A HARS homecoming

Caribous join the HARS fleet

On November 25 2009, Caribou A4-210 touched down at Oakey Army Aviation Base after flying down from RAAF Townsville. After 45 years of service and 18,954 hours of flight, it was to be the veteran transport’s last journey in Australian service, with the Caribous officially retired by the end of that year.

It would not, however, be the last flight of an Australian Caribou. Nearly two years later, in October 2011, the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) took delivery of two Caribous, including A4-210, part of a long but rewarding process of preparing one of the RAAF’s most important aircraft for a second life in the civilian world.