Warbirds

XHH was noted being dismantled and packed into two shipping containers at Rockhampton Airport in late July, reportedly bound for its new owner.

The Great Tiger Moth Air Race

The 2014 Great Tiger Moth Air race will be held on the October long weekend, with the event starting from Luskintyre Airfield in the Hunter Valley. The race had originally been scheduled for Easter this year, but was postponed due to a CASA airworthiness directive (see below).

Up to 50 examples of the legendary biplane are scheduled to depart Luskintyre on the first leg at 09:15 on October 4 to fly to Camden. The race will travel via Fort Scratchley, the NSW Central Coast to Barenjoey Head, Sydney’s northern beaches and Harbour, and along the Parramatta River to Prospect, before arriving at Camden around 10:55. For the second leg that afternoon, the aircraft will depart Camden from 13:00 and will take a more direct route home via Prospect, Sydney’s Hills District, Patonga near Woy Woy, Toukley and Swansea, arriving at Luskintyre around 14:20.

The event will continue on Sunday October 5, with the third leg departing Luskintyre at 9:15 for Taree via Maitland, Dungog and Gloucester, arriving at about 10:25. The fourth leg of the race will depart Taree from 12:20 and will travel via Forster, Elizabeth Beach, Sugarloaf Point, Tea Gardens, Allworth and Walka Water Works, arriving back at Luskintyre at 13:50.

A number of ‘characters’ of the race will be attending and participating this year, including former RAAF WW2 Spitfire pilot Sid Handsaker, WW2 Lancaster bomber pilot Bill Purdy and John Bailey, a WW2 Kittyhawk pilot.

All proceeds raised from the weekend will go to the Soldier On organisation which helps Australia’s wounded warriors, and LIFT Youth Development, a Hunter-based youth-at-risk development and mentoring organisation.

For more information, visit www. tigerairrace. com.

East Arm WW2 RAAF base to be demolished

During WW2 the RAAF flying boat base at Darwin was to the east of the town at a location known as East Arm. There the RAAF had a slipway and hangars to service the various flying boats and floatplanes including the famous 11 and 20 Squadron Black Cats, the Catalina flying boats that were painted black so as to make it harder for the Japanese to detect them. The Black Cats were responsible for reconnaissance, mine laying, picking up downed aircrew, bomb dropping and many other roles.

After the war East Arm lay dormant as the RAAF moved from flying boats into land-based aircraft and established a large base at the current RAAF Base Darwin that is also shared with airlines and general aviation aircraft. With the steady expansion of commerce and industry around Darwin the East Arm base and the nearby WW2 Z Special Force Commando base locations have been slated for demolition to assist in the development of marine industry purposes including a possible marine industrial park.

The site of the Z Special Unit, an elite special commando unit, the forerunner of the modern SAS, is under threat because of the August 19 opening of a $110 million marine supply base with further expansion planned.

Little remains of the Z Force base save for concrete building pads, pathways and rusting metal fixtures. The East Arm air base remains consist of a slipway and the concrete base of the hangars and hardstand.

A bid to have the site protected by heritage listing could come too late as already a large swath has been cut through the Z Forcesite for a drain and with plans to develop the entire area. A heritage application to protect the East Arm base was refused and the base will soon be demolished.

Paspaley Pearls Properties holds the land on which the remains of the flying boat base is located under the terms of a Crown lease that requires development of the land for marine industry purposes.

“The proposed development cannot go ahead if the remains of the flying boat base are declared a heritage place,” said Peter Chandler, the NT Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment.

It would appear that in future the only memory of both the Z Force base and the East Arm flying boat base will be a commemorative plaque to let people know the history of the places.

Register news

New Zealand has a new Bristol F2B Fighter on the register,ZK‑VTV, for The Vintage Aviator Limited at Masterton. The machine was put on the NZ register on July 21 and has the serial of C794. This is an original WW1 Bristol Fighter serial. The new F2B joins several others and will be flying at Hood aerodrome.

In Australia de Havilland DHC‑1 T Mk 10 VH‑UPD, c/n H-F102, was struck off the register on August 9 following an accident on June 29 when it spun into the terrain during an aerobatic flight near Coffs Harbour, NSW. The two occupants, including the owner, were injured. Now John Murphy, the owner/pilot of VH-UPD, is a hard man to keep out of the air. He bought de Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk, VH-DHX, c/n C1‑0944, on August 29. John hails from Sapphire Beach, NSW and operates the Chipmunk from Coffs Harbour. John has a real love affair with the Chipmunk.

Battle of Britain movie stars sold

Following up on the mention in the last AA Warbirds, a fleet of Bf 109 Messerschmitts (in fact Spanish-built Hispano HA-1112s) plus a Supermarine Spitfire and a North American P-51D, all unflown for over 40 years, have been sold! The aircraft were obtained by Texan Wilson ‘Connie’ Edwards as payment for flying services in the 1969 movie Battle of Britain.

Connie had stored the aircraft at Big Springs, Texas. Given that the location was dry and the machines were stored in a hangar they are all in very good condition.

Platinum Fighter Sales, which handled the sale, said that the six Messerschmitts will go to a collector in Europe. An original P-51D Mustang (that didn’t appear in the film) will stay in the US and be restored. The Spitfire will go to abuyer in the UK. Platinum declined to name any of the buyers.

Connie Edwards, aged 80, elected to sell the aircraft following the death of his son, Wilson Connell ‘Tex’ Edwards in a car accident last year. Connie Edwards had intended to give the aircraft to his son.

Not for sale, for now, were other aircraft in the Edwards collection including a Grumman Albatross, Grumman Mallard and two Consolidated PBY Catalinas.

Tiger Moth AD confirmed

CASA Airworthiness Directive AD/DH82/18 became effective on August 14.

The AD follows the December 16 2013 inflight breakup of DH. 82a Tiger Moth VH-TSG, thought to be due to the failure of a new-manufacture fuselage tie rod.

The AD required immediate suspension of aerobatic flight and then the installation of inspection rings and drainage provisions in accordance with the Technical News Sheet CT (Moth) No. 32, Issue 3, dated December 1 2008, issued by de Havilland Support Ltd. Inspection of the wing and tail structure was then required.

Aerobatic flight was only to take place after the AD had been complied with and the ongoing airworthiness of the wooden wing structure and empennage had been established.

The AD had two compliance dates, one for commercially-flown aircraft (adventure or joy flights) and one for privately-flown aircraft. The commercial aircraft had to have the AD carried out by October 30 2014 and the other aircraft by December 31 2014. The inspections are to be repeated at every 200 hours flight time or within 36 months of the previous inspection.

In brief

The next major RAAF Airshow is to be held at Townsville on Sunday October 16 2016. The show will in part mark the city’s 150th birthday. The formal date for the year-long celebration of the city’s foundation day is February 15 2016 and so the show – to be along the Strand foreshore – will be the final major event to mark that date. The Queensland Air Museum has donated Cessna 402 VH‑NQC to Dick Winterburn for display in his Derelict Aircraft Museum at Nagambie, Victoria. The museum has a slowly expanding collection of derelict aircraft. It can be found at 234 Nagambie Road, Nagambie. Email derelictaircraftmuseum@yahoo. com. au for details.