robin Stobbs<\/h4>

Historical Advisor<\/p>

<\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>
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Trevor Smith<\/h4>

Project Team One<\/p>

<\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>
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Tony \n
Santos<\/h4>

Team Member<\/p>

<\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>
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Bernard Schafer<\/h4>

Team Stalwart<\/p>

<\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>
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Bill Reeves<\/h4>

Team Member<\/p>

<\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/i><\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><\/div>

Must Read..<\/h2>

Some of our Must Read articles<\/p><\/div> <\/div>

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTeam Building\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

More progress, and a good team building up… (David Smith) We need volunteers! Please reach out to us here. A reminder, if you were one of the previous workteams or[…]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead more\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWork starts again\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Man alone on the dak today but quite chuffed with myself as I managed to scour, clean and spray primer on the upper surface of the port stabilizer, the first[…]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead more\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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Cool, guys, we got access to our dak room today and everything still seems to be there, carbs, Magneto’s etc, and work is progressing finally, I will be asking for[…]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead more\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>

SEE ALL BLOG POSTS<\/a><\/div> <\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fish, an aircraft, a dedicated professor, a Prime Minister, a few far-sighted officials and a dedicated group of volunteers On the 21st December 1938 a strange fish was caught off the East London Coast, a fish that was thought to be extinct for over two hundred million years. This event was the start of…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/homepage.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-330","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saafmuseum.org.za\/6832\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saafmuseum.org.za\/6832\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saafmuseum.org.za\/6832\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saafmuseum.org.za\/6832\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saafmuseum.org.za\/6832\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/saafmuseum.org.za\/6832\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418,"href":"https:\/\/saafmuseum.org.za\/6832\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/330\/revisions\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saafmuseum.org.za\/6832\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}