Warbirds

The Navy Historic Flight Grumman Tracker also attended and Jeff Trappett’s Mustang, Vh-Agj, drew the kind of attention that only a Mustang can. Neptune Vh-Ioy was another heavy warbird present. However, the biggest crowd-pleaser was the display of the MiG-21Um, Vh-Xxi, creating only the kind of noise and speed that a MiG can. Fantastic! On the negative side, Monday saw the antique Stinson Sr9E Reliant, Vh-Isr, ground loop and tear out an undercart leg.

Winjeel Movements

Winjeels always seem to be in the news and this issue is no exception. From Bankstown it is reported that Winjeel A85-439 was transported by road in early April from the Raaf training school at the Wagga base to Winrye Aviation. The former Raaf trainer will be brought back to airworthy standard and will then go to the Raaf Museum’s Historic Flight where it will replace A85-401/Vh-Nty which will go into the museum on static display. A85-401 was the first production Cac Ca-25 Winjeel.

Also at Winrye is the Heli-Muster Winjeel, Vh-Whz/A85-404. This machine is in for overhaul and is to be painted up in the ‘Fanta Can’ colour scheme of dayglo orange and white.

Fairey Firefly Update

Going, Going, Gone. Firefly Wd828/Vh-Hmw, better known as ‘Mickey’s Mouse’, has gone overseas. It is understood that the machine, which had been advertised for some time as for sale, has gone to the Usa. Disposed of by the Navy in the mid-sixties, it was flown from Bankstown to Moorabbin on February 18, 1967, for inclusion in the Moorabbin Air Museum. Later traded, Michael Wansey had the aircraft rebuilt at Ballarat after which it flew again on September 28, 1984.

For several years it flew the airshow circuit and was quite a hit with its very different V12 engine and folding wings. On December 4, 1987, the aircraft was being test flown out of Camden, Nsw, when it suffered a power loss shortly after takeoff and was badly damaged in the forced landing. The aircraft was rebuilt using components of the Griffith Firefly, Wb518, but the rebuild had not been completed and the aircraft test flown before it departed the country in a shipping container. The new owner and destination are unknown at this stage. The Ran Historic Flight Firefly Wd826/Vh-Nvu is now the only remaining flyable aircraft of its type in Australia.

Since the Firefly news item in the April issue of Aa, more news has come to hand on the saga of the Griffith aircraft. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum was very keen to obtain the starboard wing of the aircraft to replace the damaged wing on their own aircraft. While a token amount of $500 was mooted, another independent valuation said the wing was worth between $25,000 to $50,000, depending on condition. The council is reported to have made the decision to give the wing to Cwh with several conditions including the supply and fitment of a fibreglass replacement.

The end to the saga came when the Cwh advised that it did not want to go ahead with the acquisition as they had costed the exercise to be some $70,000 to supply, transport and fit a replacement fibreglass wing, while it would cost only $50,000 for a replacement metal wing to be made. The Canadians naturally went for the lower figure. The wing sale saga created a lot of controversy within the ranks of the Griffith Council. At the same time as the above was raging, an Australian engineer working on the rebuild of Firefly Wd833/N833Wd in the Usa for Amjet Services in Minnesota made approaches to the council to obtain the tail section of the Griffith aircraft in exchange for the tail of Wd833 rebuilt to display standards. The offer was to be the subject of further discussion.

Taylor J-2 Flight: Second Time Around

Back in the thirties, before the Piper J-3 Cub, there was the Taylor J-2 Cub. Around 1200 of the Taylors were made and of these three came to Australia pre-war. These and the early Piper Cubs were all imported by the firm of Julius Gardiner & Co. of Sydney. As a means of promoting the Cub, the Managing Director of Julius Gardiner, Mr Roderick H Julius, flew Taylor Vh-Uym around Australia in 1938.

The same Cub has survived over the years with a number of ownership changes; the 40hp (30kW) engine was swapped for a 65hp (48kW) model and then, in the mid-1970s, it was involved in a workshop fire. Like the Phoenix that arose from the ashes, the Taylor was rebuilt. The owner these days is Mr Roy Raymond who first flew the aircraft back in 1938.

In April, Mr Raymond and his son Barry departed from Sydney in the Cub on an around-Australia flight retracing, as best they can, the flight that the same aircraft made in 1938. One wonders how many people they will encounter that saw the same aircraft all those years ago. The flight, which just like the 1938 departure, was scheduled to depart from Sydney’s Mascot airport on April 16. These days the Taylor is equipped with a Vhf radio, Transponder and Gps. The flight is in aid of the Camperdown Children’s Hospital. Two other Taylors still fly in Australia: Vh-Uyt is owned by Mr Don Bunn and is based near Albury, Nsw; at Tyabb, Vh-Uyl, a recently imported Taylor Cub, is registered to Mr Brian Jones.

Mildura Meteor And Dc-3 Move

From Mildura we learn that the Douglas Dc-3 (C-47) last registered as Vh-Baa with Brain and Brown Airfreighters is to be moved from the Mildura Warbirds Museum to Alice Springs, probably the Central Australian Aviation Museum. Another aircraft from Mwm that has recently moved to new owners is the ex-Royal Air Force (Raf) Armstrong Whitworth built Gloster Meteor Tt-20 (Nf11), Wd767. This aircraft was used by the British on the Woomera Rocket Range.

When retired, it was sold as surplus and flown to Mildura to be delivered to the Mildura Warbirds Museum. Recently sold in New Zealand, the machine will almost certainly be brought back to airworthy standard and flown once again. Once more New Zealand’s gain is most definitely Australia’s loss.

Friends Of The Raaf Museum

Everyone needs a friend and the Raaf Museum at Point Cook is no exception. With the ongoing downsizing of the armed forces and the tightening of purse strings, the Raaf Museum is feeling the pinch. Following an inspection overseas of similar facilities in 1991 by Warrant Officer Dave Gardner, Curator of the Raaf Museum, it was decided to adopt a volunteer system modelled on that operating at Shuttleworth in England.

Following approval by the Air Officer Commanding Training Command, the Friends of the Raaf Museum began forming in late 1992. The aim of the Friends of the Raaf Museum is to seek to promote and advance the role of the museum in the preservation and display of Raaf aircraft and equipment. This is done by providing financial or physical assistance through the provision of active members and their management.

Friends of the Raaf Museum receive a membership card, the annual Raaf Museum calendar, the Raaf Museum newsletter and magazine, free entry to the museum and Raaf Museum Air Pageants and a discount on purchases from the museum souvenir shop. The first issue of the Raaf Museum magazine, Aerogram, has just been released and contains an article on the birth of Point Cook, the Maurice Farman Shorthorn aircraft plus archive photos. The President of the Friends group is John Dorward while Bob Eastgate is Vice President. Silver membership fees are $40 per year while active membership is $15 per year.

A Slice Of Danish

During March a group of Danish Antique Aeroplane enthusiasts visited Australia. The Danes came out to Australia to look over the local antique scene, see and fly some Australian aircraft, visit some museums, go to some tourist venues and enjoy the local hospitality. Here in Australia, not much is heard of the Danish and indeed the European antique aeroplane scene. Be assured that it is alive and well and that there are Danes with an interest in preserving and flying their historic aircraft as keen as anyone here in Australia.

While de Havilland may be the backbone of our local antique aeroplane movement, in Denmark the equivalent is the Kz series of aircraft. Denmark has never had a major aircraft industry; however, between 1937 and 1954 Skandinavisk Aero Industri produced a number of light aircraft better known as the Kz types, from the initials of the founders, Kramme and Zeuthen. Examples of the Kz series are preserved at Stauning airfield. The rally, which has been going for 27 years, attracts visitors from many other countries. The 1994 Kz Rally will be held over the 16th to 19th June.

Aircraft Scrapping At Tocumwal – A Pictorial History

In the years following Wwii, a number of Raaf aerodromes saw the disposal of surplus aircraft, either by sale or scrapping. One such base was Tocumwal, on the Victorian/Nsw border. Even into the early sixties, aircraft there were being turned into aluminium ingots for what today is called recycling. It was during this time that several aviation enthusiasts visited Tocumwal armed with camera and notebook.

Now, thirty years later, their observations have been turned into a highly interesting little monograph entitled ‘Pots, Pans and Meteors: Aircraft scrapping operations at Tocumwal, Nsw 1960-1963’. Edited by well-known aero historian John Hopton, the text has 36 pages complete with 45 B&W photos. There is also a listing of aircraft known to have gone into the smelter at this site. Reading through the publication is like turning back the clock to when there were more aircraft around than the military knew what to do with. Modellers will also find the different markings of interest. ‘Pots, Pans and Meteors’ is published by the Clyde North Aeronautical Preservation Group.

In Brief

• Wanaka, in the south isle of New Zealand, is to be the new home to two former Australian aircraft. Lockheed Lodestar Vh-Xus is to be based at Wanaka and will fly again when its certification is finalised. The aircraft, which will be registered as Zk-Xus, already carries the markings Xus on the fuselage. Gerald Rhodes of Wanaka is the new owner. The other aircraft to go to Wanaka is the Gaf Canberra, model B.20, Raaf serial number A84-207. Previously owned by the Wa Museum of Aviation, it is also owned by Gerald Rhodes and will go on display in his Wanaka Transport Museum.

• The Essendon Market, at Essendon airport, has closed. The market had on display as decoration a Beech Queen Air, a Bell helicopter and a Nomad.

• Regarding that cancelled Point Cook Moomba Airshow that had been scheduled for March 13. Advice has been received that one coach load of enthusiasts came from Wa and another two coaches from Queensland only to find that there was no show. There were a lot of unhappy people at the front gates of Point Cook that day.

• Operation Pilgrimage is the name that a group of former Army Commandos have given to an exercise to relocate old Wwii airstrips in the northern areas of Australia and search for and recover any aircraft wrecks that they come across.

• Sunday April 17 saw the Moorabbin Air Museum transport Mirage A3-45 from Avalon to the museum at Moorabbin airport. When reassembled, the former Raaf frontline fighter will be one of only a very few of the type on display in the country.

• The Clyde North Preservation Group has advised that the lease of their Dh88 Comet replica will not now go ahead.

• From Point Cook comes the news that the Raaf Museum is not going to get an F-111G. While the receipt of an F-111 had been discussed, the museum was not going to get one of these aircraft at least until the Raaf retires its own F-111s.

• Wanted: Any and all Catalina and Vought Kingfisher parts. At the old Whaling Station at Albany, Wa, the curator of the Whale World Whaling Museum, John Bell, is rebuilding both a Cat and a Kingfisher.