iscover
Full time work by personnel mainly from No 38 Squadron and 501 Wing at Raaf Amberley since 1992 has culminated in the completion of the restoration of the two Douglas A-20 Boston/Havocs. 'Hell N Pelican II', an ex Usaaf A-20G of the 388 Bomber Squadron of the 312 Bomb Group (pictured), will be presented to the Government of Papua New Guinea, while the ex Raaf Boston J for Jessica will go on display at the Raaf Museum at Point Cook.
Warbirds, Vintage & Veteran
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A Kittyhawk, a Corsair and a Harvard
Big news is that Graham Hosking of Victoria, a keen Ryan owner, is swapping a Curtiss P-40F for a Vought Corsair. In doing so he will also obtain another aircraft. The P-40F Kittyhawk was one of two recovered from Erromango, Vanuatu in 1989. This is the Merlin powered version of the P-40. Restoration work had begun on the aircraft at Tyabb, Victoria when Graham got an offer from the Royal New Zealand Air Force to trade it for the Corsair. The plan is to rebuild the Kittyhawk as an Allison powered version of the P-40 and thus give the RNZAF an exhibit for their Wigram museum in keeping with types that the RNZAF has operated. The Corsair, being an F4U-5, is not in keeping with a type that the Kiwis had operated and so a deal was struck. When sighted at Wigram in April the Corsair had had its prop removed, the wing radiators were missing and the machine will need some sheet metal repairs as well as a general overhaul. The RNZAF obtained Corsair in a deal that involved use of their Douglas A-4 Skyhawks in a movie from the Disney Film Studios. Not a lot is known about the previous history of this aircraft. So how does a third aircraft get into the act you ask? Simple. In order for Graham to get tailwheel time in an aircraft that is much bigger, heavier and faster than a Ryan, he is obtaining a North American T-6 Harvard from Guido Zuccoli and his Aerotec firm at Darwin. The Darwin T-6 is an ex Italian Air Force aircraft now being rebuilt. When he gets to fly this two-seater it will give him much needed experience in an aircraft closer in performance to the Corsair.
New Aviation Museum for South Australia
A new aviation museum, named the Classic Jets Fighter Museum, is due to open in late July at Parafield airport in Adelaide. The museum, to be operated by its owner, Mr Bob Jarrett, will be located in Hangar 52 on Anderson Drive. At first the museum will only be open on Sundays but viewing days and times will be increased to meet demand. Bob Jarrett has long wanted to open a museum at or close to Parafield and while he sought a suitable location his aircraft were worked on to bring them up to display standard. At present there are four complete aircraft. These are CAC Sabre A94-974, Gloster Meteor F.8 A77-867, Sea Venom WZ939 and a DHA Vampire T.35. The fuselage of a Mustang and a section of the fuselage of a Mirage will also go on display. Another Mirage, A3-16, will be restored while it is on public display. This type of display is gaining increasing interest with the public at all types of museums around the world.
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