Warbirds

In the meantime a reader has written in. His letter is of interest and is reprinted below:

“Let me put these facts on record for your readers . . . In 1966 when the RAN’s Fleet Air Arm was building up it’s pilot numbers for service in Vietnam it had a greatly increased pilot training requirement. At the same time the RAAF was in the same predicament and could not handle the Navy’s requirements. This is not a criticism of the RAAF but a fact of life at the time. The RAN then decided to have 30 plus pilots trained by the USN. I was one of those pilots.

“The types flown during the 12-15 month course were T-34s ( a fully aerobatic, two seat version of the civil Bonanza), T-28s, TH-13s (military Bell 47), N34s (military version of the S-58, basically a piston Wessex) and S-2 Trackers.

“Since you specifically mentioned the T-28 let me elaborate. All pilots, including those of us who would go on to helicopters, flew the T-28. Two versions were flown: the ‘B’ model which was the standard trainer and the ‘C’ model which was the carrier version. Both initial T-28 Training Squadrons on which Australians served, VT2 and VT3 had B and C models. VT5 was the Carrier training squadron and had C models. Again all pilots flew with VT5 and qualified aboard the USS Lexington off Pensacola Florida . . .

“. . . No doubt you were unaware of these facts when you wrote your column, so I hope this is of some help to anyone contemplating the import of a T-28, T-34, H-13, H-34 or S-2. ” John R Brown, Bibra Lake, WA

Harvard Accident

During mid August T-6 N13AA VH-USN came to a grinding halt when it was landed on the parachuting strip at Wilton, NSW with the undercarriage in the retracted position. The pilot, reported as owner George Markey, was unhurt.

Although the Harvard/T-6 type has been flying in Australia since the start of ANR 108A operations some 10 years ago, this is the first time that one of the type has been involved in an accident. At this stage the reason for the gear up landing is not known.

Anson to New Home

Avro 652AM Anson, VH-BAF, is now to be based at Airworld Museum, Wangaratta, Vic. Owned by former airfreight operator, Terry Brown, the Anson is one of only two or three of the type still airworthy in the world.

The Anson originally had a wooden wing and when this deteriorated it was the death knell for the type in Australia. This Ans?n, VH-BAF, was rebuilt with a metal wing which allowed it to continue flying and indeed it is to be kept in airworthy condition for occasional airshow work.

The Ason was flown north to Wangaratta in late August having previously been based at Essendon and Ballarat airports. The Anson type was a trainer and patrol aircraft during WWII and war surplus sales saw a number turn up as passenger and-freight aircraft in the postwar years. Long may VH-BAF continue to fly!

1988 Budget: Good and Bad

The 1988/89 Australian Budget, announced in late August, contained two items of interest to the aviation-minded. The first was that actual funding to museums will get 20% less in the coming year. Allocations have been reduced to $14. 8m compared to $23. 5m two years ago. No mention was made of the previously much-talked-about but not funded National Aviation Museum.

As a side issue it has been reported to this column that plans for the NAM have been scrapped. The second item was that the 20% sales tax applied to aircraft

imports – has been deleted on all machines except gliders “because they are used for recreational purposes”. The exemption of aircraft from the sales tax will no doubt please potential Importers of warbird, antique and classic type aircraft. It Is not clear 1f the sales tax deleting also applies to spare parts. Customs duty of 2½% is still applicable to imported aircraft.

The Chewing Gum Field Carve Up

The year of 1987 saw the unfortunate demise of the Chewing Gum Field museum. Situated a few miles inland from the Coolangatta coast on the Queensland tourist belt, the museum was founded by Cliff Douglas and in later years joined by Malcolm Long of Melbourne with his collection of military aircraft. It is understood that income versus outgoings was the reason for the split up of the museum’s aircraft collections and we now document the fate of the various aircraft.

Malcolm Long transferred a number of his aircraft to the Drage Airworld, later to be called Airworld, at Wangaratta, Vic, where they are now on display. These aircraft comprise Stinson L5 VH-BFR, Wirraway VH-BFF, Fairchild F24W VH-CMB, Tiger Moth VH-ABF, Auster MkIll VH-BED, Hudson A16-112, C-47 VH-BAB and non flying Curtiss P-40N 42-105915. The C-47 used two borrowed engines to make the ferry flight. Also in the Long collection was Bristol 170 A81-1. This machine was recently donated to the RAAF museum at Point Cook and was delivered to the museum in August.

The Douglas aircraft were put up for sale by tender with a closing date of 30th August 1987. As a result of the bids received not all of the aircraft were sold, Cliff Douglas opting to retain the following: Waco VH-CGF, Avro Cadet VH-AFX, Vampire N6-766, Canberra A84-223, Bristol Boxkite replica and the SA29 VH-BCA, a single seat agricultural conversion of a DHC-1 Chipmunk.

The aircraft known to have been sold are the Djinn helicopter, to a Surfers Paradise helicopter company. DH87A Hornet Moth VH-RKN to Nick Challinor of Murwillumbah, NSW. The Hornet Moth is in need of a total rebuild and will not fly again for quite some time. Ceres VH-CEC went to a buyer at Toowoomba, Old and Short Scion VH-UTV went to a new owner in Sydney.

The BA Eagle II VH-ACN was sold to Cathay Pacific Airlines pilot, Geoff Green. The fixed gear Eagle was transported to the UK in September 1987 and is being restored to flying condition by Ben Cooper. It will become G-AFAX.

Lockheed P-2V7 Neptune A89-281 was sold but a year later has apparently not moved. A Mr Alan Wilson of Australian Holdings in Melbourne is currently advertising the machine for sale at $35,000 “as is, where is”. More recently the price has dropped to $30,000.

The DC-3 VH-AEQ is an interesting one. Minus engines this ex TM aircraft was initially sold to an organisation called Aeroplane Car Sales of Springwood, Brisbane. The firm apparently went bust and the aircraft next turned up in the backyard of Mohammed Dean Roadway Transport Removals, Brisbane. Both Aeroplane Car and Dean recently featured in the ABC TV

show, . The Investigators, a consumer affairs programme. During Septe_mber the old Douglas was purchased by

Melbourne prestige car dealer, Deon Omond. The aircraft was road freighted south and now resides in Mr Omond’s Blackburn backyard. Mr Omond is keen to fully assemble the Douglas and says that he would be pleased to hear from technically minded people interested in the job. Call (03) 878 0666.

The 1989 edition of the RAAF Museum calendar has just been released_ and is available from the RAAF Museum, RAAF Point Cook, Vic 3029. The calendar costs $10. 00 plus $2. 00 P&P. Cheques should be made out to RAAF Museum. All proceeds from the of the calendar go to the Museum’s restoration and preservatIon work.

The fate of two Chewing Gum aircraft are unknown. These are the Chnslea Ace, VH-BRO, at last count dismantled and stored in Sydney and Winjee! A85-444 which is less engine, undercart, canopy, seats and instruments and in need of a lot of rebuild work. Reader advice and update welcome.

WWII Anson Drama: Now It Can Be Told

The date was a night late in February 1945. More than a dozen Avro Ansons had taken off from the RAAF base at Bairnsdale, Vic on a night training exercise out over Bass Strait. The exercise was scheduled to run for some 3½ hours but fog came in unexpectedly. Half the aircraft got back to Bairnsdale safely but the rest opted to fly west to try and land at East or West Sale RAAF ‘dromes. These were also found to be fogged in and as the Anso crews realised that they might have to bail out, they spotted the lights of nearby Morwell town being flicked on and off in Morse code.

At car and truck had been mobilised to light up a landing stnp in Walsh’s paddock on the north side of the town to assist the aircraft in distress. Down to their last few minutes of fuel, three Ansons put down on the makeshift airfield much to the relief of their crews. Two of the aircraft were undamaged and were flown out next day. The third returned to base on the back of a truck.

1:he landing was off Latrobe Rd near the saleyards. Local resident and poht1c1an Barry Murphy, with the help of Morwell SL_ sub-branch, is hoping to organise a reunion and public function in late February 1989 to give Morwell due recognition for its communal bravery on that foggy wartime night.

New Exhibits for Hdh Vic

The Group of HdH Vic has gained further potential exh1b1ts since the article on HdH in the January Warbirds.

From the Mildura Warbirds museum CAC built CA-27 Sabre A94-901, The Sabre is reported to be in very good and Is basically complete and with an engine.

Back in the 1960s_ CAC’. HdH’s predecessor, proposed to build a supersonic operational Jet trainer for the RAAF and even went so far as to produce a full-scale mock up.

The project, known as the CA-31, did not go ahead and the up was obtained by the Moorabbin Air Museum and placed 1n storage. Recently a deal was struck whereby HdH has an initial . loan of the mock up for three years and will carry out the small amount of work needed to bring the structure up to display standard.

The CA-31 was advanced for its day and proves that Australia was technically abreast of the rest of the world. The trainer was two seat in tandem double delta planform aircraft. The engine proposed was to be a Turbomeca RB172fr60 Adour:

Performance figures were in the order of 1. 5 Mach maximum speed, ceiling of 52,500 feet. Rate of climb of 34,000 per minute and a range of 1,050 miles. All very impressive for a locally designed 1960s jet trainer.

1989 Raaf Museum Calendar

There are calendars and calendars but one of the very best must be the RAAF Museum calendar.

The calendar has been produced for several years now and with its colour pictures of past and present RAAF aircraft is a welcome record of the year.

The 1989 edition of the RAAF Museum calendar has just been released and is available from the RAAF Museum, RAAF Point Cook, Vic 3029. The calendar costs $10. 00 plus $2. 00 P&P. Cheques should be made out to RAAF Museum. All proceeds from the sale of the calendar go to the Museum’s restoration and preservation work.

Catalina Remnants: Correspondence

Following the articles on what remains of Catalinas in Australia (see Warbirds, March & July 1988) several readers have written in: “When I flew SP-2H Neptunes with No10 Squadron out of Townsville we would often see and comment on the two or three Catalina hulls (and wings?) which lay on a beach on either Great Palm Is or its neighbour, Curacao Is, both about 90km north of Townsville.

“Unfortunately, the 737-300 I now fly is around 26,000 feet as I pass those islands so I can’t tell anymore. Maybe a local up there can tell their fate. ” Maurice Ritchie, Hamilton, Qld.

“On Lord Howe Is, on 28/9/1948, a Catalina, A24-381 from No11 Squadron (Rathmines), clipped a ridge while attempting to land in darkness on the lagoon. Seven of the nine crew were killed. A plaque, erected on the ridge in 1978, lists the names of all crew members.

“The wing and engines separated from the fuselage, which caught fire. A local man received a civil decoration for rescuing the two survivors. The remains of the fuselage appear to be covered by a large mound of earth, but four sizeable sections of wing, including both wingtips with the floats in retracted position, both engines, propeller hubs and other odds and ends remain in the grassy paddock below, quite close to a house. I suspect that the remains are left In position as a tribute to the victims of what was probably the Island’s worst disaster. ” Bruce Watt, Benalla, Vic.

In Brief

• The second of the two replica Avro 504s being built by Qantas is to go to the Sydney Power House Museum. While not a 100% authentic replica, the Armstrong Siddley Puma engined version will be externally correct. Meanwhile Qantas is well into construction of its own 504 replica and at the same time rebullding Avro 504K, A3-4, for its return to the Australian War Memorial complete with Clerget rotary engine. The Power House replica was originally to go to the Queens- land Stockman’s Hall of Fame at Longreach but the Hall appar- ently decided that the Avro was not for them.

• Bristol 170 Freighter, A81-1, arrived at the Point Cook RAAF Museum on August 3rd. The large freight aircraft was unable to make the delivery flight by air from Coolangatta (see Warbirds p. 78 July 1988) and so was dismantled and moved as road freight. Presented to the museum by owner Malcolm Long, the former Chewing Gum Field aircraft will be the largest in the Point Cook collection.

• Former Army Cessna 180A VH-TVD is back in the air. Owned by Richard Hourigan of Harkaway, Vic the taildragging Cessna, previously A98-350, has been out of the air for more than a year while it has been rebuilt to high display standard. It took to the sky again on September 11th and Richard reports that there were no problems in the rebuild and the aircraft was trimmed so well that it fies hands off straight and level. The colour scheme and external aerials are as per Army service days between the years 1959 and 1969 when the Cessna 180s were replaced by the Pilatus Porter.