Warbirds

In 1979 MV154 was shipped to the UK and new owner, Robs Lamplough. At the time the action was described as an illegal export due to the circumstances of the shipment. Allocated UK registration G-BKMI the restored Spitfire made it first flight since WWII on May 28 at Filton, Bristol. Robs Lamplough was the pilot. The flight was without incident but the machine is reported to have suffered minor damage as it taxied in after the flight. Now carrying the RAF serial ‘MT928’ and code letters ZX-M the fighter sports a two tone camouflage scheme with a light blue underside. Interestingly enough the UK aviation media has not mentioned how or where the machine was acquired from. Good to see yet another Spitfire joining the ranks of the world’s flyable warbirds.

The Catalina Has Landed

At least that is one way of putting it. Close to midnight on Sunday October 23 Catalina Z-CAT arrived at Cairns, Qld. after a long flight from Darwin. Next day the machine landed at Brisbane. The amphibian was on the final stages of its ferry flight from Africa to its new owners in New Zealand where it takes up the registration ZK-CAT. This is the second time the Kiwis have tried in recent times to import a Catalina to New Zealand. The previous attempt was unfortunate to encounter problems midway across the Pacific that resulted in a nighttime forced landing on the ocean and the machine subsequently sank after it was abandoned. The crew escaped unhurt. One has to admire the New Zealanders for being keen enough to scour the world, not once but twice, in order to find a suitable and available Catalina and then fly the craft halfway across the world to a new home down under. Just a pity that the aircraft could not have stayed in Australia a little longer for all to see and appreciate. The Kiwis would no doubt say come on over if you want a good look at the machine!

Army Porters Flying Overseas

Who was it that said that old porters don’t retire, they just fade away? That may well be the case in the Himalayas but with the former Australian Army Pilatus PC-6/B1-H2 Turbo Porters they just soldier on. When disposed of in 1993 by CSW Associates of Essendon most of the available machines were purchased by Pilatus and went overseas. Four of the type took up Australian civil registration. These were A14-652/VH-OWB, A14-689/VH-MKT, A14-693/VH-REL and A14-731/VH-ZCZ. This last machine was later sold in Canada where it took up the marking C-GZCZ. No waste of paint on the new registration marking here!

In the last few months no less than four of the ex army Porters have turned up in the USA for another tour of duty. Pilatus has been promoting the Porter hard in the last few years and the end result has been an increase in aircraft sold. At this stage it is not known if the Australian machines were remanufactured at the factory or simply sold in the USA in the condition that they were when disposed of. The four Porters have taken up American registrations as follows: A14-684 is now N19TX. A14-653 became N101CP and A14-687 took up the marking N2185M with Freefall Express at DeLand, Florida. In the past another Porter has been in service at DeLand on parachuting work with the wings of a flamingo painted on the upper surfaces. Named ‘Demingo’ it featured in photos passing the skydivers who had just exited the aircraft as it descended vertically to the drop zone in time to land before the parachutists! Perhaps A14-687/N2185M will be doing the same. The last Porter was A14-701 which became N111FX. Registered on July 1 1994 the aircraft crashed on July 9 when it lost power and clipped a tree on the edge of a field 150m (500ft) from an aerodrome at Raeford, North Carolina. A history of the Pilatus Porter in ADF service was featured in the December 1993 issue of AA.

Raaf Boston Restoration Gets A Boost

The recovery of a US Army Air Force A-20 Havoc and a unique Sabre for Boston bits swap have both significantly boosted the restoration efforts of two RAAF Boston bombers at RAAF Amberley. The American Havoc was recently discovered by a reconnaissance team in August. It was buried in three metres of mud and kunai grass in a swamp in the Ramu Valley in Papua New Guinea, with only its tail visible. The Havoc (or Boston in Commonwealth parlance) remained undiscovered for more than half a century when its crew crash landed in what they mistook to be a grassy field after running out of fuel. The bomber was returning from attacking targets near Madang.

RAAF recovery specialists, Navy divers and Army support personnel floated the Havoc out of the swamp before it was lifted to Madang by a Mil Mi-26 Halo helicopter where it was being cleaned and prepared for shipping to Amberley. Parts of the complete Havoc will be used to help the RAAF complete two Bostons it has been restoring at Amberley for almost a decade. The Bostons themselves were also retrieved from PNG in the mid 1980s. The RAAF’s Boston restoration efforts were earlier boosted by a unique swap arrangement with aircraft enthusiast and collector Geoff Moesker. Mr Moesker had a large collection of Boston bits including extremely difficult to source engines, tyres and wheels. In return for the Boston components the RAAF swapped Sabre A94-922 which was being used by 501 Wing at Amberley for surface finisher training. Mr Moesker intends to restore the Sabre to airworthiness. The arrangement is certainly a win win deal for the RAAF, Mr Moesker and the warbirds movement as a whole, as important restoration can now be completed on the Bostons and Australia gets (hopefully) a second flyable Sabre.

Raaf Number 1ad Closes

November 25 saw the disbandment parade of the RAAF’s No 1 Aircraft Depot. Originally formed in July 1921, No 1AD has had a long and proud history of supporting the RAAF with aircraft and engine repairs and other tasks. During WWII the Depot reached its peak with upwards of 2000 officers and airmen working around the clock to keep both training and fighting squadrons supplied with much needed aircraft. Based at Laverton, (now part of RAAF Williams), the Depot has been found to be the longest serving unit in the RAAF and in fact the longest serving maintenance unit in the world. The unit has played an important part in the defence of Australia. It has assembled, maintained, test flown and repaired many of the types operated by the RAAF over the years, from wood and fabric through to jets.

In the 1960s the charter of 1AD changed to that of being responsible for the maintenance of ground telecommunications and ground mechanical equipment as well as that of looking after the Melbourne based RAAF motor vehicle fleet. By the 1990s a change of defence policy resulted in the tasks of No 1AD being dispersed with redistribution of work and manpower to other major bases and other work contracted out as required. After 73 years of operation there are a lot of faces sad to see the closure of the Depot. Given the length of service of No 1AD one could say that there is hope for a book to be written about this fine and interesting unit. Laverton has been the base for No 1AD and looking at this base you have to ask the question surely this airfield could be used both for flying aircraft and other uses. Close to Melbourne, it has large hangars and extensive tarmac area. Already motorcycle training is carried out there and no doubt there are a number of other activities that could be operated from there, including having an operational runway and flying operations. RAAF Williams will continue to operate at the Laverton base but flying operations are not part of that charter.

The last flying operations from Laverton will probably be that of Hawker De Havilland Victoria as it winds down its Macchi refurbishment programme. By late October the last Macchi to be worked on, A7-029, was due to be back in the air and have departed in following weeks. Dismantled Macchis held in storage and to fly no more were A7-089, A7-058, A7-014, A7-061 and A7-092. These will probably go to museums and indeed A7-061 was scheduled to be transported to RAAF Edinburgh in mid November to become a gate guardian. Other aircraft at Laverton were single seat Vampire A79-178 and two seat Vampire A79-636/VH-HLF in the 21 Squadron Citizen Air Force hangar. Also in the same hangar was the Catalina VH-EXG. The Cat had its tail surfaces removed and the wings were also off. The centre section was held on trestles while the outer wings were elsewhere. The aircraft is being refurbished for the RAAF Museum.

Flight Of The Vimy Continues

Following on from the item in the November issue of AA regarding the Vickers Vimy replica more data has come to hand on the aircraft and its epic flight. Construction of the machine started in March 1993 and took 15,000 hours. The first flight was made on July 30 at the disused Hamilton Air Force Base at Novato, near San Francisco, in the USA. The test pilot was British Airways 767 captain Peter Hoar, a former British Aerospace test pilot who flew the first Vimy replica in the late 1960s. Lang Kidby was the copilot. The 1960s replica is now in the RAF Museum at Hendon.

True to schedule the Vimy departed from the Farnborough Airshow on September 11. The route followed was as close as possible to that of the original 1919 flight but with a few alterations due to politics and closed airspace in some countries. The route planned was: Farnborough/Paris/Lyons/Pisa/Rome/Taranto/Athens/Crete/Alexandria/Cairo/Ha’il/Riyadh/Bahrain/Bandar Abbas/Calcutta/Rangoon/Bangkok/Songkhla/Penang/Kuala Lumpur/Singapore/Jakarta/Surabaya/Bima/Kupang/Darwin. The Darwin arrival was planned for October 13/15 but on Sunday October 9 one engine experienced a mechanical problem and the aircraft was forced to put down on the Indonesian island of Sumatra after taking off from Singapore. The forced landing resulted in minor undercarriage damage. In a radio interview Lang Kidby said that the aircraft had to land across rice paddies and had it not been for the large diameter wheels the replica would have been badly damaged. Qantas flew a replacement engine held at Brisbane to Jakarta where it was then transported the 300km to the landing site where it replaced the defective engine. In the meantime the Vimy had become a real tourist attraction as locals travelled from near and far to see the machine. The scene was probably not unlike the incidents that befell the original 1919 aircraft. Following the field repairs and engine change the Vimy was flown out and duly arrived at Darwin and then flew on to Brisbane where it became the star attraction at the Archerfield Airshow on Sunday October 30. The Vimy was expected to arrive at Adelaide on November 11 for the GP and no doubt will be at the Avalon in 1995. A documentary film was being made of the flight. When shown this will be one film that will be a must for any aviation enthusiast to see.

New Heron In Australian Skies

October 2 was the first day that DH-114-2B Heron VH-NJP flew as an Australian registered aircraft. Owned by Heron Airlines, the four engined machine was previously registered G-ODLG. Owner John Ives reports that it took him 12 months to get the aircraft onto the register. On the day of its first Australian flight the Heron flew from Sydney to Maitland and return. The next day the machine was rushed into service as a SAR aircraft in the search for the lost Seaview Rockwell 690, VH-SVQ. The Heron was particularly useful because it could spend up to six hours searching while at an altitude of 300 feet. How many other search aircraft could do that one has to ask?

Heron VH-NJP, which is powered by Gipsy Queen engines, joins Heron Airlines’ other Heron, VH-NJI, which is powered by Lycoming engines. There are now six DH-114 Herons on the register though Airlines of Tasmania will be phasing out their aircraft through next year. For those who like Herons and travelling, Heron Airlines is planning to run a flight from Sydney to London, and return, in September/October 1995. The trips, lasting 22 and 24 days respectively, will relive the grand days of prewar air travel and will be fully escorted, staying at the best hotels complete with a full programme of sightseeing excursions. There will be only 12 passenger seats on the aircraft. Eighteen countries will be visited in the course of the flight. Unlike a Jumbo flight the Lycoming powered Heron flight will be at an altitude where the passengers will actually appreciate the countries that they are passing over. This sounds like a great flight. Heron Airlines can be contacted at Sydney (02) 545 2677. Anyone need a baggage caddy?

In Brief

• Interesting to note that in the UK another Canberra is flying in civil hands. Registered as G-BURM the English Electric TT.18 previously carried the RAF serial WJ680. The English machine is not the first Canberra warbird as Australian built GAF Canberra A84-229 is flying in the USA as N229CA with owner Steve Picatti and was on display at the recent Oshkosh show. Another four ex RAF TT.18s have appeared on the US register in the last few months.

• The Queensland Air Museum’s DC-3, VH-ANR, arrived at Caloundra, Qld in early October. Shortly after the arrival the wings were refitted onto the machine giving it a far more complete appearance. Refer news item on p87 of the October AA for more information.

• October 12 saw the passing of early flyer and wartime pilot, Sir Raymond Garrett. Sir Raymond qualified as a pilot at the Point Cook RAAF flying school in 1926. He served with the Citizens Air Force until the war when he became an instructor. He was decorated with the Air Force Cross and retired with the rank of Group Captain. Following the war he became involved in local and then state politics.