Warbirds

Lockheed Hudson Up For Sale

Of all the World War II bombers operated by the Royal Australian Air Force one of the most interesting is the Lockheed Hudson. The first modern WWII bomber to be purchased in any quantity by Australia, it was first used during the Japanese invasion of SE Asia when the RAAF commenced operating the Hudsons in a desperate rear guard action. After the war a small number of Hudsons turned up on the Australian civil register. The surviving Hudsons eventually became the last of the type to be airworthy in the world. The latest issue of the journal Warbirds Worldwide reports that an Australian Hudson has now come up for sale on the world market. The aircraft, VH-KOY, previously A16-112, is owned by Queensland warbird enthusiast Malcolm Long and has had a lengthy and detailed restoration that includes the fitment of a genuine Boulton Paul upper fuselage gun turret and authentic camouflage colour scheme. The asking price is $US800,000. The sale is being handled by US broker John Conner of El Paso, Texas. The aircraft is at present on display in the Airworld Air Museum at Wangaratta, in north eastern Victoria, along with another Hudson, A16-105/VH-AGP, also owned by Malcolm Long.

Western Australia Bulk Nanchang Cj-6a Import

Australian Warbird trainer numbers took a quantum leap upwards during October and November when Perth businessmen Steve Bastian and Ron Maclou took delivery of no less than 18 ex Chinese Air Force Nanchang CJ-6A. Of the 18 aircraft, now stored in Perth, some are almost ready to fly again while others will need work to bring them up to an airworthy standard. One machine has already been sold to a local, Brian Black of Witchcliffe, and on October 13 it was registered as VH-CJX with serial number 3051216. Another is believed to have gone to New Zealand while yet another was trucked to Melbourne in mid November. Steve Bastian and his firm Paramac Enterprises have been doing business for more than 10 years in the Eastern Bloc and has closed a number of deals involving aircraft. Some of his aircraft are presently in store in the UK. No doubt the Australian Warbird movement will hear more of Steve Bastian in the future. The CJ-6A is not a new aircraft to Australia, a Canberra based group having imported three, VH-NNA, VH-NNB and VH-NNC, from China in 1990. In New Zealand another Nanchang, ZK-OII, is flown by a syndicate at Auckland. Since the initial Australian import the world seems to have discovered the CJ-6A (and Yak-18) type and large numbers have been imported into the USA and the UK.

Vickers Viscount On The Move

Vickers 816 Viscount, VH-TVR, is to ‘fly’ again, but only for a very short time. Owned by the Moorabbin Air Museum (MAM) the former Trans Australian Airlines airliner has been on display at Wobbies World entertainment park in the Melbourne suburb of Nunawading for the past 17 years. With Wobbies planning a redevelopment for the area that the Viscount occupied, the aircraft had to be moved and this happily coincided with a $90,000 expansion programme that the Museum had already commenced. Now, to move an airliner, any airliner, is no mean task, particularly when the subject aircraft has been progressively hemmed in by tree growth and new buildings erected since the aircraft was placed on site. The move of the prop-jet, the only complete Viscount in Australia, has taken a lot of planning with the move scheduled for the week of February 19-23. The Viscount will fly but only in dismantled form under a massive crane as it is placed onto a low loader for the journey to the Museum’s site at Moorabbin Airport. At the Museum the airliner will stay dismantled for some time in order for restoration work to be carried out to combat the effects of the elements that have taken place since the machine last flew more than 20 years ago. Museum President, Mr Keith Gaff, said that when completed and reassembled the Viscount will be the largest airliner to be preserved and on display in an aviation museum in Australia.

Tiger Moths Damaged In Accidents

On November 29 last year Tiger Moth VH-FAS of the Royal Aero Club of WA suffered an engine failure while flying over the Swan River near Fremantle. During the forced landing the aircraft unfortunately struck a power line that brought it down into the river. It has been reported that the pilot escaped from the machine but that the passenger was trapped in the aircraft until rescued by a diver who had witnessed the event. In South Australia a picnic on Saturday January 6 turned into a day not to be forgotten when Tiger Moth VH-BLH (owned by Ivor Paech) was being flown out of a strip at Mt Compass near Adelaide. A wind gust blew the aircraft into a fence and then into a gully. As the two occupants scrambled clear the aircraft burst into flames. The fire quickly spread and eventually burnt out some 1500 acres of a pine tree plantation. The Tiger was also burnt out.

Wwii Undersea Aircraft Salvage To Go Overseas?

Much has been said in the media about the recovery or proposed recovery of the estimated large number of dumped WWII aircraft off the coast of Queensland. To date no aircraft have been recovered in restorable form and it now appears that the recovery work will involve an American organisation, with at least some aircraft raised going to the USA. Initial work to find the undersea squadron was made with the able assistance of the Royal Australian Navy and the RAN minesweeper Koraaga. It is now understood that the RAN and Don Dennis, the Melbourne businessman who instigated the discovery, have parted amicably as “the job was just too big for them to handle in the short-term” as Mr Dennis has been quoted. Another source has said that the RAN only has the capability to explore and recover items on the seabed at a maximum depth of 300ft (100m). The aircraft are in some 300m of water. With the parting of Mr Dennis and the RAN, the American Institute of Aeronautical Research in Sacramento has agreed to help in the recovery but this will probably mean that a number of the aircraft recovered will go to the USA. Recovery work was scheduled to commence in January. The Warbird world is following the recovery with keen interest.

B-25 Mitchell Sale News

While it has been reported in some quarters that the Australian War Memorial’s (AWM) North American B-25 Mitchell, VH-XXV, has been sold to a New Zealand concern, a spokesman for the AWM, Mr John White, has advised that the aircraft has not been sold to the Kiwis or anyone else as yet and that “we are talking to a number of interested parties” (about the future disposition of the aircraft). The part dismantled medium bomber is in storage at Canberra. The aircraft still carries the marks of A47-31 ‘KO-P’ that it wore when it flew in Australian skies between its arrival in 1983 and when it went into store in 1987.

Propeller Enthusiasts Take Note

Are there enthusiasts reading this column who have a particular interest and knowledge of wooden propellers, in particular old propellers? A Warbirds column reader recently asked if anyone has a knowledge of the name PAULOWNIA or PAVLOWNIA seen some years ago on the wooden propellers of light aircraft. Was this a brand name, who made them and where, local or overseas? Could it be that the name had something to do with the particular type of wood used, that of the Paulownia Genus tree? If you know something about this unusual name drop a line to Australian Aviation and mark your envelope ‘Warbirds Propeller’.

Wrong-way Corrigan Passes Away

The name Wrong-Way Corrigan was given to American flyer Douglas Corrigan after he made his July 1938 flight in his Curtiss Robin monoplane, NX9243, from New York’s Floyd Bennett Field across the Atlantic ocean to break out of cloud and land at Dublin, Ireland after more than 28 hours of nonstop flying. Corrigan claimed that he had been en route to California in his tired 1929 Curtiss and had been led astray by a faulty compass! The authorities, who had rejected repeated requests by Corrigan to make such a flight, did not believe him and promptly suspended his licence. The suspension ended the day that Corrigan sailed into New York harbour with his crated up Robin to the acclaim of one million New Yorkers who gave him a ticker-tape welcome parade. The American public, tired from the Great Depression, were keen for some relief from the problems of the times and Wrong-Way gave it to them. Such is the stuff that heroes are made of! Corrigan went on to serve as a test pilot during WWII. In more recent years he lived in retirement in Santa Ana, California. Unlike a lot of early pioneer aircraft the Corrigan Curtiss Robin survives today. At one stage Douglas Corrigan commented to friends that he would like to fly the Robin again. His friends rightly thought that the aircraft was not flyable in its present condition and promptly made sure that panels of the fabric covering were damaged to ensure that the aircraft could not be flown without a total rebuild. Born in Texas in 1907 Curtiss Robin pilot Douglas ‘Wrong-Way’ Corrigan died in California on December 9, 1995, aged 88. And so passes another of the last of the famous prewar pilots. No doubt Corrigan’s 165hp (125kW) J-5 powered 1929 Robin aircraft will end up in a museum, a fit and proper place to show to all the aircraft of a pilot who beat almost impossible odds to survive into the 1990s. For those who would still like to meet Douglas Corrigan, go to the Museum of Flight at Seattle. There, on the second floor of the Red Barn building, is a Curtiss Robin with a life sized photo cutout board of Corrigan next to it. Put your arm around his shoulder and have your photo taken. You will have met a real daredevil from the days of the pioneers. Here in Australia we have had two Curtiss Robins. The first was VH-UJB/VH-CSB. It went to PNG many years ago never to return. A few years ago Geoff Davis of South Australia imported another of the type. It became VH-JVV and is to be seen on occasions at flying events and the like.

Reggie Spotters Take Note

For all those who take a keen interest in registrations this issue we have a few for aircraft that were exported from Australia in recent times. The first machine concerned is the former Hockey Treloar CAC Mustang, A68-187, (VH-UFO not taken up) that was being restored at Toowoomba, Qld, until last year when it was quickly despatched to the USA. There it became N919WJ in August to Don Whittington of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Don Whittington is better known as World Jet Inc. a warbirds dealer. The second aircraft is the former Curtiss P-40N of Col Pay. This aircraft, previously VH-KTH, was also sold in the USA where it became N440PE with James E Smith of Crystal Lakes Resort, Fortine, Montana. Mr Smith is already a warbird owner/pilot with a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star jet N22ES, a NA P-51 N6519P, and a pair of NA T-6 Texans in his stable. The Kittyhawk started out as a Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft and carried RCAF markings while in Australia. Closer to home we learn that the Bob Eastgate’s CAC Winjeel, VH-SOB, has been sold to the Queensland syndicate headed by Ed Field. The syndicate recently imported a Mustang from the USA that is said to be an Australian aircraft, A68-110. The Mustang is still being restored and will need components from the USA before it can take to the skies in Queensland.

Model Expo Update

1996 is the year that the RAAF celebrates its 75th anniversary and while the Air Force is having a number of open days (refer p64 & p11 January 96 AA) the only actual official Airshow is to be held at RAAF Amberley over the weekend of May 4/5. With all of this in mind the scale modellers in Melbourne have closed ranks and opted to stage a 1/72nd scale display, the likes of which has not been seen before in Australia, with many models of aircraft that the RAAF has flown over the years. The show is to be held at the Arts and Craft Pavilion, Staughton Parade, Royal Agricultural Society Showgrounds, Epsom Road, Ascot Vale, Melbourne over the Labour Day long weekend of March 9 to 11. For anyone who has an interest in the aircraft of the RAAF this expo promises to be a show not to be missed.

In Brief

The rebuild of the Australian built DH.98 Mosquito, A52-319, of the Australian War Memorial (AWM) is just about complete. When finished the aircraft will go on display in March in the AWM Treloar Centre in Canberra. The completed aircraft will carry the all over silver colour scheme that it would have worn when it left the manufacturer’s Bankstown factory in the late 1940s. At some later stage it is hoped to transfer the aircraft to the main AWM building for display. Previously VH-WAD, the Mossie was restored by Hawker de Havilland at Bankstown, where it was built.

The fatal crash of Piper PA-32RT-300, VH-KTC, near Boddington, WA, on January 3 took the life of Warbird owner and pilot, Eric Dennerstein and his wife Grace. Two other passengers also died in the accident. The aircraft clipped trees and dived into a dam when about to land on a friend’s farm strip. Eric owned Cessna L-19/O-1A Bird Dog, VH-LQX. The Cessna had been entered in the February Ansett Air Race and at last report Grahame Dennerstein was to fly the aircraft as a token of respect for his brother.

South Australia has never had many flying warbirds but recently Strikemaster VH-ZEP (ex RNZAF NZ6361) arrived at Parafield, apparently to be based there for a local owner.

If you can’t melt them down into pots and pans how do you get rid of them? That must have been the question that perplexed the accountants of the Queensland firm of Majestic Airways regarding the company’s four Nord 262 Mohawk airliners that had been withdrawn from service. Noel Oxlade in his Armchair Aviation Newsletter reports that all four aircraft had their wings and engines removed (the engines are still usable in other aircraft) and that one machine was to be mounted on a pole, another was to be turned into a caravan(!) while the last two were to be sunk off Bundaberg, Qld, to form an artificial reef.

The heavy rains bucketing down on Sydney on Tuesday January 2 did not help Cessna A-37B, VH-DLO, when it was being landed at Bankstown that day. TV news of the day reported that the aircraft was unable to stop and ended up off the end of the runway where it was stopped by a wire fence and a drainage ditch. Standing water on the runway is thought to be the culprit.

Warbird people in the news: Longtime warbird owner Captain Bill Pike was elected to the position of President of the Australian International Pilots Association (AIPA) late last year. Another Qantas 747 pilot, Captain Bill Hamilton, who owns and flies a North American T-28D Trojan, was appointed as the honorary Technical Director of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) at the Association’s December Committee meeting.