Warbirds

Caboolture, Queensland, based Beaufort Restoration Society recently received a big financial boost with the donation of $40,000 from a group of Sunshine Coast enthusiasts.

The funds will be used to employ sheet metal engineer Brendon Daly to work on the primary structure of the WW2 light bomber.

Beaufort Restoration Society founder Ralph Cusack obtained the fuselage and cockpit of Beaufort A9-141 from Mildura in 1982. Restoration of the aircraft which, when completed, will be the only Beaufort flying in the world, has been ongoing ever since.

Commenting on the restoration, Cusack said that if all the monies required were available the project could be completed in two years.

A9-141 entered service in 1942 but was written off after a ground loop accident in 1944.

Mig For Queensland Air Museum

The Queensland Air Museum (QAM) has acquired a MiG- 15. The MiG, in fact a Polish built two-seat PZL-Mielec SBLiM-2, c/n 1A06036, will join the QAM’s ever growing collection at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

The ex-Polish air force jet trainer, which wore the serial ‘636’ on the forward fuselage, was imported into Australia in 1987 with a group of other SBLiM-2s. Initially owned by Randal McFarlane, by 1989 it had been sold to Hockey Treloar and it was moved to Bankstown with the intention of being restored to airworthiness, to which end the registration VH-LKW was reserved for it.

Instead, the jet remained stored at Bankstown until 2000 when it was trucked to Australia’s Museum of Flight at Nowra.

Then in December 2002 the jet was again on the move, this time to the Classic Jets Fighter Museum at Parafield Airport, South Australia. Now it is to move once more, to the QAM collection at Caloundra.

On the subject of jets, the QAM has a rear fuselage and wings of a Hawker Hunter that are in need of a good home.

The wings are not suitable for an airworthy restoration project and have some damage, but are repairable for static display.

They are located at Caloundra.

Interested? Apply to the QAM.

Australian Aviation Museum Move Caught Up In Developer Collapse

The company responsible for the move of the Australian Aviation Museum from Bankstown to Camden Airport has gone into receivership owing the Commonwealth Bank several million dollars.

The firm, Bankstown Airport Corporation’s development company BAC Devco, was to develop areas of Bankstown Airport for non-aviation uses.

The collapse of BAC Devco means that the museum will now be staying put on its present location as it has several years to run on its current lease.

Commenting on the collapse of BAC Devco, museum curator Trevor Dean said that nearly four years of planning and preparation and several thousand dollars had been spent by the museum on engineering plans and consultants. The museum in now hoping that a saviour in the form of a civic minded firm large enough to help the museum move to Camden will emerge from the wings.

Hars Gets One And A Half Aircraft

The Historic Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) recently took ownership of both a rare Australian built radio controlled drone in a GAF Turana, and the wing of the Southern Cross replica VH‑USU. The Southern Cross replica was damaged on May 25 2002 when the right undercarriage was noted to be not as it should be soon after takeoff. After circling for some time the aircraft was landed on its good left main undercarriage, but the right wing was damaged when the aircraft slowed down and the wing touched down. Some six metres of the wing was badly damaged in the event.

The one piece wing was recently transported by road from South Australia to the HARS base at Albion Park where it is being inspected with a view to repairing the structure.

The GAF Turana radio controlled drone is a new exhibit in the HARS collection. Donated to HARS by member Glenn Owens, the Turana is indeed a rare find. The HARS Turana is serial number 22, although the fin of the drone is marked as 31.

The Turana was designed as a recoverable pilotless target for use in gunnery and missile defence training by the Royal Australian Navy. Powered by a small Microturbo 022-01 jet engine it featured a booster rocket for launching off warships.

The RAN ordered 12 Turanas but the project was cancelled in late 1979.

Temora Museum Happenings

The Temora Aviation Museum (TAM) held the first of its new Aircraft Showcase events on June 3. Over 400 spectators watched as the display aircraft were taken from the hangar, had preflight inspections carried out then demonstrated in the air. Afterwards the spectators were able to inspect the TAM engineering facilities and talk with the engineers about the various TAM aircraft.

The aircraft flown on the weekend were the Canberra, Boomerang, a Cessna Dragonfly and a Spitfire. It is reported that the Canberra and Boomerang will now go into storage for a period. The new showcase days are to be the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. The date for the major event airshow has yet to be announced.

In Brief

• Well known gliding personality and former DCA airworthiness surveyor Charles Lambeth passed away on May 4 aged 89. Better known as Charlie or simply Chas, he dabbled in gliding all his life and turned his interest into a career in aviation.

He served with the RAAF during WW2 and later worked with CAC. In later years he joined the Department of Civil Aviation and became known to many an aircraft home builder when he inspected projects under construction. In the gliding movement he created an Australian record when on November 23 1943 he managed to keep a Grunau Baby II sailplane aloft for 9 hours and 51 minutes, only landing because of failing light. The consummate aviation enthusiast, Charlie will long be remembered as the ever smiling, knowledgeable aircraft engineer who was keen to share his knowledge.

• On the subject of gliding, the Australian Gliding Museum (AGM) has recently assisted the ABC TV show Collectors with the recording of a segment for an upcoming program. Some five hours of preparation and filming took place at Bacchus Marsh aerodrome, Victoria, where the production team was introduced to the AGM collection and later undertook some filming flying in an open cockpit Slingsby T31b sailplane. The segment is due to be aired in July. Watch out for it.

• From New Zealand we learn that Polikarpov 1-153 ZK‑JJB serial 7027 was struck off the register on March 15 as exported.

Lavochkin LA-9 ZK‑LIX serial 828 was also removed from the Kiwi register on April 14 as exported. n Contact Dave by email at flyer02@optusnet. com. au