Warbirds

The Spitfire Has Been a Long Term Rebuilt Project and Last Flew With the Saaf. It Has Now Been Dismantled and Placed in a Container Prior to the Long Sea Journey From the Usa to Australia. Ross Estimates It Will Take Eighteen Months to Get the Aircraft Back in the Air.

The South African Air Force Flew Spitfires Until 1951, Mostly Mk.ixs. The Only Difference Between the Mk.viii and the Mk.ix is That the Viii Has a Retractable Tailwheel.

When Completed This Will Be the First Mk.ix Spitfire to Fly in Australia

Avalon and All That

The Australian International Airshow at Avalon, Vic. Over the Week of March 10-15 Attracted a Number of Historic Aircraft of Interest. Display Aircraft Included the Lockheed Super Constellation, Vh-eag, of the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society. The Lockheed Did a Flight Display During Its Visit but Was Restricted to High Speed Ground Runs at the Friday Evening Show. As Always the Glowing Exhaust Stacks Are Something Not to Be Seen in a Jet Airliner of Today. Five Dc3/c47’s Were Present, Two From the Hars Collection, Vh-eae and Vh-eaf, and the Others Being the Ex Ansett Machine, Vh-abr, and the Ex Taa Aircraft, Vh-aes. The Shortstop Dc3, Vh-ovm, Made Up the Numbers. Great to See Them on Display.

A Display Aircraft Not Seen in Australia Before Was the High Wing Interstate S-1a Cadet, N37361, Sponsored by the Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Company the Cadet Was Painted Up With an Off-yellow Paint Scheme and Decorated With the Products of Its Sponsor. The Aircraft Was Flown by Owner Kent Pietsch of Burlington, North Dakota, Who Proceeded to Put It Through Its Paces With Mild Aerobatics, Smoke Canisters on the Wing Tips and Had a Wing ‘scrape’ the Ground Followed by an Aileron Falling Off. The Aircraft Was Landed on a Deck Mounted on a Large Pick Up Truck Rolling Down the Runway. The Cadet, Referred to During the Show as the Jelly Belly Aircraft, Was Built in 1941 by the Interstate Manufacturing Company of El Segundo, California. It Was the Only Aircraft Type Built by Interstate Which Manufactured Some 320 of the Type. A Military Version Was Known as the L-8a. The Tailwheel Cadet Has Two Seats in Tandem and is Now Powered by a 90 Hp Continental Engine. It Was Built With a Steel Tube Fuselage and a Wooden Sparred Wing, the Machine Being Fabric Covered.

Another Interesting Avalon Aircraft, but Static, Was the Yugoslavia Built Soko G-2a Galeb (Seagull) Two Seat Jet Trainer. Not Unlike a Macchi Its Presence at Avalon Explained Why There Have Been Recent Reports of a Macchi Operating Out of West Sale, Victoria. The Macchi is No Longer in Raaf Service. The Avalon Aircraft, Yu-yae, Serial 23177, Has Even Been Operated From Lilydale Airport, to the East of Melbourne. Lilydale is a Grass Surfaced Airfield. Still in Olive Drab the Seagull Did Not Move During the Avalon Show.

A Surprise Avalon Visitor Was the Sole Ford Silver Centenary Biplane, All the Way From Western Australia.

Three Dhc-4 Caribou’s Were on Static and Air Display. During the Show It Was Announced That the Caribou Will Be Withdrawn From Raaf Service Effective December 31 2009. It is Understood That Three Aircraft Have Already Been Allocated, One Each to the Raaf Museum at Point Cook, the Australian War Memorial and the Historic Aircraft Preservation Society.

Two Mustang’s Were Flown, Vh-agj by Owner Jeff Trappett and Later Vh-svu of the Raaf Museum. Jim Wickham Flew His Yak 9um, Vh-yix, to Great Effect and Charlie Camilleri Displayed His Gipsy Major Powered Dha Drover, Vh-adn, During the Vintage Fly Past. Static Display Stinson Sr-8c Reliant, Vh-uxl, Flown From Wa to Avalon by Kevin Bailey, and Showed What Pre-war Executive Flying Was All About.

The Southern Knights Formation Aerobatic Team Were a Popular Program Item With Four North American T-6 Harvard’s Manoeuvring Around the Sky. New Team Member Scott Taberner Was the Solo Flight Display Pilot.

The Champions of Champions Concours D’elegance Equal Seconds Were Awarded to Peter Nelson’s Glastar Sportsman Vh-pnn and Laurie Crimeen’s Auster Mk.v, Vh-mkv. The Champion of Champions Award Rightly Went to Ron Edward’s Magnificent Ford Silver Centenary, Vh-usc.

It is Unfortunate to Record That the Weather at Avalon Was Not as Ordered. During the Saturday Evening an 80 Km Wind Raced Through the Parked Aircraft Damaging Over a Dozen Aircraft, Some Minor, Some Serious. The Stinson L-5, Vh-cdf, ‘grumpy’ Was Tipped on a Wing and Had to Be Trucked Home. The Ford Silver Centenary Suffered Damage to the Trailing Edge of the Upper Right Wing From the Tie Down Stake of a Marquee That Literally Got Blown Away. The Aircraft Was Later Patch Repaired in Order to Fly It to Tyabb for More Permanent Repairs.

Register Review

P-38h Lockheed Lightning 42-66534 Was Registered as N66534 on November 17 to the Artemis Aviation Group Llc of Wilmington, Delaware. The Interesting Note Here is That This Aircraft Was Shot Down in Png on January 18 1944 and That Its Wings and Tailplane Were Recovered by Bob Jarrett of Adelaide in June 2004 and Used in the Rebuild of His P-38 Now on Static Display at the Classic Jet Fighter Museum at Parafield, South Australia.

From New Zealand We Learn That Dhc-1 T.10 Chipmunk Zk-cpy, Previously Vh-nmx, Was Put on the Nz Register on March 11. Curtiss P-40n 42-104827 Was Registered as Zk-vmc on February 19 to Pioneer Aero Restorations Ltd of Pagakura.

Cac Ca-25 Winjeel Vh-whz Has Finally Become Zk-wjl. It Was Registered on March 11 to G.c. Aviation, Taupo. Avro 631 Cadet Zk-avr Was Struck Off the Nz Register on March 13 as Being Exported. It is Understood That the Aircraft is Now Serial C7 With the Irish Air Corps, Having Taken Up Its Pre-war Serial Once Again. Zk-jin a Polikarpov 1-16 Type 24 2421319 Was Struck Off the Nz Register on March 12 as Having Been Exported. It is Reported to Have Gone to a European Museum. Beech G17-s, Zk-moe, B-14, Was Exported Effective February 26, Possibly Back to the Usa. Another Nz Beech D17-s Zk-amu Became Vh-wee in February.

Ford Silver Centenary

A Very Unusual and Interesting Visitor to the Avalon Airshow Was Serpentine, Wa, Based Ford Silver Centenary Biplane, Vh-usc. The One Off Design Had Its Origins in the 1920’s When the Design Was Conceived and Built by Selby Ford of Beverley, Wa. The Design Strongly Resembles a Dh 60 Gipsy Moth but With the Fin and Rudder of a Simmonds Spartan Biplane. Of All Wood Construction the Two Seat Machine is Fabric Covered. The Aircraft Was Constructed but Initially Without an Engine Being Available. In 1929 C.d. Pratt Crashed His Aircraft Nearby During the Centenary East-west Air Race and Ford Was Able to Purchase the Engine, an Upright 85 Hp Dh Gipsy 1, for a One Hundred and Seventy Pounds.

The First Flight Was Made on July 1 1930 With Pilot Charles Nesbitt. The Machine Flew for Less Than 100 Hours Before It Ended Up Hung From the Roof of the Beverley Power House. There It Stayed From 1933 Until 1964. It Was Then Moved to the Beverley Museum Until 2005.

Retrieved by Rod Edwards, a Grandson of Selby Ford, the Biplane Was Rebuilt and the Engine Overhauled. In August 2007 the Silver Centenary Took to the Air Again, With Rod Edwards as the Pilot. The Aircraft Was Registered on July 12 2007. With a Cruise Speed of 65 Kts the Machine Has a Gross Weight of 745 Kg.

To Get to Avalon Rod Edwards Took Seven Days of Which Five Were Actual Flying Days.

Usaf Takes Back Caf F-82 Twin Mustang

In Early March the Commemorative Air Force Lost a Court Battle With the Us Air Force Museum Over Ownership of the Caf F-82 Twin Mustang. The F-82, One of Five of the Type Remaining in the World, Has Been With the Caf Since 1966.

Now the Usaf Museum Claims That the Machine, Serial 44-65162, is Still Us Government Property. The Caf (Its Predecessor Was the Confederate Air Force) Apparently Had All the Paperwork That Allowed It to Take Lawful Possession of the Twin Mustang in 1966 but Now, Some 43 Years Later the Museum Wants the F-82 Back. The Reason Behind the Request to Take the Machine Back is Not Clear.

The Interesting Aspect Here is That the Usaf Museum at Dayton, Ohio, Already Has a Machine, 44-65168, on Static Display. The Caf Aircraft Was Apparently Mounted on a Pole at Lakeland Air Force Base, Texas, When the Caf Took Possession of It.

The Caf Argues That There is No Discernible National Interest for the Usaf to Waste Taxpayer’s Money on Retrieving an Aircraft That They Clearly Transferred to Private Owners but Now Want It Back Solely Because They Don’t Like Former Military Aircraft to Be Flown Out of Their Control. The Caf Further Argues, and More Troubling, is the Usaf and the Us Government Now Going to Go After Every Warbird Owner With Take-back Claims?

No Doubt There Will Be More on This Unusual Case in the Future.

Dc-3 Makes Final Flight in Europe

It May Have Carried More Passengers Than Any Aircraft in History but the Dc-3 Has Finally Been Grounded in Europe by Health and Safety Rules. In the Uk the Last Two Passenger-carrying Dc-3s Are Being Forced Into Retirement Because of H&s Rules. Coventry Based Air Atlantique Had Decided That It Would Be Too Expensive to Fit the Emergency Escape Slides and Weather Radar Systems Required by the New European Union Rules for Their 65 Year Old Aircraft.

More Than 10,500 Dc-3s Have Been Built Since the Prototype Was Rolled Out for Its First Flight at Douglas’s Santa Monica Plant in 1935. During Wwii the Dc-3, in Military Colours It Was Know as the C-47, Was the Mainstay of the Allied Air Transport System as They Plied Around the World. Post War the Dc-3 Became the Start of Many a Small Airline That Grew to Be a Bigger Airline, and Then Flew Later and Larger Douglas Aircraft. In Australia a Small Number of Dc-3s Are Still Flying on Passenger Carrying Roles. There Are No Known Plans to Introduce the Eu Design Requirements to Australia.

In Brief

* Beech F17d Vh-ame Suffered Serious Damage When It Contacted a Fence While Landing at Jamestown, Sa, on December 31. The Aircraft is Reported to Have Encountered Sudden Cross Wind Turbulence When in Final Landing Approach. The Big Beech Biplane is One of Five Currently on the Australian Register.

* Dc3s for Sale is the Order of the Day in Three States. Slattery’s Auctions Noted in Early March That It Had Six Aircraft Up for Sale Previously Operated by Dakota National Air From Bankstown, Nsw. The Aircraft, Vh-pwn, Vh-bpn, Vh-min, Vh-dna and Vh-sbl Are All on the Register but in Various States of Airworthiness. A Further Machine, Previously Vh-dnf but Currently Off the Register, is Located at Warnervale, Nsw. Vh-sbl is at Essendon and the Others at Bankstown. Meanwhile Essendon Based Dc3 Vh-tmq is for Sale and in Wa Vh-cws is for Sale. The Days of Dc3 Passenger Flights in Australia Are Slowly Drawing to a Close.

Contact Dave by Email at: [email protected]