Warbirds

Delivered on September 8 1952 as an F. 8 Fighter With Raf Serial Wk800, the Meteor Was Transferred to the Raaf in February 1953 and Became A77-876.

In Late 1960 A77-876 Was Converted to U. 21a Standard for Use as a Pilotless Drone. In 1971 It Returned to the Uk and Took Up Its Original Serial of Wk800. It is Reported to Have Been Converted to U. 16 Standard in 1971.

The Meteor Had Been Used as a Drone Aircraft in the Jindivik Trials at Llanbedar.

It Made Its Final Flight Before Retirement When It Flew From Llanbedar to Boscombe Downs, Wiltshire, on October 11 2004.

As Aa Closed for Press the New Owner Was Unknown. The Fate of This Unique and Long Serving Aircraft Will Be Awaited With Interest.

Strikemaster Accident Report Released

the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (Atsb) Has Released Its Final Report Into the in-flight Break-up of Bac Strikemaster Vh-aky Near Bathurst on October 5 2006.

The Strikemaster Was Undertaking a Low-level Simulated Strike Mission Warbird Adventure Flight When the Catastrophic Accident Occurred, Resulting in the Death of the Pilot and Passenger. A Large Bush Fire Was Started by the Post Impact Fuel Fed Fire.

The Atsb Found That the Break-up Was the Result of Two Possible Scenarios: Separation of the Right Wing, Leading to Separation of the Tail Surfaces; or Separation of the Tail Surfaces, Leading to the Separation of the Weakened Right Wing.

The Wing Was Found to Have Been Already Weakened by Two Pre-existing Fatigue Cracks in the Right Upper Main Spar Attachment Lug.

The Atsb Found That Inspection Techniques Used at the Time of the Accident Would Not Have Discovered Those Pre-existing Cracks, but Also Found Issues With Vh‑aky’s Maintenance History.

Importantly for Warbird Operators, the Report Notes: “any of the Safety Factors Identified Throughout This Investigation Are Not Limited to the Circumstances Involving Vh-aky, but May Be Applicable to All Operations Involving Ex-military Aircraft. ” Vh-aky Had Been Built in 1970 and Was Delivered to the Republic of Singapore Air Force. It Was Retired From Military Service in November 1986 and Brought to Australia in 1989. Restored, It Was Put on the Australian Civil Aircraft Register in October 1992.

It Had Flown 198 Hours in the 14 Years It Flew in Australia. In Total It Had Flown Just Over 5000 Hours.

The Pilot Had 2220 Flight Hours Logged, Including 835 Hours on the Type.

When Two Ryans Are Better Than One

Victoria Became the Home to Both Australian Ryan St3‑krs When Former Lismore, Nsw, Based Vh‑nea Was Flown South to Moorabbin in Mid May.

The New Owner is Hank Ebes Who Has Been Flying for Over 30 Years. Vh-nea Joins Ryan Vh-rpt Owned by Peter Bernardi of Tyabb.

Vh-nea Was Placed on the Register on November 7 1985, While Peter Has Had Vh‑rpt on the Register Since October 1986. Both Are Registered as Being a Ryan St3-kr (Sports Trainer, Model 3 Kinner “r” Series Engine). This Was the Ryan Factory Designation but in Us Army Use the Designation, Was the Pt-21 or Pt-22 Depending on C/n. The Engine Was the Five Cylinder Kinner R-55 Radial That Has a Very Distinctive Exhaust Note.

Australia Has Nine Ryans on the Register.

This Includes the Two St3-krs Plus a Pre-war Ryan St-a and Six St-ms. One of These is Listed as a Model St3-kr but Vh-stm, C/n 492, is in Fact an St-m.

Both Vh-nea and Vh‑rpt Carry Us Army Ww2 Paint Schemes. Vh‑nea Carries the Numbers I-342 on the Fuselage and the Military Designation, 41-15561, on the Forward Left Fuselage Side. The Registration Vh-rpt Came From Ryan Primary Trainer While on Vh-nea There is an Inscription, ‘restored by Nigel E Arnot’, Giving a Clue as to Where Its Registration Came From.

Aaaa and Tam Get Together

April Saw the Temora Aviation Museum (Tam) Hosting the Annual Fly-in Gathering of the Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia. The Result Was One of the Largest Numbers of Visitors That the Tam Had Seen.

More Than 100 Aircraft Visited Temora for the Weekend of April 26/27, Adding to the Museum’s Resident Warbirds.

The Gathering Was Well Attended With Aircraft Coming From All Sectors of the Compass. Interesting Visitors? There Were Many. Doug Hamilton Had His Lockheed 12, Vh-hid, in the Air and Another Twin Visitor Was Roy Fox’s Dh. 89 Rapide, Vh‑utv. Kittyhawk Vh‑zoc Was Up From Albury and Wirraway Vh‑cac Came From Parts South. Dc-3s Vh‑tmq and Vh-ovm Brought a Number of Day Visitors From Melbourne. Of Special Interest Were the Two Avro 643 Cadets, Vh-aej and Vh-agh, Both in an Raaf Paint Scheme, One Silver With a Yellow Band and the Other in Camouflage.

Some 20 Tiger Moths and Austers Turned Up Along With a Handful of Other British Types Such as Chipmunks. Dh. 87 Hornet Moth Vh‑uxy Presented a Nice Contrast With the Us Built Cabin Types Like the Two Stinson 108s, Luscombe 8 and Piper 22 Series Types. Some 14 Yak-18, Yak-52 and Nanchang Cj-6 Trainers Turned Up to Add an Eastern Bloc Flavour.

A Number of the Visiting Flyers Chose to Camp Out and the Lads Who Just Put a Large Tarp Over the Wing of Their Piper Lance Get This Writer’s Vote for the ‘making Do’ Award.

Altogether a Great Weekend and Gathering of Both Military and Civil Types From Yesteryear, Even if Poor Weather Meant the Sunday Flying Had to Be Curtailed.

Raaf Museum Jottings

the Raaf Museum is to Construct a Flyable Full Size Bristol Boxkite Replica Under ‘project 2014’.

The Museum Aims to Have the Replica Fly on March 1 2014, to Celebrate 100 Years of Military Aviation at Point Cook.

Construction Has Already Commenced With the Prime Instigators of the Project Being Ron Gretton and Geoff Matthews.

Both Were the Key Restorers of the Raaf Walrus, Hd874, Now on Display at the Raaf Museum. Rosebank Engineering Has Donated the 110hp (82kw) Rotec R2800 Engine and All the Timber for the Project.

Also From Point Cook Comes News That That the Raaf Museum Has Acquired a Kalkara Aerial Target Drone. The Drone Has Been Acquired From Nowra and Has Been Relocated to Point Cook.

The Raaf Was the Highest User for the Kalkara Which is Why the Museum Acquired One.

In Brief

• Spitfire Mk Ix (Tr) N367mh, Once Reported as Bound for Australia, Arrived at Ardmore’s Avspec Facility on April 28 Following a Prolonged Export From the Usa to New Zealand for New Owner, Aucklander Doug Brooker. It Has Since Been Registered Zk-wdq (the Code on the Side of the Machine). It is Understood That the Spitfire Will Be Repainted With an Raf Scheme. The Export Delay Came About With the Aircraft Being Considered a ‘weapon of War’.

• June 9 Marked the 80th Anniversary of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and His Crew Crossing the Pacific in Their Fokker 3m Trimotor, Vh-usu Southern Cross. The Aircraft Departed the Us on May 31 1928 and, After Stops at Honolulu and Fiji, Arrived in Brisbane on June 9. The Epic Flight Took 83 Flight Hours and Covered 6379nm (11,822 Km).