Warbirds

The test schedule called for the very long and wide runway 11/29 at Darwin to be used, keeping clear of built-up areas. Once airborne the aircraft was flown north andoperated around Lee Point, Hope Inlet and Gunn Point for handling familiarity.

Later Peter commented that the Corsair, which is powered by a thumping 2,300hp (1,690kW) Pratt & Whitney R2800 Double Wasp radial, is a lovely, quite stable aircraft to fly.

VH-III is owned by Graham Hosking of Mount Eliza in Melbourne’s southeast.

Built in 1951 at the height of the Korean War with US Navy Bureau of Aeronautics number Bu124493, VH-III has C/N A10‑353 and was added to the Australian register on February 14 2013.

Its history before arriving in Australia is fascinating. Geoff Goodall’s Warbirds Directory records the Corsair as being delivered to the Honduran air force (Fuerza Aèrea Hondurena) as 608 in 1956. Transported back to the US by rail after its Honduran military service the Corsair then had several owners including Walt Disney Studios, which would trade it with the RNZAF in exchange for appearance time by some RNZAF A-4 Syhawks for a movie to be filmed in New Zealand. The Corsair was intended for the RNZAF Museum, but as the model type was not the same as that operated by the RNZAF during WW2 the big gull-winged fighter went into storage instead.

So the Corsair became the subject of another trade arrangement, where Graham traded the machine for a Curtiss P-40 that he was having rebuilt in Australia. The P-40 was completed for the RNZAF air museum, while the Corsair in turn arrived in Australia and was subsequently trucked to Darwin for along-term rebuild there by Aerotec.

And now the machine is back in the air, wearing the colour scheme that it would have worn when flying with the Honduran air force nearly 60 years ago.

Congratulations to owner Graham Hosking and Peter Clements, the only Corsair-rated pilot in Australia.

Rathmines Catalina arrives

The Rathmines Catalina Memorial Park Association is riding on the crest of a wave with the arrival of its PBY5-A Catalina from South America. The Catalina hull arrived in early March followed soon after by the rest of the dismantled amphibian and was transported to Rathmines from Sydney with the aid of the Daracon Transport group. The short-term aim of the association is to get a building or shelter erected in order that the reassembly and restoration work on the aircraft can take place under cover.

John Richard has advised that the association has been getting a lot of welcome assistance, advice and help from local people that will aid in getting the big aircraft assembled and brought up to display standard.

Red Baron’s fuel tank found?

That is the question that the Australian National Aviation Museum (ANAM)/Moorabbin Air Museum, is asking about a fuel tank that has been unearthed in its collection of aircraft parts.

Like any museum the ANAM has a collection of parts donated over the years. During a recent check and tidy exercise a fuel tank came to light. One museum volunteer elected to follow-up on where the tank came from. In so doing it became obvious that the tank had come from a WW1 aircraft and the maker’s markings left no doubt that it was German. A process of elimination resulted in the fact that it was of the type that was installed in the Fokker DR-1, the aircraft model that the Red Baron, Manfred Von Richthofen, was flying when he met his demise at Vaux-Sur-Somme on the Western front on April 21 1918. He was almost certainly shot down by Australian troops as he flew low in pursuit of what would have been his 81st kill.

The crashed aircraft, serial 425/17, was quickly stripped by souvenir hunters. Parts from the machine are held in museums in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Given that no Fokker DR-1 Triplanes came to Australia following WW1 it is quite possible that the fuel tank, which shows accident damage, came from the Red Baron’s aircraft. The museum is conducting further research into the find, but it is quite possible that the tank, the only one of its kind known to still exist, came from the Red Baron’s aircraft when it was shot down almost 100 years ago.

New Tiger Moth AD?

CASA is proposing a second airworthiness directive concerning the wooden structure of DH. 82 and DH. 82a Tiger Moths.

The latest proposed AD comes as a result of the continuing investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) into the fatal inflight breakup of DH. 82a Tiger Moth VH-TSG, and concerns the inspection of the wooden wing structure in DH. 82 and DH. 82a aircraft.

The proposed AD introduces the requirement to conduct visual internal inspections of the woodenstructure of the aircraft’s flying surfaces, intended to ensure the continued airworthiness of the aircraft. The PAD is open for consultation until June 3 2014.

A tough blow

Strong winds proved a major headache for the Wings Over Illawarra airshow on Sunday May 4. Westerly winds gusting from 20 to 35kt and above meant that only a RAAF F/A-18, a SIAI-Marchetti S-211 and Jeff Trappett’s CAC CA‑27 Sabre, VH-SBR, could take part in an abridged flying display.

The show was the first public display for the Sabre after its recent major rebuild. A tyre blowout on landing was a slightly ignominious ending to a popular display.

The wind remained a westerly for the day and affected the main north-south runway, 16/34. The east-west runway 08/26 was not available due to the airshow. Consequently a number of aircraft that had planned to be at the show could not fly in due to the adverse weather.

Wings Over Illawarra has been held annually at the Albion Park airport south of Wollongong for the last seven years, but this year was the first time that the event effectively had to be put on hold due to weather.

Register news

Nothing from New Zealand this month but a few items of interest from Australia.

Stampe SV-4B VH-EWF was put on the register on May 5 with c/n 49 to Thomas Russell of Hawthorn West, Victoria.

Aero L-39C serial 430423 went on to the register on April 7 as VH‑IBE to Mark Pracy, Ashtonfield, NSW.

A Piper Super Cub, c/n 18-8823, arrived from the UK to become VH-YUP on May 1 to David Berger of Kalang, NSW.

In the struck off department Piper PA-22-160 VH-NBD became VH-IDK on April 1, while Miles M3A Falcon VH-AAT and DH. 85 Leopard Moth VH-UUL changed formal ownership to Michael Hatfield-Houston Stalls on April 23. This follows the death of owner Keith Hatfield in November.

Boeing A75N1 Stearman VH-RAC changed owners to Jace Harrison, Sunbury, NSW on April 8. Aero L-29 VH-TNW moved to CCT Racing of Bathurst on April 7 and BAC T. 5A Jet Provost VH-YZC changed owners on April 7 to Michael Stoneham of Dalmore, Victoria.

In Brief

The Commemorative Air Force (CAF), previously known as the Confederate Air Force, has selected Dallas Executive Airport as its new headquarters. The move, announced on April 30, will see the CAF progressively move from its current base at Midland, Texas. The North Queensland Curtiss P-40N VH-MIK, reportedly has been sold. It is understood that the aircraft will be going to the USA. Well-known warbird pilot Steve Death took the aircraft for a pre-purchase check flight to ensure that it was still as good as when he made the first post restoration flight. Well-known American warbird owner and airshow flyer, Eddie Andreini aged 77, was killed in the crash of his Boeing Stearman during an airshow at Travis AFB, California on May 3. Eddie was the previous owner of the Yak-3, VH‑YOV, that arrived at Jandakot, WA last year.