Warbirds

According to the Announcement, the Airfield’s Public Precinct Will Accommodate Authorised Commercial Leases Using Spare Space, the Raaf Museum and Heritage Buildings, and the Point Cook Primary and Pre-schools.

Although the Raaf Has Not Had a Flying Unit Based at Point Cook Since It Disbanded 1fts in 1992, Point Cook is Still Considered the World’s Oldest Continuously Operating Military Airfield, Acquired by the Federal Government in 1912 for What Would Become the Australian Flying Corps, the Ww1 Predecessor of the Raaf.

Boomeranging Beech

It Was Here Once Before and Now It is Back, Hopefully This Time for Good. Beech D17s Vh-fns Was Added to the Register on September 7, Listed as an Import From the Usa.

But Interestingly the Staggerwing Biplane Has Been Here Before, as Vh-uuv.

Built in 1942 as a Gb-2 for the Us Navy With C/n 3108, the Machine Took Up Serial Bu12342. After the War It Became Nc397 and Later N1532m.

Following an Extensive Rebuild Back to as-new Condition It Was Purchased by Tony Raftis of Sportavia Macchina International of Melbourne.

After Arriving in Australia It Was Assembled at Tyabb in December 2005 and Took Up the Local Marking Vh-uuv.

But After a Local Buyer Couldn’t Be Found for the Classic Beech It Was Struck Off the Register on November 24 2006 and Exported Back to the Usa.

There It Resumed the Registration N1532m to Tony Raftis of Provenance Fighter Sales of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Now the Aircraft Has Been Re-imported and Has Taken Up the Registration Vh-fns for Mark Fitzgerald of Sydney. It is to Be Operated by Airborne Aviation of Camden.

Meanwhile Douglas Drummond of Wentworth Falls, Nsw, Has Advised He is Now the Owner of New Zealand’s Second Beech 17, a Model D17s, Zk-amu Serial 203, Previously Registered to R M & C M Campbell of Auckland.

This Aircraft Was Delivered New in 1938 to Canada’s Controller of Civil Aviation as Cf-cca. Acquired by the Campbells in the Usa in 1994, It Was Shipped to New Zealand. Like Vh-fns It is Painted Up in a Dark Red Colour Scheme.

The First New Zealand Beech 17, a Model C17l, Also Came to Australia. It Was Zk‑aeu but Became Vh-bou Then Vh-pmg Then Vh-tot Before Being Damaged in August 1967. It is Currently Being Rebuilt.

Nanchang Seminar

the First Australian Nanchang Cj-6a Trainer Seminar Was Held at Moruya on the Nsw South Coast in September.

Organised by Lampa Holdings, the Major Importer of Nanchangs to Australia, the Event Was Designed to Be a Maintenance Seminar for Owners and Maintenance Engineers to Allow Them to Gain Additional Information Regarding the Popular Chinese Military Trainer – There Are Now More Cj-6s in Australia Than Any Other Type of Limited Category Aircraft.

A Key Speaker Was Phil Mahlberg of Pm Aviation at Moruya. Phil Has Assembled Most of the Nanchangs Lampa Has Imported and Has Been to China Twice Where He Gleaned a Lot of Information About the Type, Including Inspecting Plaaf Bases and Nanchang Airframe and Propeller Factories.

Phil Had a Partially Assembled Cj-6 in a Hangar Which He Used to Demonstrate Many of the Things That He Talked About. Nanchang Vh-nny, a New Build Machine Fitted With a Three Bladed Propeller, Improving Performance, Was Also on Show.

Also Present Was Howard Liu, the Lampa China Representative.

Howard Indicated That a Recent Chinese Government Decision to Centralise the Disposal of Retired Military Equipment Has Made the Acquisition of the Cj-6 More Difficult and Reduced Flexibility in Selecting Particular Airframes.

Given the Success of the Event – the First Warbird Type Specific Seminar Held in Australia – Lampa Says It’s Likely That Another Will Be Held in October 2008.

Ag Tiger for Qam

the Queensland Air Museum Has Acquired an Agricultural Tiger Moth.

A Type That the Museum Has Been Seeking for Some Time, the Aircraft in Fact Was Obtained From, of All Places, the Raaf Association Aviation Heritage Museum of Western Australia at Bull Creek. The Wa Museum Was Seeking to Gain Extra Space for Its Recently Arrived Pby-5a Catalina.

The Tiger Was Obtained for the Qam by the Generosity of Greg Ackerman, Who is Emerging as a Patron Saint of Australian Aviation Museums.

Greg Obtained the Tiger for the Qam, in Doing So Making for a Total of Eight Aircraft He Has Donated to Various Museums Across Australia.

The Ag Tiger, Vh-bks, Had Been on Display at the Wa Museum Since 1977.

An English Built Machine It Started Out With Raf Serial R5259 and De Havilland C/n 83118. Assembled at Laverton for the Raaf in 1940 It Spent Most of Its Air Force Life in Western Australia. After the War It Was Allocated the Civil Marking Vh-ahs but Never Took This Up. It Later Became Vh-bks and Was Used for Crop Dusting by David Gray & Co of Perth. It Was Struck Off the Register in 1963 After It Was Damaged in a Wind Storm.

Obtained by Geoff Goodall the Damaged Biplane Was Restored in Adelaide by Tiger Moth Rebuilder, John Bowden. Now After 30 Years of Being on Display in Wa It is Bound for a New Venue at Caloundra, Queensland.

Iroquois to Raaf Museum

the Iroquois May Have Been Formally Retired From Army, and Hence Adf, Service – See Rotor Torque Elsewhere This Issue, but the Type Won’t Be Forgotten With One Example Being Delivered to the Raaf Museum.

With the Raaf the First Adf Operator of the Huey It Was Certainly Appropriate That a Machine Was Allocated to the Raaf Museum at Point Cook. So It Was That A2-377 Was Flown to the Museum From Canberra on June 30 by Chief of Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston and Army Captain Brad Wheeler.

This Iroquois Was the Very Aircraft That Acm Houston Flew During an Ocean Rescue in 1979 for Which He Was Awarded the Air Force Cross.

It Was the Only One Remaining That Had Served in Both Vietnam and in the Sinai With the Multinational Force.

Taken on Charge by the Raaf in 1968 It Has Been With the Army Since 1989 When the Hueys Were Transferred to 5 Aviation Regiment. In Vietnam It Was With the Raaf’s No 9 Squadron and Was Used as a Slick and as a Gunship.

A2-377 Will Be Restored to Original Form and Become an Integral Part of the Raaf Museum Display. O Contact Dave at [email protected]