Warbirds

Both aircraft had been the property of Aviation Australia whose sole shareholder is the Queensland State Government. Under a previous owner of Aviation Australia (AA) the aircraft were purchased as training aids. Spitfire LZ844 has been on display at the Queensland Air Museum (QAM) at Caloundra since February 2007. At the museum people have queued up for up to 20 minutes in order to be able to sit in a legendary Spitfire. The QAM first heard of the pending sale in late February when advised that a buyer’s inspection was imminent. The sale to Englishman Martin Cobb was finalised on 6 May and the aircraft gone from the museum on 11 May.

Key figures from Australian Aviation Museums say that they were not advised of the pending sale and so had no opportunity to submit a bid. The Queensland Government Employment, Skills and Mining Minister Stirling Hincliffe said that the Spitfire had no training value to Aviation Australia so was sold in order that contemporary trainings aids could be bought. Mr Hinchcliffe said AA canvassed potential buyers in Australia but none met the terms of sale.

Spitfire LZ844 is a composite former RAAF Mark V Spitfire rebuilt at Point Cook many years a go by a Mr Barry Coran. It was offered up for sale at an auction following an Avalon Airshow but was passed in. Later it was purchased by Aviation Australia, an aircraft engineer training college at Brisbane airport. It was placed with QAM on loan ahead of an intended restoration by AA.

The second Spitfire was serial TE566, an MkIX. As South African registered ZU-SPT it was involved in a fatal crash at Wonderboom airport on 25 April 2002. The wreck was later brought to Australia with the view that AA would also rebuild the machine as a training project. Both Spitfires were reported as being exported to the UK at the same time.

F111 For Point Cook Raaf Museum

A retired RAAF F-111C, A8-125, was delivered to the Point Cook RAAF Museum, by road, on Friday 27 May.

Transported from its previous base at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland, the old warbird was so big that it had to be part dismantled in order to be able to be transported. Part of the nose cone, the wing panels and the tail surfaces were removed in order to make the aircraft such a size that it could be delivered to the museum by road. The aircraft left Amberley on 24 May and arrived at Point Cook on the morning of 27 May. The route selected was an inland track that included passing through such towns as Warwick, Moree, Gilgandra, Parkes, Narrandera, Tocumwal and Puckapunyal, Vic.
The F-111 fleet was retired by Air Force in December 2010, after 37 years service.

A8-125 is historically significant, as it was the first F-111C aircraft produced for the RAAF, the first F-111C aircraft to land in Australia, on 1 June 1973, and the last F-111 to land in Australia (and the world) on 3 December 2010.

The RAAF Museum has another F-111.

Caribou Preserved At Townsville

Caribou A4-199 is to be preserved and put on display at the RAAF Townsville Base. The recently pensioned off transport had been operated for more years than the age of its last crew. In early May the olive drab painted machine was part dismantled in order that it could be moved and positioned towards the entrance of the air base.

Taken out of service in November 2009 the aircraft had flown with the Air force for 45 years. In recent times it has become harder and harder to source parts for the aircraft 11 of which had remained out of the original 29 that had entered service.

One aircraft has been gifted to Townsville, one to the RAAF museum at Point Cook and one to the Australian War Memorial. A4-199 had flown in Kashmir, India, where it was painted white, along with service in East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam.

At RAAF Townsville there is an RAAF Museum that provides an insight to visitors into North Queensland Aviation history from World War II to the present day. Located in historical buildings on the base the museum has recently opened a new display entitled the Caribou Aircraft Display Area. The multi media computer operated display traces the life of the Caribou aircraft from its inception and beginning with the Royal Australian Air Force to the present day and when it finished its Air Force service.

Aircraft Storage Facility For Alice Springs

Alice Springs looks set to have an influx of visiting aviation enthusiasts when the recently announced aircraft storage facility for the airport is built. When built the facility will be one of four such places in the world. The storage facility has been likened to the famed Davis-Monthan storage and reclamation facility in the US state of Arizona. There armed forces aircraft are stored pending reuse while those past their use by date are parted out for spares or simply broken up for scrap.

The Red Centre facility has been designed with large civil airline aircraft in mind, a place where aircraft not in service can be stored but it will also be able to handle smaller aircraft. For those that have been retired there will be a parting out facility.

The development of the new facility is already underway and it is expected that it will be finished by the end of the year. Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage (APAS) managing director Tom Vincent says that the Alice Springs airport offers a suitable climate, existing infrastructure and the capacity for major expansion.

At the Davis-Monthan facility up to 4,000 aircraft are stored at any one time, some to fly again, some to be turned into spare parts and some to be turned into alloy ingots. In the US spare parts from the David-Monthan bone yard have been used to keep historic civil and warbird aircraft continue flying.

At the Red Centre facility initially up to 300 aircraft will be able to be accommodated. The storage will be situated opposite the main Alice Springs airport terminal.

Albury Receives Historic Dc-2 Uiver Memorabilia

Albury has long been famous as the town that had the DC2 ‘Uiver’ land on the racecourse, at night, in a storm, during the 1934 MacRobertson London to Melbourne Centenary Air Race. Until recently a DC2 was on display at the airport but since then has been taken down while its future is decided.
Now an American has visited Albury to hand over a MacRobertson gold medal, tickets, photographs, newspaper cuttings, books, magazines and other articles relating to the air race. The American, Johan Domenie, is the son of Johan Domenie who travelled in the famous aircraft on its world crossing. The gift of the memorabilia was brought about due to the efforts of Noel Jacking who is writing a book on the Uiver flight, due to be published on the 80th anniversary of the flight in 2014.

Items from the donated collection will be put on display in the Albury Art Gallery and Library-Museum in July.

Maryborough Air Museum

A small but new air museum has opened at Maryborough aerodrome in central Victoria. The brain child of accountant, John Fisher, the museum contains his collection of aircraft. The collection includes a Chipmunk that came from the USA, a Thruxton Jackaroo, better know as a four seat Tiger Moth with a canopy, several Tiger Moths including the ‘Moth that he flew from England some years ago and soon to go on show is the DH87B Hornet Moth cabin biplane, G-ADUR, that John has imported from the UK. This Hornet Moth is well travelled as it was based in the USA at one stage. The museum is open on Saturday and Sunday.

Australian Aviation Museums Group

A new group has been formed to help promote and co-ordinate the activities and publicity of Australian Aviation Museums. The new group is titled Museums Australia, Aviation Museums.

The group comprises the following museums; The Aviation Historical Society of the N.T., the Queensland Air Museum, the Australian Gliding Museum, the SA Aviation Museum, the RAF WA Museum at Bull Creek, the B-24 Group, The Australian Aircraft Restoration Group at Moorabbin Airport, and the Australian Aviation Museum at Bankstown.

The group has put out its first newsletter and in that there are a few details about museums that have not been revealed before. The Queensland Air Museum is chasing an F111 but is not receiving favourable correspondence from the Government. The B24 Liberator Group at Werribee has almost finished the rebuild of the fuselage. When completed they will be starting on their Airspeed Oxford project. The South Australian Aviation Museum at Port Adelaide has raised the $55,000 needed to purchase the RV-4 that Jon Johanson flew not once but three times around the world. The Australian Aircraft Restoration Group is to receive the now retired Duigan biplane replica following promotional displays that promoted the first flight of an Australian built and flown aircraft. The first flight took place in March 1910.

In Brief

• The history of the air war over Darwin has never received the coverage that has been accorded that of the Battle of Britain. Now a new book has been released that will do its part to address that situation. The new book, titled Darwin Spitfires, The Real battle for Australia, was released in June. Written by author Anthony Cooper the book is published by UNSW Press. The Japanese air raids on Darwin commenced on 19 February 1942 and continued for two years. In all there were 70 raids. This new book tells the story of the Australian and British Spitfire pilots who battled the Japanese air raids.

• The Catalina foundation in conjunction with the Seaplanes Pilots Association Australia will be holding the 3rd Catalina Festival at Rathmines, on Lake Macquarie, NSW, on the 5th November. The splash-in is being held to raise money to assist with getting the foundation’s Catalina, VH-CAT, back in the air.

Contact Dave by email at [email protected]