1950s ex-HMAS Nirimba Thornycroft Nubian airport fire tender

Stroppy Chippie · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2018 11:57 am

Seejay wrote:

A thought just surfaced...... :-k

When the wardroom burned down I was one of the lucky unfortunates that had to help fight the fire. I can remember lots of yelling and screaming by the 'responsible officers' in charge with little effect. After all, "get boundary cooling on that f***ing roof" when the interior is a furnace was of no effect at all other than to cause the (hot asbestos) roof to explode..... :omg1:

That said, I seem to remember the fire tender at the blaze prior to the bushfire firefighters attending with their tankers. I'll have to track down the actual date it happened to see whether it can give another reference point for a search..... :-k

....and it seens the Geddington Volunteer Fire Brigade has one: http://gvfb.org

The Queen Eleanor appears on other Thornycroft interest sites (but did not have this link, do now - thanks Seejay). Front is the same, I think it has the 8 cylinder Rolls Royce (replacing the slightly underpowered 4 cylinder). The Nirimba Wardroom fire was 1966 as Schofields Bush Fire Brigade has a Chev Blitz at that time (I actually have a copy of the brigades reference to attending the fire).

Stroppy Chippie · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2018 12:20 pm

BC wrote:

I was there 67 - 70, then in 80 for a short period and again at the MEDB 85 - 87'ish.

It would have been the earlier period that the beast was still there. :-k

Wardroom fire was 1966 and the unit would be a early to middle 50s build. The story on Nirimba covering 1955 to 1969 appears to refer to this unit.
I seem to remember a reference to the fire units at Nirimba (1970 to 1979) being manned by Naval Policemen but the only image I have seen is that of a Landrover (possibly replaced at that time?).

Honest Tad · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2018 2:10 pm

Well done Brian. Hope it goes well for you and doesn't cause too many grey hairs.

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:03 pm

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."

BTW, I know the Wardroom fire at Nirimba was sometime in 1966, can anybody pinpoint the month so I can check and see what NAVY News archives has on it...? :dontknow:

Stroppy Chippie · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:36 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."

BTW, I know the Wardroom fire at Nirimba was sometime in 1966, can anybody pinpoint the month so I can check and see what NAVY News archives has on it...? :dontknow:

Many thanks Rick, Toms posting was pure gold. Think I will have to get two panels made up for the unit. One with the existing HMAS NIRIMBA and the second with RANAS Schofields. Also his photo shows that there was actually a passengers seat in the front (not there now). I will just go and find the Brigades report on the wardroom fire.

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:37 pm

Some of the other pics posted on the Facebook topic created by Brian, pics added to it from SeeJay, Brian and others... :happy3:

As SeeJay can edit my posts, :puter:

I'll leave it to SeeJay/ Brian to add any captions/ commentary on them... :evil3:

Stroppy Chippie · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2018 4:39 pm

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

sbjohns · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2018 4:40 pm

I don't recall that Fire Truck in my time at Bonehead University (71-74), however I do recall the Dockie Coppers having a 4WD ute (possibly a Toyota?) which used to show up at every Fire Drill.
Too long ago, too little interest (then!! :badgrin:

)

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2018 6:44 pm

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:

Stroppy Chippie · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2018 11:52 pm

sbjohns wrote:

I don't recall that Fire Truck in my time at Bonehead University (71-74), however I do recall the Dockie Coppers having a 4WD ute (possibly a Toyota?) which used to show up at every Fire Drill.
Too long ago, too little interest (then!! :badgrin:

)

Tends to suggest that it was possibly pensioned off around 1970.

1950s ex-HMAS Nirimba Thornycroft Nubian airport fire tender

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