iscover
Photographed At The Oaks (near Camden) In 1982, This Is The Same Nakajima Ki-43 'oscar' That Was Seen At Wanaka Earlier This Year. In The Wanaka Caption We Wrote That It Was Probably The First Time An Oscar Has Flown Since Ww2. Reader Gareth Morgan Has Written To Tell Us That After Ww2 France's Armee De L'air (air Force) Used Ex-imperial Japanese Army Oscars In Indochina. Thanks For Keeping Us On Our Toes Gareth. (geoff Cottee)
Warbirds
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Spitfire Reunion In Uk
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the first flight of the Supermarine Spitfire. To mark the event a fly-in gathering of the type was held in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum at Duxford aerodrome in the UK on May 6. No less than 21 Spitfires attended, enough to more than gladden the heart of even the average aircraft enthusiast! A crowd of 35,000 watched the aircraft take to the air to mark the first flight of the prototype Spitfire. The last time that 21 flyable Spitfires were together would most probably have been in RAF service back in the late 1940s or early 1950s. While the Spitfire was manufactured in Great Britain the United States has a number of the type currently flyable and in October last year no less than six attended at fly-in at Scottsdale, Arizona. Billed as a ‘gathering of the last of the few’ the event attracted much attention from the American warbird fraternity who are more likely to see bulk numbers of P-51 Mustangs. The EAA convention at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, last year also attracted five Spitfires, plus a Hurricane, much to the acclaim of the gathered enthusiasts. For anyone with a keen interest in the Spitfire one could only wish that there was slightly more notice of these gatherings and that international air fares were just a little lower in order that the true enthusiast could attend, and enjoy, such events.
The Oldest Aero Engine For Moorabbin Airmuseum?
As the years pass so do the chances of finding and preserving items of aeronautical hardware from the very early days of the development of aviation, both here in Australia and overseas. As if to contradict this the Moorabbin Air Museum recently accepted a donation of a pre WWI aircraft engine. The engine, at present dismantled, is of four cylinder aircooled V4 configuration. Built by the noted British motorcycle engine builder, James A Prestwich Ltd, (typically shortened to JAP), the engine weighs 45kg (100lb) and puts out 21kW (28hp). JAP was still active in the 1930s producing the Aeronca 113C aircooled aircraft engine under licence for the Aeronca C-3 monoplane, also built under licence in Britain. While the Museum is researching the fine details of the history of the engine it is understood that it was used by a Laurie Marshall of the Melbourne suburb of Alphington. Marshall built an aircraft to enter in a competition announced by the Australian Defence Department in September 1909 ‘for the best and most suitable aeroplane for military purposes’. There was to be a £5000 ($10,000) prize.
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