Warbirds

Harvard Movie Star

For aviation enthusiasts, films that feature aircraft will always have an attraction, sometimes regardless of who the actors are or what the film is about. During May and June an Australian feature film Paradise Road was being shot near Cairns and Port Douglas, Queensland. Starring American actress Glenn Close of Fatal Attraction fame the film is about the internment of thousands of women by the Japanese during their invasion of the Far East during WW2. Close stars as an English woman complete with an upper crust accent. The film was written by the Director, Australian Bruce Beresford. Having noted all of that, the other star in the film is NA Harvard, VH-HAR. The machine was painted up in a water based paint colour scheme with leaf green upper surfaces and an aqua type colour on the lower surfaces. The only marking is the Japanese red meatball on the fuselage and under the wings. Fitted with dummy guns and two dummy bombs it looks quite the part as a mock Zero. One wonders what the locals (or the Japanese tourists) think of a ‘Japanese’ aircraft parked on the tarmac at Cairns 50 years on from the end of WW2? Bruce Simpson of Sydney is the registered owner of North American AT-6C Harvard IIA, VH-HAR.

New Old Mustang Registered

In case readers missed the small print in the last issue of AA, the Civil Register changes contained one gem that will be without doubt of interest to Mustang enthusiasts. On April 12 Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation CA-18 Mustang, previously RAAF s/n A68-105, was registered as VH-JUC to High Performance Aviation of Mt Eliza, Victoria. VH-JUC/A68-105 has been around Melbourne for many years since it was disposed of by the RAAF back in 1960. It decorated the tarmac of a Laverton service station until 1964 when purchased and moved to the Moorabbin Air Museum by its new owners. It was moved from there in 1972 and went to the Warbirds Aviation Museum at Mildura for some years until finally being brought back to Melbourne by its owner, Richard Hourigan. Taken to Tyabb airport, south east of Melbourne, the warbird was dismantled pending a rebuild survey and is now being worked on to bring it up to an airworthy standard. It will be a most welcome addition to the ranks of the Mustangs flying or about to fly in Australia. The registration VH-JUC is understood to come from the aircraft in service callsign of JUC. Although the machine is still some time away from flying it has joined the trend of a lot of rebuilds by being registered even if they are not about to fly. By being registered it gives an identity for the owner and the airworthiness authority to relate to rather than ‘the aircraft’, secondly there is only the payment of a one off figure to register an aircraft against the cost of the annual renewal of reserving a registration; a counter productive exercise if the machine being restored or rebuilt is some years away from flying. Late last year Mustang VH-SVU, ex A68-170, was also added to the register. This aircraft, like VH-JUC/A68-105, has yet to fly.

Laverton Auction

With the auction of the RAAF’s CT-4A Airtrainer fleet a few years ago at Bankstown, the last of the big sales of surplus RAAF aircraft and hardware has departed, probably for all time. As a result of the CT-4A sale any auction of RAAF aircraft parts makes for interest even though it may not result in much usable hardware getting into civilian hands. Hence the surplus auction of RAAF hardware at RAAF Williams (Laverton) on June 25 created minor interest with the inclusion of two Vampire fuselages and a Canberra tailplane amongst the desks, chairs and assorted office hardware being disposed of. The DH Vampire T.35 series noses were just that and no more. Both were nose/cockpit sections that had been stripped of anything movable or useful. The pair were sold for the sum of just $50. When asked what he was going to do with them the new owner advised that they were “Just to look at”. The Canberra tailplane was the horizontal stabilizer with a tag that indicated that it had come from A84-238. It was sold for $300. The tailplane was held in a massive wooden support that was probably worth as much as the surface it held. In his 1989 book Lincoln, Canberra and F-111 (Aerospace Publications) writer Stewart Wilson records that at last count A84-238 was at RAAF base East Sale, Victoria. (Reader comment welcome). In the future there will be fewer auctions of surplus RAAF aircraft and spares but one thing can be certain and that is that they will always draw interest regardless of how much or how little there is of aircraft hardware to be disposed of, such is the attraction that aircraft have.

American Follow Ups

In recent issues of AA the passing of noted American pilots, Steve Wittman and Charlie Hillard, was noted. Further information is now to hand. Charlie Hillard died when the Hawker Fury that he was flying turned over on landing at Lakeland, Florida, on April 16, during the annual EAA Sun-and-Fun Fly-In. It is reported that the brakes on the aircraft locked and that it veered off the runway and turned over. Hillard had been the Air Operations Chief of the Annual EAA Convention at Oshkosh for a number of years. Until last year he had been the leader of the famed Eagles Aerobatic team with fellow pilots Tom Poberezny and Gene Soucy. Soucy came to Australia to fly in the 1995 Avalon Airshow. Hillard’s aircraft was a former Iraqi Air Force Hawker Fury, N222CH. This was one of the first of the IAF Furies (a land based Sea Fury without the folding wing mechanism) to fly in the US in 1980. It had recently been rebuilt. For many years it flew in an RAN colour scheme with the markings RAN plus DM on the tail and fuselage number 369. Steve Wittman had visited Australia and was well known to many Australians who visited the US and Oshkosh. Wittman died on April 27 1995, when the O&O Special aircraft that he was flying from Ocala, Florida to Wittman airport, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, broke up in the air. The accident investigation found that the right aileron suffered a case of flutter which in turn resulted in the breaking up of the wings and fuselage of the machine. The wing covering failed just forward of the aileron. This disbonding, in turn, was caused by the lack of adhesion of the synthetic covering to the wing structure. In simple terms Wittman had covered the aircraft with a modern synthetic covering and inadvertently used adhesion techniques more applicable to the old style of fabric covering that he had used for more than half a century. The adhesion ultimately failed in the air resulting in aileron flutter. The synthetic covering is well proven and bonds correctly if applied per the maker’s instructions. Wittman was the inventor of the steel spring undercarriage leg first used by Cessna in the late forties Cessna 190 & 195 series aircraft. Cessna went on to use the same technology on most of their light aircraft for the next 40 years. Both Steve Wittman and Charlie Hillard are gone but their deeds and legacies will remain for all time.

Another Warbird for Canberra

To compensate for the departure of Nanchang CJ-6 VH-NNC for Tyabb, Canberra’s warbird ranks have recently been swelled again by the arrival of Cessna L-19 Bird Dog, VH-CAM. Owned by Margot Rayner, of Sutton NSW, the drab olive, US Army liveried little warbird arrived at Canberra Airport on the Queen’s Birthday weekend. Margot was first introduced to the type at the recent, rained out Albury Airshow where she flew Jimmy Williams’ immaculate example, VH-XVN. Her Bird Dog was also there and she re-encountered the same aeroplane at a fly-in at Avondale (Vic) a few weeks later. Hearing that the Cessna was for sale by its previous owner, Glen Wilson of Tallangatta Victoria, Margot bought her. Unusually for a Bird Dog, the aircraft has a constant speed propeller.

Albury DC-2 Memorial Project

First time visitors to the airport at Albury are often amazed at the sight of a Douglas DC-2 on a plinth and painted up in the markings of the KLM DC-2 which came second in the 1934 London to Melbourne Air Race. The aircraft has been on display since 1980 and in the 16 years that had passed the aircraft has suffered as a result of exposure to the elements and even bird life! Now plans are afoot to house the historic machine in an enclosed building that will preserve it for all time. The DC-2 in the race had connections with Albury in that it became lost in a storm and was saved by the quick thinking locals who flashed the lights of the city to attract the attention of the fliers. Having located them a number of cars gathered at the racecourse and illuminated a runway with their lights. The aircraft landed safely. Looking at the racecourse today one can only wonder how the aircraft managed to land on the confined area, in rain and at night. The DC-2 on display is not the original but one that the RAAF obtained from Eastern Airlines in the USA during WW2. This aircraft is reputed to have been flown by famous writer, Ernest Gann, when he flew for Eastern Airlines. Used by the RAAF for training wireless operators and air gunners during the war it was later obtained by Marshall Airways of Sydney. If the machine is to be preserved for all time it will need to be put under cover and the Uiver Foundation, a group founded to help preserve the historic aircraft, is appealing for assistance to do just that. If you would like to assist contact the Uiver Foundation regarding the Memorial Dome Project at 475 Hill Street, Albury, 2640. Phone (060) 21 5346. The DC-2 is the aircraft that blossomed into the DC-3 and eventually helped develop the airlines of the world as we know them today. The Albury DC-2 is one aircraft that deserves a covered housing and recognition of its part in the development of the world airline system.