Reece

During the War, Australia had a thriving aircraft industry and produced a number of innovative designs including the potentially excellent CA-15 fighter. In the post war period and through the fifties CAC particularly developed a number of new designs that while not ultimately getting government backing still kept a core design capability alive. Next door, GAF was also busy as was Hawker de Havilland in Sydney. From that time though the design capability within Australia began to wither as our industries began to specialise in foreign aircraft assembly and more recently the growing sub-assembly manufacturing potential via the offset programme.

Along came Nomad, an aircraft not wanted by many and loved by few. With some aggressive international marketing and a properly conceived development programme, this aircraft might just have survived. At worst it would have done better than it did once freed of the shackles of being at the mercy of a non-caring Government and a lethargic GAF. As the Nomad was in its death throes, the Government in its wisdom decided to launch the Wamira project in an effort to once again establish a local design and development capability via the newly formed Australian Aircraft Consortium. Whilst the objectives were honourable the end user, the RAAF, was largely unenthusiastic about the Wamira and so were sown the seeds of ultimately yet another Australian aviation disaster.

That the entire operation ended with the RAAF totally altering its requirement on a number of key points is symptomatic of how our Air Force felt about the programme from the beginning. Through all this though the Australian taxpayer funded the entire debacle to the tune of $68m, money that is now virtually written off in a programme that has now lost this nation any aircraft design and manufacturing credibility it ever had. Wamira was indeed the final stroke in an amazing trifecta beginning with the Victa Airtourer/CT-4, leading onto Nomad with Wamira completing the score of impressive failures in recent decades.

What could we have done with that $68m, given the non-enthusiasm of the RAAF in the first instance and the large number of competing trainers already firmly established in the marketplace? According to industry sources it could have bought us a quarter share in a new light helo or a medium transport not to mention the 2% share in the bustling A320 programme that Federal Cabinet decided against back in 1984.

If credibility is lost at least much of the Pilatus assembly work and production will remain in Australia though the only major item of redesign on the PC-9 is modifying the landing gear for soft field operations, a project that is worth around 11,000 manhours. Hawker de Havilland, along with its recently acquired CAC and the GAF will still construct around 85% of the PC-9 locally. Pilatus in their bid also held out the carrot of Australia participating with them as partners on two future projects. One is a medium-sized transport rather in the vein of the Dornier 228 and DHC Twin Otter while the second looks to be a light helo, something that Pilatus, and ourselves, have no previous experience with.

So where does that leave us in 1986? Pretty much as a rapidly emerging specialist in sub-component manufacture either under offset contract status or as a paid-up partner in major programmes such as Boeing’s 7J7 propfan airliner or various helicopter or transport programmes of military genre. Certainly as far as totally designing our own aircraft, building it and selling it abroad goes, we’ve blown our credibility now to the extent that only an extreme optimist would expect any overseas customer to take us seriously.

Compassion Is Alive and Well and Wearing an Aircrew Uniform.

Australian Aviation, and I am sure all our readers will join us, would like to sincerely express our thanks to the large number of aircrew and ground personnel who volunteered to man the Australian Government’s C-130 Hercules aircraft destined for the famine-stricken areas of northern Africa.

More than fifty people volunteered from highly paid 747 Captains to young LAME’s. On the surface, a year away may smack of true soldier of fortune adventure but in reality it will be a period of surviving in a harsh environment amongst everyday depression and difficult operating conditions. To those brave and generous Australians who have so readily volunteered their services for so necessary a cause we say thank you.