Warbirds

HARS Boeing 707 due in November

The Historical Aircraft Restoration Society has advised that Hollywood movie star John Travolta is likely to star for four days when he flies into Illawarra Regional Airport in the last week of November.

Travolta is donating his Boeing 707, a former Qantas aircraft, to the HARS organisation. The 707 has been flown to Australia before by Travolta. HARS is of the view that the arrival of the aircraft will create more attention than when a Qantas Boeing 747 was donated to the society. Some 30,000 people turned up to see the 747 and HARS is expecting more for the 707.

A HARS maintenance crew has been working on the 707 for some time to prepare it for the flight to the HARS facility at the Illawarra regional Airport. It is understood that the flight will be via Europe, Singapore and Darwin.

Travolta is said to be delighted to be able to donate the aircraft to a not-for-profit organisation in Australia.

The arrival of the machine will swell the numbers of large aircraft at the airport to firmly put it on the mat as a must-see air museum. The collection includes several DC-3s, a Catalina, a Convair, Caribou, Boeing 747 and Lockheed Neptune and Orion.

RAAF takes charge of Temora Museum fleet

July 1 saw the official timing of the RAAF taking over the Temora Aviation Museum fleet. The 11 aircraft will now be under the care of the RAAF. This will assist in their preservation for now and the future. Given that the RAAF is to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2021, the RAAF was keen to be able to display former RAAF aircraft in the air and on the ground.

Ex-Aus Chipmunk flies on

Let us say that you are at Oshkosh and you saw a red and black, low wing open cockpit two-seat aircraft, and looking very racy. Then comes the question what is it and where did it come from?

The answer is Australia. The much modified DHC-1 Chipmunk started out as VH-BSQ. It got rebuilt into being a Sasin-Aerostructures SA-29 Spraymaster with the registration VH-GEB. Exported to the USA the aircraft was rebuilt into the sporty aircraft that it is now and carries the registration N7DW. It is called a ‘Super Chipmunk’ but looking at it one will not see a Chipmunk as we normally expect to see one. If Mike Sasin saw N7DW he would be unable to recognise it as the aircraft that he turned into a Spraymaster.

New air museum in wine country

The area around Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley of NSW now has a new air museum, one that boasts a number of warbird types. The new museum is titled Wirraway Aviation Museum. Located near Cessnock aerodrome the new airstrip and museum is the home to the Paul Bennett collection of warbirds and airshow display aircraft.

The museum opened quietly in October.

The collection includes a Wirraway, a Cessna 0-2 (military Cessna 337), Curtiss P-0E Kittyhawk, North American T-28 Trojan, Yak-52, Grumman TBM Avenger and Beech 18.

In the past the Paul Bennett Air Shows’ collection of aircraft has been based out of the Royal Newcastle Aero Club aerodrome at Rutherford.

Entry to the new museum is free. To get to the museum from Cessnock aerodrome tourists must drive in a virtual U shape: up Broke Rd, then down De Beyers Road, then turn left to the very end of Grady Road. If you cannot find the new airstrip just listen for the sound of round radial engines running up!

Catalina engine run-up

The Catalina Flying Memorial Ltd is proud to announce that on June 23 the engines on its Catalina were successfully run. It had been planned that the aircraft would be taxied around to the special run-up bay near the Bankstown tower but this was not to be and the aircraft remained static where it has been for some time.

The run-up day was the date for a BBQ get together for the people who had worked on the aircraft over the past few months. While the current colour scheme of the aircraft is white and orange it is intended that the next project for the aircraft is to paint it all over black so that it will resemble an original Black Cat of WWII fame. The restoration of the aircraft is ongoing but constant. Catalina enthusiasts will look forward to the day that the aircraft takes to the skies. Even better still would be to see the HARS Catalina in formation with it.

Tiger Moth pilot enroute to Australia

There is something about flying long distances from the UK and in particular in a DH Tiger Moth. On May 11, airline pilot Amanda Harrison departed Biggin Hill bound for Australia. The flight was planned before a certain female pilot flew a Boeing Stearman to Australia, with a more experienced pilot in the front seat but billed as a solo flight! Harrison elected to delay her flight until the publicity on the other flight died down.

The Tiger that Harrison is flying, G-AXAN, will attempt to follow the same route as that flown by famed female aviator Amy Johnson back in the 1930s.

At last count the Harrison Tiger Moth had got as far as Rhodes in Greece. It was noted there on June 26. The Tiger Moth is not the fastest of biplanes and that is apparent from the progress that G-AXAN is making. We look forward to seeing the aircraft make a safe arrival in Australia, but when?

Australian Messerschmitt now in the UK

Former Australian registered Messerschmitt Bf109G-2, VH-EIN (14798) has now turned up on the British register as G-CLFI with then owner as Fighter Aviation Engineering. It was put on the UK register on April 25. It is reported to have last been owned in Australia by a Wayne Dawson in NSW.

Two other Bf109 projects were also registered in April in the UK to a C W Tomkins of Spanhoe.

Yet another former Australian Messerschmitt Bf109G-6, VH-BFG, came from Russia, went to Canada then to Australia and is now in Germany and reported up for sale.

With few exceptions, Messerschmitt Bf109 projects are major restorations. As one enthusiast said a ‘makers plate-up restoration’. In a lot of cases they are a build or rebuild based on patterns.

Despite the passing of the years, more Bf109 projects are turning up and there are enough owner enthusiasts who have the funds to be able to build or rebuild these rare aircraft.

DC3 future still in limbo

As AA closed for press expressions of interest in the former Air Nostalgia DC3 VH-TMQ were set to close. The aircraft had been owned by Ausjet and operated under the title Air Nostalgia. It had been used on charter and dinner flights out of Melbourne’s Essendon airport until Ausjet collapsed early this year.

The aircraft was with the RAAF as A65-91 entering Australian service with 38 Squadron in April 1945.

As VH-TMQ it has now flown some 14,379hours. The current maintenance release is valid to January 23, 2020. It is in the IFR charter category. The old Gooney Bird has 28 seats. One report had it that the aircraft had a suitor from Asia wanting to pay big money for the airworthy DC3. Only time will tell who gets the machine. We will probably know in the next few weeks.