Warbirds

The Two-seat Skyhawk Was One of 10 Ex-ran Fleet Air Arm a-4s Sold to New Zealand in 1984. The Aircraft is at Rnzaf Woodbourne, Near Blenheim. The Rnzaf Retired Its Skyhawks in 2001 and They Have Been in Storage While a De-cision Was Made on Their Future.

Interestingly, N13-154911 Will Be the Only Ex-ran Skyhawk in Australia When It Arrives, as the Australian Fleet Air Arm Museum’s Other Sky-hawk is an Ex-us Navy a-4b Example.

Albatross Import

the Three Turbine G-73 Mallard Amphibians Plying the Coast of Nt and Wa With Paspaley Pearling and a Uh-16 Albatross in Nsw Are to Be Joined by Another Grumman Amphibian Now on Its Way to Australia.

The New Aircraft is Uh-16 Al-batross N42my. The Last Uh-16 to Be Built, It Was One of a Batch Handed Over to the Japanese Maritime Self-defence Force as Recently as 1981. Allocated Us Navy Serial Buno. 148329 Then the Japanese Serial Jmsdf 9056, It Was Built as a Model Uf-2, Later Became a Uh-16d and When Civilianised a Model G-111. It Was Allocated or Carried Us Civil Registrations N88999 and N114fb, Pk-pam When in Indonesia Then N26pr Before Taking Up Its Last Us Registra-tion With N42my of Mirabella Yachts, Palm Beach, Florida.

Recently Noted for Sale With Sherman Aircraft Sales of Florida, N42my is Said to Be a Low-time Airframe With Low Time Wright R-1820 Radial Engines. The Interior is Decked Out for Passenger Use.

The Seaplane Was Loaded Onto the Mv Suomigracht at the Port of Palm Beach on March 25 Along With 60 Yachts and Power Boats All Destined for Australia.

The Name of the Australian Owner Has Not Been Disclosed but Paspaley Pearling Oper-ates the Three Grumman G-73 Turbine-powered Mallards and Pundits Say the Albatross May Be for Paspaley.

Australia-bound Beech 18 Force Lands

Beech G18-s Vh-nwb Was Damaged During an Aborted Takeoff Following Engine Problems at Hollister Airport, California on February 14, the Day Before It Was Due to Begin Its Trans-pacific Ferry to Its New Home in Australia.

The Former N181wb, Registered on November 11 to Neville Pringle of Condell Park, Nsw Was on a Test Hop When the Pilot Reported Right-hand Engine Problems During Takeoff and Put It Back on the Ground. The Left Main Tyre Blew and the Aircraft Ran Off the Runway, Hit-ting a Grassy Bank.

There Were No Injuries to the Two People Onboard but the Left Wing Was Damaged. Conse-quently the Aircraft May Be Writ-ten Off, According to Reports.

Successful Aaaa Cowra Antique Fly-in

Cowra, Nsw Saw the 36th Annual National Fly-in of the Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia. The Event Attracted More Than 100 Antique and Clas-sic Aircraft and Even More Would Have Turned Up Had the Weather in Victoria and Queensland Been a Little More Friendly.

Included in the Roll-up Were Rob Fox’s Dh Rapide and Ba Eagle, Several New Tiger Moths and Three Stear-man Biplanes in Blue Military Colour Schemes. There Was a Good Smattering of Aeronca Monoplanes, Several Dhc-1 Chipmunks Including the Only Canadian-built Example in Australia, a Piper J3 Cub, an Ercoupe, a Dh. 87b Hornet Moth, Several Austers, a Pa-20, Globe Swift, an Avro Cadet, a Waco Yks-7, an Ra-aus-registered Cessna 120, Several C170s, a Pair of Cessna 195s and a Cessna C37, Several Ct4 Airtrainers, a Pair of Ex-raaf Winjeels, Cessna 180 and 185s, and a Cessna C37 Vh-uzu.

The Theme of This Year’s Fly-in Was to Celebrate 75 Years of Cessna in Australia. Pilots and Aaaa Members Who Flew Into Cowra Received a Plaque Mark-ing Cessna’s 75 Years.

At the Saturday Night Dinner Awards Were Given for: Best Antique, Waco Vh-ykx, Mark Shipton. Best Classic, Ercoupe 24-8004, Jack Vevers. President’s Choice, Porterfield Lp-65 24-8081, Robert Glenn. Reserve Grand Champion, Dhc-1 Vh-ssj, John Freder-ick. Grand Champion, Dh. 82a Vh-dwp, Dennis Peek.

The Oldest Cessna in Austral-ia is a Model C34, Vh-uyg, Held by the Australian Cessna Distributor at Maroochydore Airport, Queensland. It Arrived in Australia in 1937.

Kingfisher Identity Revealed

Further to Our April Aa Story on the Rebuild of a Vought Kingfisher at Wangaratta by Precision Aerospace Produc-tions, the Aircraft’s Identity Has Been Confirmed as Ex-raaf A48-2.

Following Our Story, the for-mer Proprietor of the Warbirds Air Museum at Mildura, Pearce Dunn, Advised: “i Read With Some Interest About My Old Kingfisher A48-2. There is No Doubt That It is A48-2 and Not A48-7. It Came From [lake] Boga to Mildura. I Had Most Parts for the Old Girl and Later Found the Beaching Gear on a Property Just North of Swan Hill. I Picked Up Some Gear That Came From a Usn Crash Site in Wa but Little Was There. Small Parts Were Found Around Boga and Swan Hill and I Followed a Lead of a Kingfisher at Bendigo but That Had Been Munched Some Years Before. I Found the Remnants of a Main Float South of Ballarat Some Years Before but There Was Little to Save.

“there is No Doubt That It [the Subject Kingfisher] Was A48-2 and [with] J-eb on It. At the [post War Surplus] Auc-tion It Was Bought by George Kremor Senior, Who Was a Grape Grower Just Northwest of Mildura. He Died and It Was Sold to Me by Geo Kremor Jnr Some Years Later and Taken to Warbirds Mildura. It Was Sold to John Bell Years Later When the Mildura Rural City Coun-cil, – in All It’s Short-sightedness – Decided to Evict Me. That’s About the Whole Story but Al-ways It Should Remain as A48-2 as It Was. ” Pearce Dunn Sold the Re-mains of Kingfisher A48-2 to John Bell Who Displayed It in His Whale World Museum at Albany, Wa Until It Was Sold by John’s Estate to Precision Aero-space Products at Wangaratta.

Longreach Qantas Museum Activity

a Replica of Dh. 50 Vh-ufa Has Gone on Display at the Qantas Founders Out-back Museum at Longreach, Queensland.

In Other News, Longreach’s Runway 09/27 Has Been Closed to Allow a New, Larger Termi-nal Building to Be Built in Its Place. In Turn, the Land That the Present Terminal Sits on Will Be Used for Qantas Founders Outback Museum Expansion.

Meanwhile, the Musuem’s Signature Exhibit, Boeing 747-238b Vh-ebq City of Bunbury, Encountered Problems in February When Its Nosewheel Started to Sink Into the Ground. The Nosewheel is Mounted on a Concrete Block, Which Sank 20cm After Recent Wet Weather – and There May Be an Old Fuel Tank Under the Concrete Block.

A Temporary Wooden Timber Support Has Been Put Under the Belly of the Aircraft to Take the Weight of the Nose.

Register News

From New Zealand Comes News That a New Yak-3 Has Been Put on the Register. The Aircraft, Zk-vvs, Serial 0470166, Went Onto the Register on February 8 to Yak 3 Fighter Syndicate, Auckland. The Aircraft Made Its First Flight in Nz at Omaka on March 26. Another Yak-3, Zk-yyy, Already is on the Nz Register.

Meanwhile, Yak-52tw Zk-ytw Was Taken Off the Nz Register on February 28 as Having Been Destroyed.

Across the Tasman and One Aircraft Soon to Leave Australian Shores is Ryan Sta Vh-uvq, C/n 132, Reported to Have Been Sold in Europe. It Was One of Two of the Model Put on the Register in 1937. It Started Out as Nc16043, Became Vh-uzq and Later Vh-bwq Then Vh-uvq. The Other Sta, Vh-uyn, Crashed at Belmont, Victoria in 1948.

Another Aircraft Destined for Export is Hawker Fury Fb10 Vh-orn. With Serial 37534 It Was Built in 1949 and Put on the Local Register to Gus Larard of Wangaratta on April 6 2010. The New Owner and Destination is Still Unknown.

In Brief

• Ww2 Raaf Spitfire Pilot Sergeant William James Smith Was Interred at a Ceremony With Full Military Honours at Cassel Cemetery, France on April 19. Twenty-four-year-old Sgt Smith Was Lost on Operations on May 9 1942. His Unit, 457 Squadron, Had Been Escorting a Bombing Mission Over Enemy Occupied Territory to Bruges, Belgium. Sgt Smith Was Last Seen by His Squadron in a Dogfight With an Enemy Aircraft at 20,000ft Over the English Channel. His Remains and That of His Spitfire Were Discovered Buried Under-ground Last October by a Film Crew Working on a Ww2 Docu-mentary in Hardifort, Northern France.

• Dr Ralph Henry Capponi Died Peacefully at the Epworth Hospital, Melbourne on Febru-ary 11, Aged 85. Dr Capponi Was Well Known in the 1960s Era for His Involvement With Cac Mustang A68-119, Later to Become Vh-ivi. While the Dca of the Day Would Not Al-low the Aircraft to Be Registered, Dr Capponi Managed to Obtain a Number of One-way Ferry Permits. One Flight Was From Melbourne to Perth.

• Pzl Warszawa Ts-11 Iskra Vh-isk Was Successfully Test Flown at Essendon on March 7 With a Viper Engine Replacing the Original Unit. The Test Pilot Was Mike Falls Snr. Built in 1970 the Red and White Iskra is Registered to 31 Squadron Pty Ltd. Of the Five Iskras Regis-tered in Australia Vh-isk is Understood to Be the Only One Now Flying.

• Cessna Birddog Vh-xti Has a New Owner, Michael Davidson of Riddells Creek, Victoria. The Raaf Safety Officer at Point Cook, His New Acquisition Was Previously Owned by Bill Pike.

The Fuselage of Lockheed P2v-5 Neptune A89-302 Was Moved From External Storage at Raaf Laverton to the Raaf Museum, Point Cook on March 25. N Contact Dave by Email at Flyer02@optusnet. Com. Au