1950s ex-HMAS Nirimba Thornycroft Nubian airport fire tender

Bruce D · **Posted:** Tue Sep 04, 2018 8:52 am

Hippy Chippy wrote:

Stroppy Chippie wrote:

Rick, Navy News 2 September 1966 has the report of the Wardroom fire (fire occurred 29 August 1966).

Thanks Brian, :yes:

my monthly data allowance was getting a tad low, so I didn't want to download a a whole year's worth of NAVY News to find it... :finga:

I was right in thinking it happened :violent3:

just AFTER I graduated in July '66, (so Ned and I are above suspicion, but you lot are all suspect...) :lol1:

...however, I was hoping any NAVY News article might have included a photo :happy3:

or two, but sadly, :roll:

this is it... :down:

I wonder how much of the Wardroom Grog was liberated, during the firefighting efforts ? :wine:

Bruce D

BC · **Posted:** Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:53 am

A lot, Bruce.

I was not there at that stage, but from first hand accounts, there were also lots of praises from senior naval officers regarding the rapid actions from MOBI's to help save their wardroom.

That was, until the real reason surfaced! :yess:

Stroppy Chippie · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2018 4:18 pm

I contacted the aviation museum at ALBATROSS and they were able to supply another grainy image of the unit at NIRIMBA (with a note written on the back that it was seen in a chicken coop at Young in 1992 :omg:

). A image of the ALBATROSS unit circa 1959 (with firefighting team in front) and this offers me more info on bits that are missing. Also an image of the Fleet Air Arm wings with the suggestion that the one seen on the image supplied by Tom Shaw was "quite stylised" (I guess he means looking more like the wings of the statue outside of Newcastle in the UK - outstretched).

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2018 6:05 pm

Hippy Chippy wrote:

Glad to see you also posted on the Nirimba Facebook page, Brian, and delighted its already attracted this great pic from Tom Shaw's collection of RANATE memories... :yess:

On Facebook, Tom Shaw :notworthy:

(FIRST MOBI Intake of July 1956,) wrote: "My pic taken about 1957. Note the decal on side with Kings crown, RANAS & Schofields."

Interesting that the 'decal' on the side of the tender should still have the King's Crown in 1957, as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, London,
took place 4 years earlier, on 2 June 1953... :dontknow:

Bit slack there, Putty...! :roll:

WRT the 'wings' on the tender, is the FAA Logo/ Crest :right:

...any similarity to the RANAS 'decal'...?

More food for thought: Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS) Officer's Cap Badge - RAN Air Crew Badges and another RNAS Badge

And this one is from the RAN Fleet Air Arm Association... :right:

and the RAN Fleet Air Arm Badge... :right:

Also, if you're looking for art references when you eventually get around to refurbishing the 'decals'...
........................................................................ ...depending on if you're restoring it to :down:

reflect the original King's Crown...

................................................................................................ ...or the post-1953 Queen's Crown...

........................................................... ...I reckon you'd be hard pressed to find better than :up:

the two images I found above... :joker:

BTW Brian, any time you have additional pictures to add, you can send them to me, :puter:

or SeeJay

to add to your posts... :thumbright:

BC · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:06 pm

Nice graphics Rick.

But, I did some research some time back and those crowns are not distinctly correct.

Queen Mary & Queen Victoria both had crowns like the top one.

I think you will find the top one is actually a Tudor Crown.

The bottom one is a St Edwards Crown. And is the oldest English crown and commissioned by Charles 11.

Queen Elizabeth 11 wears the Imperial State Crown, which is a sort of a morph of the other two.

I was originally issued with a light blue Beret badge with a Tudor Crown.

CJ alerted be some years ago, saying my badge must have been a "Kings" badge. So, I did some searching and found a lot of information about the history about the British Royal crowns.

But, that doesn't say that other organisations haven't interpreted the styles for their own purposes!

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:57 pm

I'm just the 'Joker' :joker:

who's over-simplified it to 'King's Crown' and 'Queen's Crown' for the :3some:

'watch-on-deck', :3some:

BC, in reality, where I'm coming is how they're represented
on various Badges and Crests in the RN/ RAN and most other Commonwealth Services, [-X

not what crown were owned/ worn by specific Monarchs, [-(

and you're quite right, :lol1:

what we commonly
refer to as the 'Queens Crown' is in fact, listed as the :happy1:

'Crown of Saint Edward'... :supz:

There a photos :happy3:

of most of the surviving crowns of the past and present British Monarchs :type:

HERE... :supz:

Seejay · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2018 9:04 pm

Interesting, BC.

King George VI's crown is shown on the royal cipher of 1949 as the same as the 'king's crown' shown above. I'm guessing that when the fire tender had the logo affixed/painted onto it's side that it was prior to QE II's gaining the top job, and they used the KG VI crown - which would have been standard fare in those days.

Just a guess, mind you, but given that the RAN was still viewed as the Australia squadron............... :dontknow:

piquet · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2018 9:58 pm

Me thinks there is a bit of work to repair restore the fire truck.
I joined Nirimba after the Wardrocom fire but many a report went around that the Mobis helped in rescuing a lot of stuff from being consumed by the fire only to be consume by the rescuers.

Stroppy Chippie · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2018 1:05 am

Seejay wrote:

Interesting, BC.

King George VI's crown is shown on the royal cipher of 1949 as the same as the 'king's crown' shown above. I'm guessing that when the fire tender had the logo affixed/painted onto it's side that it was prior to QE II's gaining the top job, and they used the KG VI crown - which would have been standard fare in those days.

Just a guess, mind you, but given that the RAN was still viewed as the Australia squadron............... :dontknow:

I am still trying to work out the actually build year of the tender. I am working on the assumption that it was a Royal Navy build based on the MONAB concept (though similar examples in the UK and Canada have cupboard doors rather than steel roller doors at the back). The "wings" on the tender look more like the "Angel from the North" (Newcastle, UK) than the Fleet Air Arm wings. I am leaning more to the signwriting being the RANAS version than NIRIMBA with its crest (as its origins are that of a airfield unit and the transition of NIRIMBA from a naval airfield to the naval trade training establishment. I know this discussion would be one considered much later but I feel if it can be decided it is another tick off the project. The glass for the drivers door and the quarter glass for the passengers door is currently away being toughened. One of the back doors will require a new glass pane (will be done in the course of overhauling the door), the drivers window and one of the shaped pieces in the front (side) of the cabin (I have found a mob at Windsor who can do that).
Interesting to note that the early images show the bell in the passengers side (under the headlight) whilst the current item is another headlight (used to have a siren on the roof).

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:26 am

Brian, thought you'd like these pics of the 'Tross Tender, posted on the :type:

HMAS Melbourne II - the Aussie Aircraft Carrier R-21 FB page...

1950s ex-HMAS Nirimba Thornycroft Nubian airport fire tender

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