Warbirds

The Valiant Two-seat in-tandem Basic Trainer, Now Registered as Vh-jkv, Arrived at Albury Just Before Christmas and is Being Reassembled and Put on the Register by Steve Death and His Crew at Hazair. It Was Expected to Fly in March.

Built by Consolidated Vultee in 1942 as C/n 7710 With Military Serial 41-23063 the Aircraft Served With the United States Army Air Corp’s 761st Basic Flying Training Squadron at Chico Army Air-field, California in 1943.

After Being Sold as Surplus Following Ww2, the Aircraft Had Several Owners Before Being Rebuilt at Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2005. John Kempton Bought the Aircraft From the Tulsa Own-er. Flown to Lakeland, Florida It Was Crated Up and Shipped to Australia by Neel Aviation.

“the Overwhelming Impres-sion of the Bt-13 is That They Are Built Like a Bridge and Also Put Together Very Simply,” John Said. “it Has Easy Access to Most Areas and We Expect It to Be Very Easy to Maintain. ” Construction is Steel Tube Fuselage With Metal Mainplanes and Tailplane. The Engine is a 336kw (450hp) P&w R-985 Radial. Nicknamed in Service the ‘vibrator’, More Than 11,000 of All Variants Were Built.

Tbm Avenger Returns to New Zealand

Grumman Tbm-3e Aveng-er Vh-tbm Left Toowoomba, Queensland at First Light on February 23 Bound for Lord Howe Island Then Norfolk Island. On February 24 It Con-tinued to Kerikeri and Rnzaf Base Ohakea, New Zealand.

Doubtless the Torpedo Bomber Will Take Up Its Previous Kiwi Registration of Zk-tbm. The Aircraft is Already Being Billed as a Major Attraction at the Easter Warbirds Over Wa-naka Airshow in April.

Built by General Motors Eastern Aircraft Division as Bu. 91110 It Served With the Us Navy. In 1963 It Became N6827c and Was Used in California for Agricultural and Firefighting Work. In 1988 It Was Operated by the Old Flying Machine Company of Duxford, England. Shipped to Nz in 1992 It Became Zk-tbm With the Alpine Fighter Collection at Wanaka.

The Avenger Came to Aus-tralia From New Zealand in 1996. Its Then Owner Was Well-known Warbird Identity Randel Mcfarlane. A Change of Owner-ship Saw It Go to Steve Searle, Who Planned to Use It as Part of His Wirraway Station Flying Air Museum at Beaudesert, South of Brisbane, Queensland. Those Ambitions Faded When Steve Searle Died in December (See March Issue Aa).

Two More Avengers Remain in Australia, Vh-mml and Vh-vtb.

Some Would Say, Though, That New Zealand is a More Appropriate Home Than Aus-tralia as the Rnzaf Operated 48 Grumman Avengers in the Pacific Theatre of Ww2. Several Continued With the Rnzaf Until as Late as 1959.

Vought Kingfisher on Register

One of the Strangest Warbirds to Be Placed on the Local Civil Register is Vought Os2u-3 Kingfisher Vh-psg. Built During Ww2 as a Land-based Aircraft With Wheels and as a Floatplane, a Number Were Taken on Strength by the Raaf as Floatplanes.

Whale World at Albany, Wa Had a Kingfisher Hull, Tailplane and Main Float That Then Curator John Bell Had in His Aircraft Collection Adjacent to the Whale Museum. John, Killed in an Aircraft Accident on March 13, 1996 Had Ambitions to Get the Aircraft Flying Again and to This End He Travelled the World Chasing Up Parts.

The Former Raaf Serial for This Aircraft Was A48-2 With Fuselage Code Je-b. John in Turn Had Obtained the Hull From the Now Defunct Pearce Dunn’s Warbirds Air Museum at Mildura, Victoria and in 2006 the Kingfisher Was Sold Off to Precision Aerospace Produc-tions of Wangaratta, Victoria.

In Recent Times the Upturned Hull Has Been Sighted in a Re-build Jig. Now the Mystery. The Aircraft That Pap Has Put on the Register as Vh-psg is Stated to Have Had the Previous Identity A48-7 but the Only Known Substantial Hull for a Restoration Project is That of A48-2.

Kingfisher A48-7 is Reported to Have Turned Over on Takeoff on Lake Macquarie on Decem-ber 7, 1943. It Was Towed Ashore but Water Immersion Meant It Was Not Flown Again and Reduced to Spares.

The History of A48-2 is Bet-ter Known. Sold Off as Surplus at Lake Boga After the War It Had Several Owners Until Found by Pearce Dunn and Moved to His Mildura Warbirds Museum.

The Aircraft is Reported as Being Rebuilt for Gerald Yagen and His Fighter Factory Private Collection of Histori-cal Aircraft at Virginia Beach Airport, Virginia Us. There Are Five Complete Kingfishers Around the World With Most on Display. None Are Flying. When Completed Vh-psg Will Be the Only Flying Kingfisher.

The Question Then is – Have the Remains of Kingfisher A48-7 Been Found and is the Aircraft Now Being Restored or Has There Been a Serial Number Mix-up and That Vh-psg is in Fact the Former A48-2?

Point Cook Raaf Museum Air Pageant

the Biennial Raaf Museum Air Pageant on March 26 Was a Great Event to Attend, Even if the Strong Winds and High Temperatures Kept Down General Spectator Numbers.

It Was a Weekend Strong on Raaf Trainers With a Few More Tossed in for Good Measure, Plus a Number of Other Attractions Including Fighters, the Static Display of the Completed Replica Bristol Boxkite and the Replica Be2 Fuselage.

The Trainers Included Five Ct-4s in Formation, a Pair of Winjeel Trainers, Three T-6 Harvards of the Southern Knights Formation Flying Team, a North American T-28b Trojan, a Former Rhodesian Dh Vampire, Wirraway, Raaf Pc-9, Raaf Hawk 127 and a Jet Provost.

Huey Rebuild and Display

March 16 Was the Scheduled Date for the Caloundra Rsl to Unveil a Restored Bell Uh-1b Iroquois Helicopter. The Huey, Serial A2-1022, Was One of Two That Were Instrumental in Help-ing Australian Soldiers Survive a Massive Enemy Attack on August 18 1966 at a Rubber Plantation at What Was Then an Unknown Village Called Long Tan.

The Enemy Attacked So Hard and for So Long That the Outnum-bered Australian Soldiers Were Running Out of Ammunition. They Were Saved at the Last Min-ute by the Helicopters Bringing in and Dropping Ammunition.

In 1990 the Same Huey Was Used to Evacuate the Town of Nyngan, Nsw and in 1992 A2- 1022 Was Donated to the Bogan Shire Council. The Machine Was Put on Display, but as the Years Rolled by Vandals and the Elements Damaged the Machine and It Deteriorated Badly.

In July 2009, the Caloundra Rsl Sub-branch Decided to Acknowledge the Service of the Huey in Vietnam and Found That Not Only Was There a Huey in Need of Some Tlc but That It Had a Very Significant History. After Some Negotiations With Bogan Shire an Agreement Was Made That Would See the Caloundra Rsl Restore and Display the Machine.

There Was One Catch – a Replacement Machine Had to Be Traded to Replace A2-1022 – but Finding a Replacement Was Not as Easy as First Thought. Eventu-ally, the Rsl Found a Former Us Navy Machine That Had Been Ac-quired by Mcdermott Aviation but Had Been Badly Damaged in an Accident and Written Off.

In August 2010 a Group From the Rsl and Others Set to Work – It Took Over 2,000 Man Hours. The Trade Took Place on May 22 2011 When A2-1022 Was Trucked to Caloundra.

The Machine is to Be Mounted on a Plinth at the Rsl Branch in a Memorial Gar-den Alongside Two Bofors Guns, but May Later Be Put Into a Glass Panelled Building to Protect It From the Elements.

Register Update

Auster J1 Vh-wmm, C/n1991, Was Struck Off the Reg-ister on February 17 as Having Been Exported to New Zealand. New Owner is John Kelly of Nelson.

A Globe Gc-1b Swift, C/n1484, Was Added to the Register on February 16 as Vh-uau to Willians Freder-ick of Buderim, Queensland. The Swift is Only the Third of the Type to Come to Aus-tralia. Previously N3791k It is Powered by a Continental C-125 Series Engine. Built in 1946 the Low Wing Taildragger Won the Trophy for Outstand-ing Original Swift at the 2002 Swift National Fly-in.

A New-old Harvard is on the Register. Vh-jsz is a Canadian Car Harvard Mk Iv. Built on February 10 1954 It Has Been in Australia Since at Least 2004. It Has a C/n of Fw4-490 and is Registered to Rosemary Szabo of Austimer, Nsw. This Well-travelled Harvard Had Been Based or Located in Several Countries Around the World Until It Arrived in Australia for a Rebuild to Fly Again.

Port Lincoln, South Aus-tralia is the Home Base for an Aero Vodochody L-39, 630640, Added to the Register as Vh-kvz on February 10 to Kevin Warren. Interestingly, Kevin Had a Pa-36-375 Brave With the Registration Vh-kvz That Was Struck Off the Register on February 7 as Damaged in an Accident, Allowing the L-39 to Take Up the Same Registration Three Days Later. N Contact Dave by Email at Flyer02@optusnet. Com. Au