Warbirds

The Victory-built Lancaster, KB882, completed 11 missions over wartime Germany and is one of six of the type remaining in Canada. The City of Edmundston bought the wartime bomber from the federal government in 1964 and put it on display on the side of the Trans Canada Highway. The city council was ready to hand the aircraft over to the Alberta Aviation Museum last year but was unable to find a sponsor for the estimated C$300,000 to fund the move, after earlier efforts by a local preservation society to fund a shelter for the aircraft were unsuccessful.

Expressing concern that if the aircraft was left in its current position in the weather it would deteriorate past the point of being able to be restored, Peter Smyth has applied for an exemption from Canadian heritage laws that require an object of significant cultural heritage to be kept within the country. He would also need the City of Edmundston to release the bomber to him.

In other Reevers Warbirds news the Adelaide-based collection’s A-26 Invader, which is currently at Brisbane’s Archerfield Airport, has been put up for sale.

“It would be unfair and hypocritical for us to leave the A-26 as she currently sits in outside storage, exposed to the same conditions as the Lancaster KB882,” Reevers posted on Facebook on July 7.

“For this reason Reevers has decided to sell the A-26 as is where is and will only enter into serious discussions with genuine interested parties. ”

Moorabbin Mustang

CAC-built CA-17 Mustang A68-71 has been acquired by the Australian National Aviation Museum at Moorabbin Airport.

The dismantled aircraft had been in long-term storage at New Gisborne, Victoria with some restoratioNational Aviation Museum atn over the last 15 years. It was transported by road to Moorabbin on July 9 after the formal transfer of ownership to the museum took place on July 1.

Former owner Derek Macphail had previously had the registration marking VH-VID allocated to the fighter, which has since been cancelled.

The Mustang fills a gap in the museum’s collection of both Australian and CAC-built aircraft. It will go on display in partially restored form at the museum later this year.

Historic DH. 94 Moth Minor for rebuild

At Latrobe Valley, Victoria a historic DH. 94 Moth Minor monoplane is to be rebuilt. The aircraft is the former VH-AAM, c/n 94002, the oldest Moth Minor in existence.

The Moth had been in long-term storage since it last flew, and crashed, in 1953. The machine crashed on takeoff at Nhill on October 28 1953 but fortunately the two female occupants escaped unhurt. The wreck was moved around under various owners but never rebuilt and in time the wings and part of the fuselage were scrapped as being of little use in a rebuild. The fuselage was obtained by well known antique aircraft and engine rebuilders, Don and Robert Bunn, in 1973 and had been in storage ever since.

In May this year Brian Turner of Latrobe Valley Airframes and Welding obtained the remains of the Moth with the view to rebuilding the aircraft. Brian currently has a Percival Proctor VH-UXS and Westland Widgeon VH-UHU under rebuild, and specialises in restoring wooden aircraft.

The Moth Minor is of all-wooden construction and has folding wings, taking up less space in a hangar at the end of the day. The brake controls are only in the front cockpit and it has a unique spoiler under the fuselage instead of flaps to assist with the landing approach.

The first Moth Minor, c/n 94001, flew on June 22 1937. That prototype crashed and burnt whilst undergoing aft CG spin trials on April 11 1939. The two pilots bailed out. Later Moth Minors had altered tailplane geometry to enhance their spin recovery.

Over 100 Moth Minors were built in both the UK and Australia. The RAAF took on charge 42 of the type as communications and liaison aircraft. After the war the surviving aircraft were sold off into the civilian market.

Four of the type remain on the Australian civil aircraft register, but the former VH-AAM is unique in that while it arrived in Australia in late 1939 it was never impressed for RAAF service.

One of the owners of VH-AAM was famed female pilot, Gertrude McKenzie, who ran a flying school at Moorabbin airport.

CJFM Airacobra sold

Across in Adelaide the Classic Jets Fighter Museum’s Bell P-39F Airacobra has been sold, reportedly to a Russian buyer.

Over 4,700 P-39s were sent to the Soviet Union during World War 2 under the Lend Lease scheme.

The Airacobra is one of a number of exhibits the Classic Jets Fighter Museum has put up for sale. It carries RAAF serial A53-12 and 24 Squadron markings T-GR, representing an aircraft that served in the defence of Sydney in 1942.

The aircraft was restored from components excavated from the wartime strip at Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea and parts recovered from other hulks in PNG.

Canopy correction

In the June issue of AA we incorrectly reported that Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8 VH-WLF lost its canopy on takeoff at Albury airport and made an open cockpit landing.

However, the pilot of the aircraft at that time, Steve Death, has advised that on the flight in question he had made a local circuit and landed. While he was about to shut down, with the engine still running, he slid the canopy back a few inches but the latch mechanism failed to secure the canopy and it slid off the rails and fell onto the tarmac, shattering the perspex. Fortunately the canopy did not touch and damage the aircraft, and it is now being repaired.

Our apologies to Steve and the aircraft’s owner.

ANAM update

The DH. 114 Heron, VH-CLX, put up for sale by the Australian National Aviation Museum, has been sold to an as-yet unnamed Sydney buyer.

The plans for the elderly airliner are unknown but one can hope that it will be restored to at least static condition. It was being prepared for transport to Sydney in the first week of July.

In other ANAM news, the museum has taken delivery of ex RAAF Canberra A84-226, which was transported from RAAF Wagga to Moorabbin in late June.

It will now take up the space freed up by the departure of Heron VH-CLX.

The aircraft was one of three former ‘gate guardians’ gifted by the RAAF earlier this year to aviation historical organisations, along with Canberra A84-203 (gifted to the Evans Head Memorial Aerodrome and Heritage Aviation Association) and SP-2H Neptune A89-272 (gifted to HARS for its new Parkes annex).

The ANAM was keen to obtain the Canberra under its aim of collecting and displaying Australian-built aircraft. The Canberra was built by the Government Aircraft Factory (GAF) at Fisherman’s Bend.

Tiger meets bird

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has reported that DH. 82a Tiger Moth VH-ARU suffered a possible birdstrike near Shute Harbour, Queensland on July 2.

The aircraft was returning from an aerobatic sortie when the pilot heard a noise and saw an object fly past. The pilot attempted to fly the machine back to Shute Harbour but due to damage the aircraft was forced to conduct a landing on a rocky beach.

The pilot and passenger were uninjured but the aircraft sustained substantial damage.

In brief

• Some of the former RAN Trackers that have been in storage at West Sale aerodrome have been broken down into parts. which were then loaded into a shipping container for transport to the USA as spare parts for aircraft still flying there carrying civil registrations. More Trackers may follow the same path. Eleven ex RAN Grumman Trackers had been stored, both in a hangar and in open storage, at West Sale since the early 1990s.
• The Australian Aviation Museum Bankstown (AAMB) closed its doors to visitors on June 5 ahead of its move to Camden Airport where it will reopen in 2017. As part of its deal to vacate Bankstown the museum is able to build a new facility at a greenfields site at Camden.
• The Royal Australian Navy Heritage Flight has been disbanded. The move is understood to be safety-related as engineers with radial engine and fixed-wing experience have progressively retired from the service.

Contact Dave by email: [email protected]