Warbirds

Please send any photos you may have direct to: The Editor, Australian Aviation, PO Box 105, Weston Creek ACT 2611. Every care will be taken with them and they will be duly returned by registered post.

Spitfire Hopefully for Schofields

Col Pay’s immaculate Supermarine Spitfire, all going well, will make its flying debut at the Schofields Air Show on November 9 & 1O. The aircraft has been in a state of rebuild for several years now but as we closed for press, was due to make its first flight. Col is also busy negotiating the import of a North American T-28 Trojan and a Grumman Bearcat though we will have to wait to see if his efforts in this regard are successful as a number of overseas enthusiasts are also bidding for them. As soon as the Spitfire is operational, Col will begin restoring the Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk which will eventually join the Mustang and Texan in what is a most inspiring warbird stable.

Anson 50th Anniversary

The year 1985 is the 50th Anniversary of yet another famous aircraft, the Avro 652A Anson or “Annie” as it became affectionately known.

The first Avro 652A flew on March 24, 1935, and in turn was the military development of the civil model 652.

Built between 1935 and 1952 some 11,000 Ansons of all marks were manufactured in both England and Canada. Most marks of the machine were constructed with fabric-covered steel tubing fuselages and wooden tail units and wings while the engines were (in the main) two Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah radials.

In Australia the RAAF took over 1,000 Anson 1s on charge and used them on patrol duties, as navigation trainers and communications aircraft. After the war a number of RAAF surplus Ansons were civilianised and used for charter, airline and freight work. Due to the deterioration of the glue joints in the wooden mainplane and the poor single-engine performance the type was grounded in Australia in 1962 save for one aircraft. This aircraft, VH-BAF, had been rebuilt with a metal wing and higher powered Cheetah engines as well as an electric undercarriage retraction system that replaced the manually operated system that required 140 turns to operate!

Today VH-BAF, titled a model 652AM, is the only Anson still flying in Australia. Only one other Anson, a T21, is known to fly and this is in the UK. Proudly owned by Terry Brain of Melbourne “Annie”, VH-BAF, is scheduled to be displayed at the Schofields Air Show in November. The last of many, this machine will no doubt be warmly received

Sea Fury Update

At Toodyay, Western Australia, Rob Roynton’s ex-Iraq Air Force Hawker Fury T10 could be in the air in early 1986 if work on the restoration continues at the present rate.

Rob has the basic fuselage complete and has it painted up in a glossy desert camouflage complete with Arabic numerals. Quite a sight. At last count the big Bristol Centaurus engine was in Darwin for overhaul. The registration for the Fury, one of four shipped to Australia in early 1983, will be VH-ISS, for “Iraq Single Seater”.

Rob Poynton also has an ex-RNZAF Harvard in storage at Toodyay as his next project to rebuild after the Fury.

Meanwhile, at Canberra, ACT, the Australian War Memorial’s former RAN Dea Fury FB11, VX730, which was to have been rebuilt, possibly to airworthy standards, is to go back into storage. (see article in Warbirds December 1984). It had been proposed that off-duty personnel of RAAF Fairbairn Base could rebuild the machine however normal service transfers and problems of time and the cost of the rebuild required, appear set to send the large fighter back to the AWM store at Duntroon where it came from.

Ryan Stm Destroyed in Accident

In late July, Wyndham, Western Australia, was the site of a fatal accident that destroyed Ryan STM, VH-CXR.

The former wartime RAAF trainer and liaison aircraft was being demonstrated at an air display by its owner, local charter operator, Mr Peter Reid, when it failed to recover from a spin. Mr Reid had recently acquired the Ryan which was one of the few antique aircraft in Western Australia.

Several other Ryan STMs’ still exist in the eastern states of Australia including VH-AGD which is being rebuilt by Gippsland Aeronautics at Morwell, Vic.

Awm Gains Rare Engines

While most people think of the aeronautical display of the Australian War Memorial at Canberra, ACT, as either artifacts or complete aircraft the AWM has recently acquired several rare engines.

One of these is a complete 110-hp Le Rhone rotary engine originally built in the USA for the US Army in WWI. Two other engines are a Rolls Royce Merlin 25 and a WWI US made 400 hp Liberty engine. Hawker De Havilland also recently restored two

200 hp German WWI Daimler Benz engines cine of which is already displayed in the aviation hall at the AWM.

Across the Tasman in New Zealand

Still flying in NZ is DHA Drover, ZK-DDD. Recently purchased from Great Barrier Airline . in Auckland by Mr. Mike Kelly, managing director of Southair Aviation Services in Christchurch, it is the only surviving Drover in NZ. At least five of the type survive in Australia. The eventual use and destination of ZK-DDD is not yet known by the new owner. Probably the last Avro 626 Biplane in the world is flying again in NZ. One of only four to enter RNZAF service in 1935, it was intended as a multi-role aircraft and as a result had provision for a third cockpit behind that of the pilot. Powered by a 285 hp Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah radial engine, the last of the four Avros, NZ203, was sold as surplus in 1947 and later became ZK-APC. In 1980 it was bought back by the RNZAF which then commenced a lengthy rebuild. After a test flight by Wing Commander John Lanham, he reported that it flew just like a big soft Tiger Moth. The Avro 626 is the sole survivor of the aircraft of the prewar RNZAF. A Messerschmitt 109 is to be flown in NZ. A long way from home, the aircraft is more correct a Spanish licence-built Hispano Ha 1112MIL Buchon powered by a Rolls Royce Merlin engine. This type of aircraft is featured as Me109 in the film “Battle of Britain”.

Built as C4K-235 for the Spanish Air Force, it later was sold and went to the US as N48157. Purchased by Hob Lamplough it again crossed the Atlantic, to the UK, to become G-BJZZ. Damaged in a 1982 ground loop, it went on display at a war museum in London until earlier this year when the museum closed and the Hispano/Messerschmitt was purchased by Alpine Classic Aircraft Restorations of Wanaka which plans to display and fly a stable of 1940’s piston engined fighters of which a Mustang is already in NZ.

Lockheed Ventura Swap

As foreshadowed in September 1985 WARBIRDS, a Lockheed PV-1 Ventura is to be swapped for a surplus RAAF Canberra bomber.

The Ventura, a former bomber, is due to be flown to Australia in early November. Initial plans are that the aircraft will go to the

RAAF Museum at Point Cook, Vic. Although there are some thoughts that it could be kept in airworthy condition and displayed at Airshows. The Ventura is in wartime US Navy three colour paintwork with No. 13 Squadron RAAF markings, A dummy mid-upper turret has also been obtained. No. 13 Squadron received 75 lend-lease Venturas during WWII and the particular Lockheed Ventura being imported from the USA is N159U. Built in 1943 it was transferred to the RCAF as s/n 2221. After the war it was sold at disposal and returned to the USA where it was used in the 1960’s for aerial agricultural work.

Wirraway Rebuild

At Essendon Airport, Melbourne, a CAC Wirraway is undergoing a rebuilding program with the aim to have the former trainer/ fighter in the air in 1986.

Owned by Alan (Dusty) Laine and his partners, who also have a Mustang under rebuild in the US and a dismantled Mosquito in ·storage at Albury, the Wirraway, A20-652, was a display item at a service station in a Melbourne northern suburb before being rescued for restoration. Engineer Charley Lane is working full-time on the aircraft, however it is expected that to do the job properly the work required will take a year or more. Only one other Wirraway has been rebuilt to fly in recent years: That aircraft, VH-BFF, made several display flights before being put ori exhibition in the Wings of Yesteryear Museum at Coolangatta, Old. It is soon due to go to the Drage Airworld at Wangaratta, Vic.

New Aircraft for Awm

Two new aircraft that the Australian War Memorial plan to display are a DH-9 and a DH-82a.

The DH-82a Tiger Moth is a cabin version that was recently obtained in south-eastern Australia and is now being restored in Sydney. It will be restored to open cockpit configuration. When finished it will be in trainer yellow colour scheme of an aircraft operated by number 8 EFTS at Narrandera, NeW during WWII. The two seat trainer will complement the rest of the AVM collection which are in the main fighter or bomber-type aircraft. The DH-9 is the aircraft that Parer and McIntosh flew out from England to Australia in 1920 taking 206 days for the flight. Registered as G-EAQM but better know as “P-D”, the initials of their sponsor, the machine is being rebuilt at Canberra and when completed will be finished as the race plane rather than a WWI machine.

Warbird Importer

With two Warbird imports arranged plus the import of two large engines a new name on the local Warbird scene has already proven it can produce the goods. The new dealer is “Aero Nostalgia” and is run by longtime Warbird enthusiast, Peter Anderson. Peter was one of the crew of the 1983 B-25 flight to Australia and as a result of the arranging of the flight he saw a need for Australians to have good contacts when wanting to buy heavy metal, particularly in the US. Peter was the local contact who did much of the arranging of the Lockheed Ventura import (see item this column) and has also arranged a T-6 HaNard import which will arrive in Australia before mid-November. Peter has more projects, as he calls them, in the pipeline but when interviewed by Warbirds preferred to wait until the aircraft are on the way to Australia before talking about them. For any potential Warbird buyers, Peter Anderson can be contacted at 10 Berrico Pl, Bangor 2234, (02) 543 1176.