Warbirds

During the forced landing, carried out with the gear up, the propeller and reduction gear were torn from the engine. It further appears that the fuselage suffered structural damage during the landing.

This is the first serious accident to have happened to an Australian Warbird since the advent of ANA 108A and the new freedom it gave to the operation of this type of aircraft.

Mike Wansey originally obtained the Firefly from the Moorabbin Air Museum and had it restored to airworthy condition at Ballarat, Vic. In the last twelve months the big machine has been advertised for sale but apparently it was not sold before the accident.

While ‘Mickey’s Mouse’ may now be out of the air, it is of note that the RAN Historic Flight at Nowra Naval Air Station have restored and put their AS. 6 Firefly, VH-NVU/WD826, into the air and it is starting to be seen at various East Coast Airshows.

March Rollout for Zero Fighter

The WWII Japanese Zero A6M2 fighter, s/n 5784, that has been rebuilt by the RAAF at its Wagga, NSW, base is due to be completed by March.

The unique machine is to be formally handed over to the Australian War Memorial on March 24th. Many long hard hours have gone into the restoration of this aircraft not the least being the manufacture of new wing spar caps.

Once flown by Japanese fighter Ace, Saburo Sakai, the machine will however be retained at Wagga until the Bicentennial Airshow at Richmond RAAF Base in October. There it will be displayed for all to see, and then handed over to the AWM for eventual display.

Two more items are still needed to complete the rebuild. These are a propeller spinner and an oil cooler. If any reader can help please contact the AWM or RAAF Wagga.

B-25 Mitchell Grounded

On November 30th, with the crew of Captain Bruce Andrews and Randal McFarlane, the North American TB-25J Mitchell, VH-XXV, flew from Ballarat to Canberra on its final flight.

Originally imported in 1983 by Aero Heritage under a contract of purchase with the Australian War Memorial the bomber was regularly flown at air shows and pageants.

The AWM has advised that, once the purchase contract had been completed, its prime responsibility was to ensure the preservation of the machine, the only one of its type flying in Australia. The AWM further felt that if the aircraft was to continue to fly its preservation could not be guaranteed.

Some sections of the Australian Warbird movement feel that the best form of preservation the 8-25 could have received was to be flown and have on-going maintenance to ensure its well being. The same people felt that the running costs, including the provision of spare engines, could have been met by a support trust, however in the long term this was not to be.

As if to echo the AWM’s preservation statement it was less than a week after the last flight that the Fairey Firefly crashed at Camden, NSW. Initially stored with the RAAF at Canberra the 8-25 was due to be moved to the AWM’s Mitchell Annex storage area, in mid January, where it will join other aircraft including the Me 163, Me 262 and the recently presented Me 109 that was prevented from going overseas.

The AWM is hoping that a Technology Pavilion will be built adjacent to the existing Memorial building in the future and when constructed the 8-25 and other aircraft can then be displayed there.

New WA Aero Museum

In Western Australia a new Aviation Museum is being organised by aircraft engineer, David Saunders. Entitled WA Museum of Aviation Inc. Mr Saunders plans to erect one of the historic Maylands Aerodrome hangers on a block of land adjacent to Jandakot Airport. Aircraft so far listed for display are the derelict Heron VH-CJS, (actually the prototype Heron) Devon VH-CJX, from Jandakot, plus the Channel 7 collection comprising two Vampires and a ‘Wirraway’, in fact CAC Ceres VH-DAT was converted to look like a Wirraway when at Channel 7 back in 1969.

The latest acquisition for the group is the C-47 that was for many years the Broome Tourist Bureau. This aircraft crash landed at Broome airstrip in 1973 while ferrying oil rig workers to Timar. Last registered PK-GDC the Gooney Bird was purchased by the local shire council, repaired and turned into a unique tourist bureau.

With the increased tourist traffic in recent years the C-47 became too small and therefore redundant. The machine was to have gone to an Adelaide group but in the long run was obtained by the WA Museum of Aviation. At the time of writing the fuselage had already arrived in Perth.

QLD Spitfire Almost Go

At Toowoomba, Old. Spitfire Mk. XVI, previously TE384, is very close to flying. Since it arrived in 1983, Jim Czerwinski of Eastland Air Charter has been rebuilding the former RAF fighter for Mr Hockey Treloar of Sydney although it is now on ‘permanent loan’ to Jim.

Ably assisted by his wife Janine, Jim has restored the Spitfire to the stage where it is a touch away from being fully completed. It has however been taxied and had the engine run. Jim is now awaiting OTC paperwork to get things moving.

While the rebuild of the machine cannot be compared with that of an American GA type aircraft, Jim did find that the fuselage was basically complete. Many required parts for the aircraft were found through local aviation collector Les Arthur or, as in the case of the main spar, new items had to be manufactured. It is reported that the appropriate registration VH-XVI has been reserved for the Spitfire.

Janine by the way is not your average aircraft engineer’s wife.

Recently she logged her 1000th sport parachute jump!

Beaufort Bomber Crash Memorial

For the crew of WWII RAAF Beaufort bomber, A9-322, the 24th December 1943 was almost their last day alive when they were forced to ditch in the sea off Bundaberg, Old. Fortunately, they all survived and 44 years later got back together at Bundaberg for a special ceremony to unveil a memorial to mark the event.

The Beaufort of No. 32 Squadron was patrolling for Japanese submarines 139km off the coast in poor weather when one eng ine failed. Attempting to return to base at Bundaberg the second engine overheated and the pilot was forced to ditch. The crew managed to scramble into their rubber dinghy and were very lucky to be picked up by a searching ship early on the morning of the 25th December, Xmas day.

The site of the ditched Beaufort became well known over the years as a good fishing reef some 8km off the coast. Following action by a local resident, Mr Mike Carlson, the Beaufort Bomber Committee was formed with the aim of marking the! 1943 event.

On December 17th last year the four original crew members of the Bea1. 1fort, former F/O Ron Grieve, the pilot, F/O Ken Poulsen, the navigator, F/O Allan Corrie, the wireless operator/gunner and Flt. Sergeant William Parsons, the second gunner, were all back in Bundaberg to commemorate the occasion and unveil two memorial plaques, one on land and the second which was lowered to the sea next to the still basically intact wreck. Two machine guns and the throttles from the aircraft were recovered for later preservation and display in Bundaberg, famous as the home town of the late Bert Hinkler.

Feedback: Spitfire Wreckology

In the last issue of Warbirds comment was made about the 1947 discovery of a Spitfire wreck, and the remains of its pilot, in the Northern Territory,

Reader Bob Alford of Darwin, NT has written in with more information about the aircraft and noted that there is no ‘Point Slaze’ as reported in the 1947 newspaper report.

Mr Alford reports: “The Spitfire located in 1947 and referred to in the article is in fact a Mk. VC, A58-232 (RAF serial MA353) and was found by an aboriginal tracker named George during December 1946. Sergeant McNab of the NT Police, Squadron Leader Holdsworth and F/O Mooney of the RMF and George returned to the wreckage and recovered the pilot’s remains from the aircraft, returning them to Darwin for subsequent burial by his parents.

The pilot was Sergeant Colin William Dunning, 437405, aged 19 years. He was a member of No. 452 Squadron based at Strauss airstrip when he was posted missing on operations on 24 April 1944. At the time he was involved in·a high altitude test flight in company with Spitfire A58-244 when the two aircraft collided, A58-232 crashing in the Port Paterson area some 30 miles SW from Darwin, whilst A58-244 returned to Strauss. Sergeant Dunning was interred at Adelaide River War Cemetery, grave SB? ,:m 15 January 1947. The native tracker George was highly regarded by the RAAF and further awarded a specially struck medallion during a special ceremony in March 1947.

The remains of A58-232 were relocated luring the early 1970’s and it is believed that components have been utilized in the restoration of a Spitfire in Melbourne, a fitting tribute to one of our young pilots”, Bob further reports that there is in fact a Spitfire wreck located near Point Blaze at Point Jenny on the SW corner of Fanney Bay (Darwin) and is bordered by the Waugite Aboriginal Reserve which, in alliance with the harsh terrain, makes access extremely difficult.

The machine is A58-a77 (RAF serial JG267) which crash landed on 2nd November 1944. The pilot was 410134 Flt. Sergeant Barry O’Connor, a member of No. 452 Squadron RMF, involved in practice dive bombing attacks as part of Blue Flight (he was ‘Blue 4’) on a crash landed 8-25, A47-12 of No. 2 Squadron RMF, on the beach near Point Blaze.

Flight Sergeant O’Connor’s engine cut out at 3500ft after pulling out from a dive and black smoke poured from each cylinder bank. The pilot decided he would glide to the beach, carried out his forced landing procedures and turned on his IFF. He then locked the canopy open and tightened his harness, however the aircraft lost height more rapidly than anticipated and he was forced to land in the water about 100 yards from shore. Immediately on impact the pilot released his harness and was thrown from the cockpit, hitting his right arm on exit He then released his parachute and swam to shore. He was subsequently rescued and returned to his unit.

The aircraft wreckage is still located at Point . . Jenny and comprises the fuselage forward of the wing fillets, starboard wing and Rolls Royce Merlin engine. Various aircraft components remain scattered over the area and have settled into rock pools as a result of tidal action over the years.

The RAAF have visited the site on at least one occasion during December 1986 and have recorded the details of the remaining wreckage.

Point Cook Raaf Museum News

Always a place where something new is going on, the Point Cook RMF Museum has just taken delivery of the Spitfire, BR545/A58-51, that was re-discovered at the mouth of the remote Prince Regent River in NW Western Australia.

The Spitfire, although corroded from years awash in mud and water, is basically complete. Following recovery it was air freight, ted by C-130 to Laverton where it was again immersed in water as part of the preservation process. (The full story of the recovery appears elsewhere in this issue. )

However, it will not be possible to display the complete machine, a spokesman for the Museum advised that in time sections of the aircraft may be displayed and that components might even be used to aid other Spitfire restorations.

Another project that the RMF Museum is engaged in is to take the Museum to the masses by flying a Douglas C-47 around Australia complete with a display of RMF Historical Heritage items from the Museum. The Museum flight, in conjunction with the Bicentennial celebrations, is due to commence after the Taree Airshow and will. go anti-clockwise around Australia stopping at major towns and centres to show off the aircraft and its display.

Point Cook will also see a series of flying displays in that will give increasing publicity to the RMF Museum.

Southern Cross: New Home & on Tour

Since taking to the air in September last year the replica Southern Cross (VH-USU) has been flying all over Australia.

Commenting on the flight, the pilot of the replica, former Ansett Captain, Colin Watt, said “It will help raise funds for the Flying Doctor Service and also give younger people a chance to learn about Kingsford-Smith and what he did for the country”.

Colin Watt, who in profile looks not unlike Kingsford-Smith, save for the hard hat flying helmet, has been greeted on numerous occasions by people who remember the original Southern Cross and its pilot Smithy.

The replica and the original aircraft met each other on the tarmac at Brisbane’s Eagle Farm Airport in November when the original Smithy aircraft was being moved to a new hangar-styled steel building. Built of Lysaght Colour bonded corrugated steel the building is hangar shaped, yet is designed to allow optimum viewing of the displayed aircraft and at the same time protect it from the elements.

Liberator Found

Further to the item in the last Warbirds, regarding a former RAAF Liberator crew wanting to rebuild one of the large bombers, one of t/le type has now turned up!

Ttie Liberator, at least the fuselage and tailplane of A72-176, is owned by a Mr George Toye of Moe in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.

Mr Toye bought the aircraft at a surplus sale at t/le RAAF East Sale base in19 4 7 rather than see it go for scrap metal. Now he is proposing to move home, Mr Toye is casting around to see who can give the old bomber a new home, but at a price. Already various individuals and groups are showing keen interest including the RAAF Museum at Point Cook.

Although minus the wings and engines the bomber as it is would be an excellent display item in any aviation museum, particularly in view of the fact that it is a type long thought nonexistent in Australia.

In Brief

• Following the recent sale of a number of aircraft from the Chewing Gum Field Museum collection, on Queensland’s Gold Coast, the Neptune A8 9-281 was reported to have been sold to a Mr Wilson of Melbourne. Recently however an advert has turned up in a boats for sale magazine advertising the patrol bomber for $35,000 on an as-is, where-is basis but ‘but easy to get back in the air’! The telephone number given, (0 3) 614 65 33, is that of Australian Holdings.

• The Canberra Air Pageant, to be held on Sunday 13th March 1988, is shaping up to be one of the biggest such events that the nation’s capitol has seen. In addition to an extensive RAAF involvement, a highlight will be a Canberra bomber of the Indian Air Force which is being flown to Australia specifically for the Pageant. ·

• Former Prisoners of War were aghast to learn late last year that the infamous WWII POW camp, Colditz Castle, is to be turned into a luxury hotel. The former prison, which now serves as a mental institution, is to be developed as a hotel by the East German Government and a London travel firm. Most POW’s felt it was a travesty to try and glorify the Colditz camp and the harsh treatment given out to the wartime prisoners.

• Friday 27th November saw the last Mirages to be based at Williamtown RAAF Base, NSW, flown out. The No. 77 Squadron Mirages led by Sqn Ldr BruceHartwich were flown to Woomera, South Australia, for long-term storage. The Woomera storage facility is similar to that used by the US Military which stores its surplus aircraft at the Davis Monthan storage facility at Tuscon, Arizona. A special tour has been arranged of OM • Former Prisoners of War were aghast to learn late last year that the infamous WWII POW camp, Colditz Castle, is to be turned into a luxury hotel. The former prison, which now serves as a mental institution, is to be developed as a hotel by the East German Government and a London travel firm. Most POW’s felt it was a travesty to try and glorify the Colditz camp and the harsh treatment given out to the wartime prisoners.for our 1988 Australian Aviation Oshkosh Tour, won’t you join us?