Warbirds

The Latrobe Valley flight was probably the first time the aircraft had flown in some 35 years. Following RAAF service the fighter was donated to the Indonesian Air Force in 1972 where it took up serial F-8606. It returned to Australia in the early 1980s.

Australia now has two airborne CAC Sabre aircraft. Will they fly at the same event at some time in the future? As VH-SBR has only a few hours on it following the rebuild it is understood it will not be at the November Temora Warbirds Airshow, so we will have to wait for that fabulous sight!

RAAF museum boxkite airborne

The RAAF Museum’s Bristol Boxkite replica has flown! The biplane took to the air at Point Cook on Wednesday September 11 with AVM Mark Skidmore (retired) at the controls. The first flight consisted of a flight of approximately 1,000m and the machine reached a top speed of about 35kt. The Boxkite carries the registration VH-XKT with c/n PCK. 133.

Skidmore is a former F-111 pilot and test pilot with the RAAF’s Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) at Edinburgh in South Australia.

Following the flight Skidmore said: “I now have the honour of being the only RAAF pilot who has flown both the fastest and slowest aircraft in the Air Force. The Bristol Boxkite has a rich history in the evolution of military aviation in Australia. It was the first official military aircraft built in this country and used to train our first military pilots. ” A Bristol Boxkite was flown in Australia for the first time on the morning of March 1 1914 when Lieutenant Eric Harrison, an aviation instructor with the Central Flying School, took one into the air at Point Cook. The airfield was then the home of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC). The AFC, the forerunner of the RAAF, initially operated two Bristol Boxkites between 1914 and 1917.

Lieutenant Harrison’s historic flight in 1914 is recognised as the starting point of military flying in Australia. In recognition of this historical significance, Point Cook will play host to the Centenary Of Military Aviation in Australia on March 1 and 2 2014 with the Bristol Boxkite replica as a major feature.

Beech Mentor arrives

A former USAF Beech T-34A Mentor has arrived in Australia. Theaircraft, a model A45, arrived at Redcliffe, Queensland in September. The aircraft, built in 1954 with c/n G-37, was serial 52-7656 with the USAF and later became civil registration N10441.

The Mentor is powered by a Continental O-470-13 flat six engine of 230hp (170kW). N10441 was removed from the US register on July 18. Last owned by Skyview Aviation of Tracy, California the Mentor was put on the local register on September 2 as VH-XUS to Owen Smith of Caboolture.

Australia has seen one other Mentor – an incomplete ex-Philippine Air Force machine built in Japan by Fuji. It was not rebuilt and was later sold in Europe, possibly Sweden.

Grumman Trackers for sale

In mid-October GraysOnLine Auction Sales advertised 11 Grumman Trackers for sale at West Sale, Victoria, with the aircraft to be sold as a package lot.

The ex-Fleet Air Arm aircraft had been withdrawn from ADF service in the early 1980s and later sold to Peter Hookway of Hookway Aviation.

Hookway died some years ago and the Trackers are being sold under instructions from Barry Hamilton & Associates in the matter of Hookway Aerospace Pty Ltd (In Liquidation).

The sale advert noted that 11 Trackers were for sale but only 10 are listed. The aircraft were at one stage located at HMAS Albatross at Nowra, NSW, but were flown from Nowra to Sale in the early 1990s for storage pending sale. That sale did not happen. Most of the engines for the aircraft had been sold off at an earlier stage with a remaining pair being used to ferry the aircraft. On arrival at Sale the engines were removed and trucked back to Nowra for fitment to the next aircraft to be flown south.

Tenders were to close on October 27.

All of the aircraft are stored in a hangar with one outside, at last count.

HARS hangar closed for works

According to the Illawarra Mercury newspaper, the HARS hangar at Albion Park has been closed to the public in order to allow the completion of internal works and the installation of fire safety systems. The Shellharbour Council is also investigating issues surrounding businesses sub-leasing the facility.

Shellharbour councilor Peter Morgan and a former HARS committee member Ben Morgan have been instrumental in raising the issue that the HARS buildings did not have occupation certificates or construction certificates.

An August 30 press release on the HARS website reads: “HARS also apologies that due to our construction program to finish internal hangar works the public will not be able to be admitted for some months whilst the work is undertaken. We hope you understand the need to do this as a matter of safety and we are sure you will enjoy future visits as soon as we are completed. ” The news follows on from the issues raised in the June issue of AA regarding the airworthiness of Neptune VH-IOY and Constellation VH-EAG. For the record, the Constellation has flown since the reported June airworthiness issues, but there have been no reports of the Neptune having flown since that time.

There has been no response to the earlier emails sent by this column to HARS regarding a report the two aircraft were grounded.

Vale Lionel Griffiths

Well-known Melbourne DC-3 pilot, Lionel Charles Griffiths, died on September 29 aged 76.

Lionel joined the RAAF in his younger years before joining Ansett Airlines in October 1960, where he would fly the DC-3, DC-4 and F27. Leaving Ansett he joined Australian Aircraft Sales, which did a lot of business buying and selling airliners in the 1970s and 80s, and he would fly them to new owners around the globe. After the 1989 pilots dispute Lionel rejoined Ansett and flew Boeing 727s and 767s. Post Ansett he had various flying positions including captain of DC-3 VH-ABR Kanana and Air Nostalgia C-47 VH-TMQ.

Catalina memorial news

The Rathmines Catalina Festival is to be held once again, this time on Saturday November 9 at the former RAAF Base at Rathmines on Lake Macquarie, NSW.

The event raises money towards a Catalina museum on the former RAAF base. A Catalina is in the process of being brought from Puerto Rico to be the keystone of the memorial museum. The day’s events will see a Catalina flying display, a Grumman Avenger WW2 torpedo bomber, a Tiger Moth flypast and aerobatic ace Matt Hallgiving a flying display. Floatplanes and vintage military vehicles will also be present.

At Bowen, Queensland where the RAAF had a WW2 flying boat base, August 17 saw the official opening of a memorial dedicated to the loss of RAAF Catalina A24-24 on August 17 1943.

The Cat was returning from an air gunnery demonstration when it apparently contacted the choppy water surface. The aircraft cartwheeled and sank. Of the 16 on board only two survived. There were six RAAF crewmembers lost and eight passengers, members of the Army Medical Corp. The Catalina, operated by 20 Squadron, was never salvaged and those killed in the accident were never recovered. It has only been in recent years that the location of the wreck, 9nm north of Bowen, has been confirmed.

The memorial is located on the foreshore where the flying boat base was located. The old flying boat launching ramp is just below facing out to sea.

The ceremony included a wreath dropping at the location of the wreck of A24-24 by family members of those lost in the accident.

Register update

Cessna 195 ZK-BEB, c/n 7410, was added to the NZ register on October 10 with owner as B B Aviation of Feilding. The machine came from Canada where it was C-GWEZ.

Former Australian Ryan STM VH-AGV went to the USA some years ago to become N17343. In recent times the aircraft has been bought by marketing company director, Efram Cockett, and shipped to the Channel Island of Guernsey, where it is being readied to take up UK registration. Efram had been looking for a Ryan STA or STM for over a year before he obtained N17343.

Ryans must be the flavour of the month. From New Zealand we learn that former RAAF pilot Noel Kruse made the first flight of his rebuilt Ryan STM-S2, ZK-ABC, c/n 492, on September 16 at Cambridge. The aircraft is reported to have last flown some 36 years ago. In RAAF service as A50-29 it became VH-AHC and later VH-STM. Noel bought the aircraft in 1980 and took it to New Zealand when he moved there 10 years ago. ZK‑ABC was put on the NZ register on August 29.

Meanwhile, at Tyabb, Victoria Ryan enthusiast Graham Hosking has acquired several Ryan STM rebuild projects from the USA that originally came from the Honduras Air Force. These aircraft will complement the Ryan STM that Jeff Trappett brought from the USA that came from Guatemala.

Yak-52 VH-YEH, serial 9111510, was added to the Australian register on September 19 to Jeffrey Hutchinson of Suffolk Park, Queensland.

Finally, a DH Chipmunk rebuild project has been imported into Melbourne from overseas.

Warbird Briefs

In August, Andrew Willox, the builder of the Be2a biplane replica, now at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook, was awarded The Museums Australia (Victoria) Award for Excellence (Volunteer). This is the highest award a volunteer can receive within the Victorian museum sector. Andrew constructed the Be2a replica from original 1912 factory drawings. He completed all the woodwork himself and organised for the engine, exhaust and wheel components to be contracted out. The RAAF Museum had three of the four aircraft types that were originally present at Point Cook in 1914. It now has the missing fourth type, the Royal Aircraft Factory Be2a, as constructed by Andrew Willox. DH. 82a Tiger Moth VH-RAY turned over on landing at a private airstrip at Sandy Beach near Coffs Harbour, NSW, on September 23. The pilot was not injured but not so the Moth. It will not be in the Newcastle Tiger Moth air race next year. Another Cessna 190 has been imported. The aircraft is reported to be at Wagga and soon to be placed on the Australian register. More news as it becomes available.