Warbirds

A war prize, the Oscar was for many years in the hands of the late Sid Marshall of Sydney and then Jack Davidson of the Oaks. Now, it is understood, the Oscar is in Col’s Warbird hangar at Scone NSW, to be rebuilt to flying condition.

Powered by a 990hp Nakajima Ha-25 14-cylinder radial engine, the Oscar achieved great success against its opposition early in the war but as it progressed new fighters put up by the Allies, which included the Mustang, began to take their toll of the lightly built Japanese fighter. Nearly 6,000 Oscars were built.

The Australian Warbird scene becomes more and more interesting as the years roll by.

Mustang Almost Lost Twice!

Mangalore at Easter was the site of not one but two incidents involving Mustang VH-AUB, both of which came close to being accidents.

The first incident came when VH-AUB, being flown by Jack McDonald, was taking off on the N-S runway. As the machine was about to lift off Jack heard an unusual noise and aborted the takeoff. The machine overran the end of the runway and, with the fence coming up, Jack used his extensive Mustang experience to execute a controlled ground loop and bring the aircraft to a safe stop.

Following a lengthy engine ground run another pilot was scheduled to fly the Mustang, in company with the Spitfire, to Albury. The Spitfire took off followed by the Mustang. Just as the Mustang took off and with the gear still down, the engine noise completely died. The crowd turned in stunned disbelief and then there was a roar as the Merlin picked up and the aircraft climbed out. It has been reported that oiled-up plugs caused the problem.

Import Duty to Be Paid on Ventura?

With the imminent arrival of a Lockheed PV-1 Ventura for the RAAF Museum the question being posed by owners and importers of several other Warbirds is whether import duty will be charged on the aircraft?

The Ventura has been swapped for a surplus Canberra bomber and is being flown to Australia for the RAAF Museum at Point Cook, Vic. In the past civilian importers of Warbird aircraft have had to pay a heavy duty on the value of their aircraft. However as Ventura is a swap, is going to a service museum but is not going on active strength the question of duty becomes more interesting. If flown in Australia the PV-1 will be under civil airworthiness and registration requirements.

All importers of historic-type aircraft are of the opinion that import duty should not have to be paid on these non-commercial machines. However, to date the Government policy has not altered and the result is yet another bill to be paid.

Display Douglas Downed by Rent Rise

For some years Douglas C-47, VH-AES, has been on display at Tullamarine Airport outside the TAA wing of the terminal, suspended under an arch. Now the aircraft is to come down and all because of a row over rent.

TAA has in the past leased the display site from the DofA, however, the Department regards the site as prime real estate and wants to charge full commercial rental. TAA is not prepared to pay the charges and the Department is not prepared to charge only a peppercorn rental so the end result is that TAA is to remove the aircraft.

It is not known what future lies in store for the Douglas, the aircraft that flew the first TAA passengers in 1946, but one thing is certain the display site will be used for more short-term car parking at rates that have just risen.

Longer Life for the DC-3

What do you replace a DC-3 with? Simple, another DC-3. Well not quite. The airframe of the tireless DC-3/C-47 was built to last and last but as the years passed the operators of the type had to rely on reconditioned engines which, with age, offered diminishing reliability.

In America Pratt & Whitney long ago stopped making R-1830 series radial engines, the type that powers the Oak. As a result, good airframes were scrapped or worse still were involved in accidents when engine problems occurred.

In Ontario, Canada, the firm of Airtech has commenced to re-engine a DC-3 by replacing the P&W 1200hp engines with Polish ASz-621R radial engines, a derivative of the Wright Cyclone R- 1820, which has been built in Poland for many years. The engines will also drive Polish propellers.

The conversion involves fitting a slightly larger cowling and having the 1000hp ASz-621R uprated to 1200hp for takeoff. Given the new supply of engines, the Oak could be flying well into the next century.

Recently two DC-3s were advertised in Australia for $145,000 each, so someone obviously thinks they are worth more than scrap value.

Another Spitfire Close to Flying

Late 1985 saw Col Pay’s restored Spitfire Mk. HFVIII, VH-HET, take to the air as the first of the type to fly in Australia since the war.

Now, 41 years since the end of WWII, a second Spitfire is very close to flying. This machine, a Mk. 16, previously TE884, was brought to Australia in 1972 as a swap for the Supermarine Walrus VH-ALB. After many years of neglect, TE884 was moved to Toowoomba, Qld. , where Jim Czerwinski of Eastland Air Charter is restoring the machine. Built in 1945 at Castle Bromwich it never saw combat service. In 1968 it was used in the film The Battle of Britain. The registration VH-XVI has been reserved for the fighter which is owned by Hockey Treloar of Sydney.

At least two other Spitfires as well as a Seafire are also being rebuilt to airworthy standards in various parts of the country.

Vampire Set to Fly Soon

After many delays, one of the Vampires being restored by Aquila Aviation at Bankstown, NSW (p99 Warbirds Sept 1985) was very near its first test flight as we went to press. Aquila who have done all the restoration are now an approved workshop for airframes, engines and electricals and after test flying at Bankstown, the Vampire will go to Parkes to obtain its endorsements before entering the air show circuit.

Bill Scott will be a pilot and Ken Andrews copilot initially with Ken Andrews taking over the major portion of the flying later. Ken Andrews is a former Sqn Leader with many hours of experience including time on Vampires.

New Home for Queensland Air Museum

After several temporary homes the Queensland Air Museum (QAM) has finally obtained a permanent site at Caloundra Aerodrome 80km north of Brisbane.

Formed some 13 years ago the QAM first obtained GAF Canberra B20 A84-225 and has since acquired Meteor TT20, WD647, Vampire T35A, A79-828, Sea Venoms WZ898 and WZ910, a Bristol Scout replica plus several incomplete aircraft including Victa 100 VH-CPE and DHA Drover VH-FDR.

A 30 year lease was recently signed with the Landsborough Shire Council for a hectare of land at the aerodrome and the Council, which can no doubt see tourist potential in the museum, has assisted with a display hangar.

Viscount on Display

Australia has a lack of preserved and displayed four-engine Prophners. In Melbourne, however, there is one machine, a Vickers Viscount, that is well worth seeking out as one of the last of the breed.

The Viscount, a model 816, was formerly VH-TVR with Trans Australia Airlines, is owned by the Australian Aircraft Restoration Group and is on display at Wobbies World, an outdoor amusement centre, on Springvale Rd. Vermont, an eastern suburb. The aircraft is complete and on display with Wobbie Airlines markings.

The old airliner is leased to Wobbies, by the AARG and these days is used to show a 25-minute video clip of Melbourne as seen from the air. There are hopes that the Viscount will eventually go into the National Aviation Museum when that becomes a reality Two Bell 47J model helicopters are also on display at the centre.

Snippets

• The heavy metal set has had a number of expensive engine problems lately. At Nowra Mike Wansey’s Fairey Firefly VHHMW has been out of the air with engine problems.

Mangalore saw the B-25 VH-XXV abort a formation flight due to blower problems with the port engine. Later the engine was replaced on site. In Melbourne, Mustang VH-BOB has also been out of the air with its share of engine problems. As all the operators and engineers working on Warbirds are well aware, parts for that sort of engine are not off-the-shelf type items and when obtained are very expensive.

• The National Museum is understood to have obtained a Percival Gull in England for its collection. Other aircraft already in The collection are a DH Dove and a Percival Proctor.

• Another North American T-6 Harvard/Texan has been imported. The new owner is George Markey and the T-6 is reported to be based at Camden. Six T-6’s were in attendance at Mangalore . this year