Warbirds

After the landing the aircraft began to take on water and although the crew of seven attempted to bail out the machine they could not stem the flow and were eventually forced to abandon the Catalina. From their rubber liferaft the crew saw the machine slip beneath the surface of the Pacific, the nose going down first. Before they left the aircraft a mayday call was sent and a US Coast Guard Hercules from Hawaii came and circled the liferaft until a freighter, the Direct Kookaburra, travelling from Auckland to San Francisco, picked them up on January 16. Fortunately the Catalina was insured.

While N5404J will not now be taking up the registration ZK-PBY there is a possibility that another Catalina may. At last report the New Zealanders were investigating the prospect of obtaining Z-CAT, the Canadian-Vickers built Catalina that has been used on tourist flights up and down the Nile, and around Northern Africa for some years.

Australians and New Zealanders have always had a bit of a soft spot for the Catalina, no doubt due to its use in the area during the war and later commercially. A combination of flying operations and water has a certain romance that is hard to define. There are still a few Catalinas in the region and these are noted in brief as follows: In New Zealand is a Consolidated PBY-5A, last registered as VH-SBV. This Canadian-Vickers built Catalina was recovered from a dump in New Guinea where it was retired in 1966. Still to have final restoration work carried out and be put on display at the RNZAF Museum at Wigram.

At the former WWII RAAF base at Lake Boga is a restored Catalina carrying the serial A24-30. The aircraft is a composite and is without engines. A photo os this aircraft appears on p61 of our November ’93 edition.

On display at the Sydney Power House Museum is Catalina PB2B-2, Frigate Bird II, previously VH-ASA.

At Whaleworld, Albany, Western Australia, the substantial remains of a Catalina are on display. Work is continuing on this machine, the major cockpit section and fuselage of which were once RAAF serial, A24-46. Whaleworld curator, John Bell, has managed to obtain the various sections of the composite Cat from a number of sources and continues to follow up all leads with the view to eventually having a complete Cat for all to see.

Probably the last to fly in Australia is Canadian built Catalina, VH-EXG. Obtained by the RAAF Museum this aircraft was at Essendon for a number of years and more recently was dismantled and moved. Portions of the machine are at RAAF Williams and East Sale for restoration work.

At Shute Harbour, Qld the hull of former Ansett Catalina, VH-BRI, is enjoying retirement as a houseboat. There are reports of one or two more in a like role on the river Murray.

All Warbird enthusiasts will recall the early 1980s visit to Australia of Mike Wansey’s Catalina, N68756, which was based here for some time and displayed around the country. It is still flying in the US with a RAAF colour scheme and marks of A24-387. Some would say that it is a pity that we cannot turn the clock back a few years to once again enjoy seeing this machine in the air.

Winjeel Control Problems

In mid February some civil Winjeels were taken out of service when a crack was found in a casting that supports part of the controls. As a result of the grounding several aircraft were unable to attend events that they had been scheduled to fly at.

The problem lay with a cast fitting at station 143 behind the cabin seats at the base of the turn over truss vertical tube. A crack was found in the fitting of one aircraft and when several others were inspected they too were found to have the same problem. Not all aircraft inspected had the cracking problem. This is apparently the first time that the subject fitting has given trouble and when it is noted that the aircraft type has been flying for many years it is not considered to be a major snag. The fix for the cracking will be to have new fittings made up, approved and installed.

The various owners of Winjeels have cooperated with each other to assist in the fix and in the event of another Winjeel being restored the owner would quickly become aware of the casting and the fix, most probably without any reference to the CAA. The finding of the problem and its fix is an excellent example of self regulation.

More Ts-11 Iskra Jets

From Perth, Arek Zoltowski of Arrow Crest Equities has advised that he has brought three more Iskras from Poland for sale in Australia.

Arrow Crest also supplied Gordon Glynn with his Iskra VH-ADG, previously 1H0816. Gordon also has another Iskra in Sydney that has not yet been registered. The new imports are reported to have been the mounts of the Polish Aerobatic Team and still carry the teams red and white colour scheme. Mr Zoltowski would ideally like to see the aircraft acquired as a group and operated as a civil jet aerobatic team in Australia and New Zealand. At presstime the aircraft were still available for purchase.

Power House Museum

There are many aero museums and displays of aircraft around the country but one of the most convenient to obtain access to from the centre of a city is the Power House Museum collection situated a short walk or a monorail ride from the centre of Sydney.

For those with an interest in machinery in general and aircraft in particular a visit to the Power House Museum is highly recommended. All the aircraft are suspended from the roof and are able to be viewed from several angles. Not all the collection is at present on display with some still under restoration or being held in storage.

NE Aircraft at present on display comprise: VH-DIK, Bell 206B JetRanger III, (this was Dick Smith’s around the world aircraft); VH-TRN Transavia PL-12 Airtruk; VH-UAU DH60X Moth, VH-ASA Catalina; VH-AMB Beech Queen Air; an Avro 504K replica painted in early Qantas marks; a Bleriot monoplane, this aircraft made the first airmail flight from Melbourne to Sydney, EX-P1, an Eagle X canard type aircraft; and a Skybaby replica that was built in the USA a few years ago. Wheeler Skycraft Scout of 1976 vintage; and N2115B, a Clancy Most of the aircraft on display have an Australian connection. Well detailed data boards are situated adjacent to the displayed machines.

DH88 Comet Replicas

What will they think of next. In America the market for famous replica aircraft has extended beyond US designed and built types such that in California Bill Turner and his firm of Repeat Aviation have built from scratch a replica De Havilland DH88 Comet racer. The Comet became famous as the mount of fliers Scott and Campbell-Black who won the MacRobertson England to Australia Air Race in 1934 The replica Comet took to the air on November 28 last year from its construction site at FlaBob Airport near Los Angeles. It had been hoped to have the machine at the 1993 EAA Oshkosh gathering but it was just not ready in time. Perhaps 1994. After flight trials and a bit of touring the replica is to be taken to the UK where Turner is hopeful of having it fly alongside the original, that is if the British will allow two identical aircraft carrying the same external marking of G-ACSS in the air at the same time. Already there is talk of the replica doing a flight from the UK to Australia to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of what has been called the world’s greatest air race. The il fated Kiwi Catalina abandoned and taking on water as viewed from the aircraft’s former crew’s literaft. The Cat sadly disappeared under the water several hours after this photograph was taken. (Photo courtesy New Zealand Wings magazine) Many readers will recall that in 1985 the original DH88 Comet was brought to Australia and displayed over several months. The machine was unable to fly at the time as it had not been fully restored. The Shuttleworth Trust has since completed the restoration and the aircraft flies on special occasions. In more recent times a telemovie about the race was made in Australia and for this two non-flying replicas were built. After filming had been completed the static replicas were disposed of. One ended up in the UK while the second, originally painted black and later repainted red complete with the marks of G-ACSS, went to the Clyde North Aeronautical Preservation at Clyde North, Victoria.

Over the last few months the Darwin Aviation Museum has been negotiating with the Clyde North group and have obtained a lease on the aircraft. It is to be transported to Darwin and put on display in the museum. The original Comet, G-ACSS, transitted at Darwin on October 23, 1934. The plan is that the replica Comet will be on display in the museum by October to mark the 60th anniversary.

Vale – Cole Palen

To those with an interest in World War One era aeroplanes the name Cole Palen will be well known. Cole was the man who for many years ran his internationally acclaimed Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome near Rhinebeck in New York state. Each summer weekend he put on a two day airshow using WWI era aeroplanes, some rebuilt originals and some replicas.

Over the years many Australians visited the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome and all went away with happy memories of seeing the show and the aeroplanes, most of which the visitors thought were only to be seen in history books instead of actually flying. The show was different, very different. It was not your super slick precision timing type event but more of a mum and pop type event, and the spectators loved it even more.

Palen started his love of old aircraft in 1952 when he purchased six machines from a museum that had been closed to make way for a shopping mall. In 1958 he dug a sloping curved runway out of the forest in upstate New York and two years later commenced aerial demonstrations that turned into the regular airshow. Along the way Palen suffered the pain of having an arsonist burn down his home and library, losing irreplaceable documentation, and to have several close friends die in air accidents that were connected to the flying show. Cole kept going and each summer the show got bigger and better. Each winter he would retreat to Florida where he usually overhauled another WWI veteran or else built yet another replica. In early 1993 Cole Palen suffered a stroke but managed to fully recover. On December 8 he died peacefully in his sleep at his Delray Beach home in Florida.

To his credit Cole Palen had the foresight to perpetuate his life’s work by creating the Old Rhinebeck Museum Foundation. The Foundation, with the aid of his wife and friends, will ensure that the airshows will continue into the foreseeable future.

Cole Palen lived the life that many can only dream of. He built, rebuilt, maintained and flew antique aeroplanes, many of which were unique in that they were the only one of their kind still flying. He allowed the world at large to see, appreciate and enjoy those aircraft and yet he was a down to earth man who would still pose for a photo and have time to talk with visitors to the aerodrome. The ‘old aeroplane’ movement is all the better for the pioneer work that Cole Palen did to preserve and display unique aircraft. He will not be forgotten.

Firefly News

From Griffith comes the story that the Canadian Warbird Heritage group has offered the local RSL of $500 for the right wing of the Fairey Firefly that is mounted on a pole outside the RSL building. The wing is wanted to replace a wing damaged in an accident in Canada.

Following a lengthy rebuild the CWH’s former Royal Australian Navy Firefly (WH632) had been flying less than a month as C-GBDG when it swung during takeoff at Victoria, British Columbia, and collided with a tractor badly damaging the wing. Since that time the CWH has been making enquiries all over the world to try and obtain a replacement wing, unfortunately without success.

The Griffith Firefly had only recently been reinstalled on the pole following the swap and use of a number of components in the rebuild of Firefly WD828/VH-HMW. This aircraft was damaged in a crash landing near Camden, NSW, on December 4 1987, following a major power loss after takeoff. The Griffith response to the $500 offer is unknown.

G-A CSS The Firefly type continues to be a problem with the Canadians. A previous CWH aircraft was also ex RAN, WD901, and as CF-BDH it was destroyed in a fatal crash in 1977 into Lake Ontario.

Raising the Catalina

The Catalina club of Western Australia is working on an ambitious plan to locate and possibly raise a Catalina flying boat. The Club has sought the assistance of the Navy which has offered the services on an as available basis of its hydrographic ship HMAS Moresby.

Four RAAF Catalinas were scuttled off Rottnest Island, about 20km west of Perth, in 1946 as a part of Lend Lease requirements. Also sunk with the aircraft were all spares and equipment required for supporting the type though we believe a fair dose of Aussie ingenuity was involved in ensuring the deplorable waste, as we most certainly would declare this act today, was kept to a minimum.

there was some talk that the remains would go to New Zealand but now it turns out that the wreck has gone to the United States to be rebuilt. Already the registration N20MD has been reserved for a Charles Greenhill of Mettawa, Illinois. It only goes to show that as the years advance some people are prepared to build an aircraft up from a less than complete hulk.

At Bankstown airport are two MiG-15 (Lim-2) jets that have not had much coverage. Originally due to arrive during the 1992 Avalon International Air Show, the owner, Atlas Aviation, later had them transported to Australia from Europe by sea. During January the aircraft were noted outside the Atlas Bankstown hangar. One machine was externally complete except for the upper tail unit including the elevator and stabilizer. This jet was painted a dusty brown and had no external marks. The second MIG was dismantled and under a tarpaulin. Painted silver with Polish Air Force markings this machine carried the serial 10926 on the fin.

The four aircraft had explosive charges set in their cock

Do you have an interest in warbirds? Do you plan to visit pits and blister areas and thus it is believed that the Cairns in the near future? At Cairns, Seaford Aviation Ac- airframes would have been extensively damaged. A near tivities is operating Cessna 0-1 Bird Dog, VH-CAM, on century beneath the ocean would also have taken a nic joyflights over the area. With the promise of great heavy toll. Any reader interested in making contact with the visibility and plenty of fresh air the former warhorse is Catalina Club can phone Eric Carpenter on (09) 342 2779. painted up in the same scheme it carried when used in Vietnam. Contact Seaford on (070) 35 9501 for further details. • From the newsletter of the Southern California Wing of the Confederate Air Force. Two judges at Oshkosh ’94 were overheard wondering aloud what Dennis Sander’s Boomerang was. . they decided it was a Brewster Buffalo!

In Brief

There is only a year to go to the next Avalon Airshow. The Australian International Air Show and Aerospace Expo will be held over the period March 21-26, 1996. The next year will seem to pass very quickly. Some 220,000 visitors and 369 aircraft of all types attended the 1992 Avalon Airshow. • Back in 1990 the Royal Navy FAA Historic Flight’s Hawker Sea Fury T. Mk 20 WG655 crashed following an engine failure. The aircraft was demolished when it hit a tree during the forced landing. The two occupants fortunately escaped without serious injury. Following the incident A recent inclusion on the US civil aircraft register was North American T-28D, s/n 54-137773, last heard of with Greg Lovett of Melbourne, Vic. The Trojan has been registered as N128TB in the USA. It had previously been No 3411 with the Royal Laotian Air Force and was one of a number of the type that arrived in Melbourne in early 1989 following their purchase by Col Pay.