Warbirds

Retired in 2001 it was transferred to RNAS Culdrose where it was used for the School of Flight Deck Operations.

In September 2007 the aircraft was removed from RNAS Culdrose and placed on the fire dump at the Royal Navy’s fire training depot at Predannack airfield.

Eventually sold off as surplus it was purchased by AVT in January 2015 and later shipped to Australia.

AVT provides Aerospace engineering services and specialises in helicopter/ship interface analysis as well as aircraft simulation, structural analysis, computational fluid dynamics and human factors. David Howe, the managing director of AVT, plans to fully restore XW271 to airworthy standard, but a current lack of logbooks may prevent the machine from flying. The aircraft is to be restored at Ballarat, Victoria.

HARS’s Convair delayed, but Hawdon arrives

It has been a busy few weeks for the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS). While the ferry flight of its newly-acquired Convair 440 to Australia has been delayed, HARS has taken delivery of historic DC-3 VH-AES Hawdon, the very first aircraft operated by Trans-Australia Airlines.

First to the Convair. As we detailed last issue, HARS has acquired Convair 440 ZS-ARV. The aircraft is located in Wonderboom, South Africa and HARS had hoped to ferry it to Australia in May or June. However, that has now been delayed a few months.

“Whilst we did have the bureaucratic delays these things attract, they were not the deal breaker as we were able to do work on the aircraft in the meantime. Yes, the aircraft still needs more testing, however that can be overcome,” HARS posted on its Facebook page on May 28.

“The final show-stopper was fuel availability en route. Just because a place says they have avgas doesn’t mean they have avgas for YOU. Gone are the days when piston engined airliners were common and many places now only carry stocks for light aircraft. ” In particular, fuel has to be ordered especially for the Convair to transit the Seychelles.

“We will have to have them order enough for us from the next ship which should be in two or three months. ” HARS had test flown the Convair from Wonderboom on May 11 – “in just one day we flew it more than it has been flown in eight years”.

Interestingly, while the Convair has been painted up in TAA colours HARS acknowledges that TAA didn’t operate the 440 model, but as HARS already has two aircraft painted in Ansett colours it elected to be a bit different. TAA operated five of the earlier Convair 240, while Ansett operated three Convair 340s and six Convair 440s (and the RAAF two 440s for VIP transport).

The Convair will be the second TAA-painted aircraft to call HARS home after VH-AES arrived at Albion Park from Melbourne via Temora on June 12.

“Perhaps the least known iconic aircraft in Australia is the TAA DC-3 Hawdon, the aircraft that flew the first TAA flight all those years ago,” HARS wrote on its Facebook page on June 12.

“Today was a major treat for visitors to HARS to witness the arrival of this aircraft, being entrusted to HARS care. We now have three C-47 / DC-3 aircraft, and while they each have a unique value to history, Hawdon stands out as the star. ” Originally built in 1942 as a C-47 for the US Army Air Force, Hawdon flew the inaugural Trans-Australia Airlines service, from Melbourne (Laverton) to Sydney on September 9 1946.

Mustangs change hands

Two Mustangs have changed hands in recent weeks.

We start with North American P-51D Mustang VH-FST The Flying Undertaker, which has been bought by Brisbane aviation identity Brad Bishopp.

The P-51D-30NT Mustang, s/n 45-11526, was previously with Ross Pay at Scone. It had suffered the collapse of its left gear leg at Point Cook in 2008. After repairs it was flown to Parafield, South Australia where it was found to have metal debris in the engine. Sold as-is where-is the machine was bought by Ross Pay. Its engine was removed and taken to Scone where it was overhauled. After the engine was reinstalled at Parafield the Mustang was flown to Scone by Steve Death. Now it has been bought by Brad Bishopp of Outdoor Advertising fame. The aircraft is fitted with two seats and has dual controls so could be used to train future Mustang pilots.

The second Mustang to change hands was ex RAAF CAC CA-17 Mustang A68-71, which has been purchased by the Australian National Aviation Museum, also known as the Moorabbin Air Museum. The Mustang fills a slot in the air museum’s collection of Australian-built aircraft.

The aircraft has the registration of VH-VID since November 2002. It has been in long-term storage and restoration in regional Victoria with owner Derek Macphail, who obtained the machine in Western Australia many years ago. As a CA-17 the Mustang is the oldest of the Australian-built Mustangs to survive.

Still on the subject of Mustangs, Mustang replica VH-ZYC made a wheels-up landing at Devonport, Tasmania on May 21. The owner/pilot was unhurt. It is reported that the aircraft made a similar arrival last year, at the same airport.

Heron on the blocks

The Australian National Aviation Museum has put its DH. 114 Heron VH-CLX up for sale.

The Heron was obtained some years ago but with the pending arrival of a locally-built Canberra bomber from RAAF Wagga, space is of a premium and so it was decided that the Heron, which was not built in Australia, was surplus to requirements.

The Heron was used by Air Tasmania and Connellan Airways and is being sold as is – no engines, props, instruments or seats. It was G-ANPV in the UK.

ANAM has the largest collection of Australian-built aircraft of any Australian air museum and has made collecting and displaying Australian-built its priority.

Register update

From New Zealand comes news that former Australian Auster J1 VH-ASI, c/n 2150 has become ZK-ASL with the Tolaga Bay Trust of Tolaga Bay on June 10. One thing is for sure, it did not fly to NZ. It was struck off the Australian register in 2015.

Meanwhile The Vintage Aviator of Masterton added BE2e-1 ZK-PXA, c/n 11233, to the register on May 17.

In Australia Hawker Fury Mk II VH-SFW was struck off the register on April 27, while Curtiss P-40N-5 VH-AOE, s/n 42-104947, was struck off the register on May 13. Previously registered to Bob Jarrett of Salisbury, SA, the latter has been exported as a rebuild project.

Douglas C-47A VH-XUX, s/n 42-92709, had a formal change of owners on May 10 to Flying Tiger Historical Organisation Inc of Groveland, California. This machine is destined to be exported to China.

Warbirds, the movie

Warbirds, the Heroes History Forgot, is to be the title for a local movie production.

The Shortstop Jet Charter hangar at Essendon Airport was the appropriate venue for the pre-production presentation seeking funds and spreading the word in the local film production industry. A Douglas DC-3 and a North American T-6 Harvard were suitable backdrops in the hangar for the presentation.

The film is the brainchild of Destrier Films with Melbourne-based directors, James Harvy and Jennifer Kerry seeking expressions of interest in the production. The basis of the film is from the book Yankee Doodle Gals.

The evening opened with a very professional presentation by producer Robert Galinsky who explained that the movie is to be about American Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) with an Australian bent. The WASPs filled the vital role of ferrying aircraft from various locations around America during WW2 as well as flying new aircraft from the maker’s factories to Army Air Force squadrons. The idea came from the same role carried out by women in the UK during the war.

Interestingly enough, there was resentment against women flying military aircraft and as such they had to pay for their own lodgings, their own uniforms and if they died their family had to pay to get them back home and they weren’t allowed a military funeral. They were paid 65 per cent less than male pilots. The role of the WASPs has largely been forgotten until recent years and only now are they allowed to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

When applications were first asked for some 25,000 women applied but only 1,900 were accepted. They were to go on to fly all manner of aircraft from basic trainers to multi-engine bombers.

The producers are looking to have actor Ben Stiller as the director and actress Alicia Vikander from the Danish Girl in the film. Director James Harvy said that while the film will be made in both the US and Australia, wherever possible local Australian aircraft and equipment will be used. There is also an integral part of the story revolving around an Australian brother and sister. The movie is to embrace the Darwin attacks, the sister is deeply affected and this spurs her on to the USA to join the WASPs – making history and helping pioneer the future of women in aviation.

Local warbird pilot Judy Pay was guest speaker and a suitable person to promote women in aviation, then and now. Judy went on to say that she is the only female Corsair pilot in the world and the only warbird pilot known to have landed a Corsair flaps up following a mechanical issue.

Destrier Films’ James Harvy noted that like a lot films it can take some time from pre-production and funds raising to seeing the finished product on the silver screen. If the movie features warbirds, be they local or from the US, in a major movie this writer for one can hardly wait.

Round-the-world Stearman bent

British pilot Tracey Curtis-Taylor flew all the way from the UK to Australia and got to her destination on time and in one piece. Not so the next leg of the flight across America.

Part of the trip was to fly around the world in the Stearman with the American sector being from Seattle to Boston with part of the US flight being a recreation of the pioneering US postal flights.

Curtis-Taylor and a passenger survived an accident on May 11 when soon after takeoff from Winslow, Arizona her 1942 Boeing B75N1 Stearman, N56200 Spirit of Artemis developed an engine issue. The aircraft was bound for Phoenix but soon after takeoff the engine suffered a power loss. Curtis-Taylor attempted to land on the open desert to the south of Winslow but as the aircraft touched down the right wheel struck a desert sage root that tore off the right landing gear leg. The Stearman then cart-wheeled coming to rest in an upright position. The two occupants, Curtis-Taylor and passenger Ewald Gritsch, were not injured, probably due to the rugged nature of the steel tube construction of the Stearman. Photos show the biplane with major damage to the four wings and the tailplane.

Curtis-Taylor plans to have the historic Stearman rebuilt and then recommence the flight starting at Winslow next year to complete the journey.

Narromine news

The Narromine Air Museum has added another aircraft to its collection, a locally-built 1938 Corben Baby Ace.

Powered by a Samson radial engine the aircraft now takes pride of place in the museum, adding to its growing collection of aircraft that have had involvement with the Narromine area. The high-wing aircraft was rebuilt under supervision by the Narromine Men’s Shed group.

Other aircraft in the museum’s collection include a Venture glider and a Wright Flyer replica that flew in 2005 with famed local pilot, the late Col Pay.

Contact Dave by email: [email protected]