Warbirds

An astounding 20 Supermarine Spitfires have been found in Burma and are to be recovered and taken back to Britain.

Farmer David Cundall from Scunthorpre, England found them after a 15-year search, buried in Word War 2 transport crates. He said: “They were waxed, wrapped in greased paper and their joints tarred. They will be in near perfect condition.”

Britain has made a deal with the Burmese Government that will see the aircraft dug up and shipped back to the UK, almost 67 years after they were hidden at a reported 40ft underground.

Mr. Cundall made 15 trips to Burma following leads, finally finding the aircraft at an as yet unnamed former RAF base.. A UK team will travel to Burma to assist in recovery of the aircraft. But skeptics say the wooden transport crates are unlikely to have remained intact after 67 years underground amid rain, water and the pressure of wet earth above.

Crashed Wartime P-40 Found In Egypt

A World War 2 Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk with an Australian conncection has been found in Egypt.

A Polish Oil Exploration team found the wrecked RAF Kittyhawk in the Egyptian desert in March, where it seems it was shot down. Untouched for 70 years it’s a veritable time capsule, damaged but complete.

Found in the Al Wadi al Jadid desert 200 miles from the nearest town, it seems to have been shot up and the pilot then tried to land with the undercarriage down, hitting rocky ground and tearing off the main undercarriage, propeller and forward part of the Allison engine. It still had six .50 calibre machineguns in its wings, complete with ammunition.

Carrying squadron letters HS-B, the aircraft is said to be that of RAF 260 Squadron pilot Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping, 24, who was ferrying the Kittyhawk, ET574, to a repair depot on June 28 1942 with the undercarriage locked down.

It seems he became lost and that the aircraft took flak damage. A parachute was found opened beside the aircraft, indicating that the pilot, from Southend, England tried to make a shelter His fate is unknown but the RAF apparently will try to recover the aircraft and search for his remains.

And the Australian connection? The radio and battery found outside the aircraft was marked ‘Battery, 120 Volt Type E. Widdis Diamond Dry Cells Pty. Ltd. 21 Nov 1944. Australia. Widdis was a West Melbourne dry cell battery maker in the 1940s.

Travels Of The Albatross

As noted in May’s Australian Aviation, the Grumman G-111 Albatross N42MY being shipped to Australia arrived at Newcastle on April 22. Offloaded by crane it then took off from the harbour bound for Sydney. Its arrival on Sydney harbour was reminiscent of the days when Ansett’s Short Sandringhams plied the same waters. The aircraft then flew to Bankstown, Ceduna, SA, Kalgoorlie, Perth and Broome.

Owned by WA businessman Mack McCormack it will be used for tourist flights from Broome but before this will go on a tour to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attacks on Darwin, Roebuck Bay and Pearl Harbour.

L39 Albatros

VH-KVZ is the newest Albatros on the local register. Owned by Kevin and Margaret Warren of Port Lincoln, SA the jet is due in Australia in May. It will be transported to Cameron Rolph-Smith’s facilities at Archerfield, Queensland where it will be assembled.

Bought from Red Star Warbirds, Las Vegas the machine had been kept at Red Bluff Airport, California. It was flown to Reno Stead Field, Nevada for minor engine adjustments, pressure vessel checks and to have the parachutes checked and repacked and a second VHF comm. radio installed. It was then flown to Tracy, California, near Los Angeles, dismantled, packed in a container and sent from Long Beach on March 20.

Built in 1976 in the Czech Republic it has serial number 630640. De-registered by the Republic of Ukraine on May 4 2000 it was sold as part of a parcel of 12 L39 aircraft contracted between Promoboron Export of Kiev, Ukraine.

First registered in the US to Cheryl A. Geipel of Clear Lake, WI. On June 6 2000, it was sold to Michael C. Darcey of Williams, Oregon on October 31 2002. On May 23 2006 it was sold to Red Star Warbirds, who operated it until purchased by the Warrens on November 17, 2001.

It hads only flown a very few hours in the US and at time of purchase had a total airframe time of 2,835 hours and only 195 hours on the new engine. It’s painted in the two-tone grey low-visibility scheme of the Czech Air Force.

Lake Boga Flying Boat Museum Opens

Lake Boga Flying Boat Museum was officially opened on April 21, the centrepiece being a restored Catalina flying boat. The Catalina and other flying boats were operated by the RAAF there during WWII.

When the Japanese attacked Darwin and Broome in 1942 with the loss of 16 flying boats, the establishment of a safe haven was needed inland . Lake Boga fitted the bill and commissioned in 1942. repairing and servicing the flying boats. The Catalina on show, a composite of several aircraft, is displayed in a building built around it.

Raaf Liberator In The Wars Again

The last Liberator bomber in Australia and one of only a few left in the world is in the wars again. Under continuous restoration by former RAAF aircrew, aircraft engineers and volunteers at a hangar in Werribee, Melbourne since 1995 it’s substantially complete but there’s still much work to do.

But the site is to be redeveloped by Melbourne Water, which owns the site. It has given Places Victoria the right to build public housing on most of it, with a school planned at the Liberator hangar site. The Liberator group says it will oppose any development that does not provide them with an alternative location.

Dc-2 Uiver Back In The News

While Albury Council is trying to sell the DC-2 Uiver memorial aircraft a move has been made to block the sale on heritage grounds. The National Trust has urged the council not to go ahead. Heritage consultant Nicole Fransen says the main intent is to retain, restore and display the aircraft, repainted as the original 1936 DC-2 Uiver.

The council has tried to sell the aircraft as far back as 2008 and says it has had four expressions of interest.

General News

Another Cessna 195 for Australia — a model 195B, it was due to arrive in Australia on May 22. The big taildragger is N195RD, c/n 7895. It was struck off the US register on April 16 and shipped from Savannah, Georgia.

Built in 1952 the Jacobs R755B radial-engined aircraft had a previous registration of N3012B before being acquired by the American owner Russell Dow of Jensen Beach, Florida. It has been bought by a Victorian pilot.

Auster J1 VH-WMM became ZK-AGY on April 27 to new owner R. De Montalk of Palmerston North, New Zealand. DH82a Tiger Moth ZK-AA was registered on April 30 with owner F. Frost of Nelson. The aircraft was previously VH-SSA. Grumman Avenger VH-TBM became ZK-TBE on April 16 with the owner listed as ITL Aviation Ltd. Of Palmerston North.

North America T-28A Trojan, VH-VBT, had a nose gear collapse while doing an engine run-up before flying at the David Hack Memorial Air show at Toowoomba, Queensland on May 5. It had nose, engine and prop damage.

Another T-28 was due in Australia in May. A recent purchase, it will go to Aerotec at Toowoomba, Queensland for its Australia certification before being based at Renmark, SA.

A Scottish Aviation Bulldog is inbound to Australia. The former RAF trainer, G-CBCV and RAF XX699, was based at North Coates, England and will go to a South Australian owner. It is the second Bulldog in Australia. The other, VH-CHU, is in WA but is a former Swedish Air Force machine. It was previously 61010 (RSAF), SE-LLG and G-AZAO.

Another old/new Waco came onto the register on May 1. A Waco Classic Aircraft model YMF-F5C, c/n F5C105, it now belongs to Archibald Dudgeon of Mosman Park, WA. It previously carried the US registration N105KS. Painted red, the 2004 build Classic Waco biplane was removed from the US register on January 13.

Former RAAF Douglas C-47, A65-69, was dismantled in January after 32 years as a gate guardian at the Gatow barracks, Berlin. The former RAAF Biscuit Bomber is to be restored and displayed at the Berlin Airlift Museum.

New Zealand Avro Anson, ZK-RRA, had almost completed a 10-year restoration when it taxied under its own power in May. Owned by Bill and Rachael Reid, the ‘Aggie’ received its airworthiness certificate in the first week of May. It will make its first New Zealand flight from Nelson airport. The former WWII bomber now has a camouflage paint scheme andwas previously VH-BAF in Australia.

In Brief

● The Caloundra-based Queensland Air Museum took delivery of a Transavia PL-12 Airtruk in March. The aircraft, VH-HSB, was donated by HARS member Bill Smith and trucked north to the museum from Woolongong, NSW.

● The Classic Flyers NZ Air Museum in New Zealand’s North Island has a former RNZAF Douglas A4 Skyhawk, NZ6201, inbound, due to be delivered in late May.

● Beech F17D, VH-AME, will soon be back in the air after coming to grief at Burra, SA in 2008 when it hit a fence during landing, damaging the lower mainplanes. The aircraft is at Moorabbin Airport for repairs.

Another Beech Staggerwing soon to fly again is model C17B, VH-UXP. Owned by former Cathay Pacific Airlines pilot Cam Hawley and wife Tracey, the machine has been a rebuild job with the Croydon Aircraft Company at Mandeville, NZ since 2007.

● Further to recent news of a Vought Kingfisher floatplane being rebuilt in Australia comes news that another one, also on floats, is being rebuilt in Chile. Serial 314, it’s being overhauled by the Museo Nacional Aeronáutica of Los Cerrillos, Santiago, Chile. The aircraft is complete and intact.

● A former Connellan Airways DH114 Heron is going home. Previously VH-CLW, it has been found in Fiji where it was DQ-FDY with Sunflower Airlines. The four- engined is expected to be at Alice Springs by August.

Contact Dave by email at [email protected]