Register

VH-UXB first flew on 16 May 1975 and was delivered to the RAF as XX841 on 20 June. After serving mainly with RAF 6 Sqn it was taken out of service in August 2005 and sold to Everett Aero at Bentwaters, Suffolk, in August the following year for onward sale. Details are rather sketchy after that with it moving to Tunbridge Wells, Kent, with a private owner and then to North Weald, Essex, where it is reportedly being restored to flying condition. The appearance on the Australian register was initially thought to be to avoid UK regulations whereby supersonic jet fighters cannot be registered on the civil register but since Brexit these regulations seem to be invalid.

The second warbird is North American Harvard VH-TXF, which North Queensland Warbirds is restoring to flying condition and about which little is known. If the serial number quoted is correct, and often they are not, this aircraft began life as USAAF 44-81459 at Mines Field, Los Angeles, California, during 1944. It was used for pilot training and therefore was involved in several minor taxiing and landing accidents including one at Grand Prairie, Texas, during January 1945, at Perrin Field, Sherman, Texas, three months later and a forced landing after engine failure at the same place in November of the same year. It was later moved to Luke AFB, Glendale, Arizona, where it continued with accidents during April 1952 and again in August. It seems to have been retired during September 1955 with nothing heard about it since. If this is the correct history for the aircraft then VH-TXF may be just a compilation of parts masquerading as 44-81459.

Also listed is Curtiss P-40N Kittyhawk VH-EPU. This aircraft was built during early 1943 and issued the USAAF serial 42-105875. It was delivered to the RNZAF later that year and assembled at Hobsonville, New Zealand, during October becoming NZ3184. Demobbed on 2 March 1948 it was one of around 50 Kittyhawks obtained by J Larsen at Rukuhia for scrap. It was salvaged from Mr Larsen’s scrap yard and stored somewhere in New Zealand for a number of years before coming to Ross Pay’s world renowned warbird restoration facility at Scone, NSW, last year to be fully restored.

Though not strictly classified as warbirds, the Auster 3F and the CT/4E Airtrainer did serve with the Australian and New Zealand military and both types are represented in the listings. Stuart Lee’s Auster VH-ARL was built by Taylorcraft Aeroplanes at Rearsby, Leicester, England, and delivered to the RAF as NX533 during June 1943. It was shipped to Australia in September 1945 and joined RAAF 2AD at Richmond on arrival. It spent the next 15 years at various RAAF bases including ARDU for communication trials between 1950 and 1956. Demobbed in 1960 it was sold to the Griffith Aero Club and became VH-BVX on 14 April 1960. After joining the Murray Border Flying Club in January 1962, it was reregistered VH-MBB in line with other aircraft in the fleet. Several private owners later it was deregistered and sold to Don Bunn at Albury for a complete rebuild. Ron Lee obtained the partially complete rebuild project during April 1977 and it was noted at Caboolture, Queensland, in September 2015 where Ron was working on Ralph Cusack’s Beaufort restoration. Five years later it was at Wangaratta, Victoria, where brothers Ron and Stuart Lee had set up an Auster 3 restoration production line involving five of the type. Unable to take up VH-MBB again as this was now worn by a Cessna 172 since 1998 the brothers chose a period marking of VH-ARL but it is reported that it will be painted in its original RAF marking of NX533.

Onyx Aviation has acquired another five CT/4s from New Zealand to add to two already imported last year so now have seven of the 10 Airtrainers built for the New Zealand Air Force as basic trainers. With a further three also in Australia, one written off whilst in RNZAF service and the first production aircraft thought to be heading for a museum in New Zealand it only leaves one of the batch of 10 still active in private hands in New Zealand.

Cirrus aircraft continue to make inroads into the Australian GA market with five new SR22s listed in this issue. All are SR22-G6 (Generation 6) Australis models with three destined for Queensland owners and two being delivered to NSW. The Australis model was introduced in February 2015 and was first shown at the 2015 Avalon Air Show. It is specifically optioned up for the local market, as the name implies, and as well as the normal high level of Cirrus interior appointments it also has air conditioning, UV tinted windows and a personal locator beacon. A claw tie-down system is also included and a special exterior paint scheme including the Southern Cross star system on the tailplane. There are currently 46 SR20s flying in Australia and one in New Zealand, 145 SR22s with 13 in New Zealand and 22 SR22Ts in this country. Of those 31 are the Australis variant. Another Cirrus listed is SWI Air’s VH-EVJ which started life as VH-YSO during May 2010 but went to the US and became N168EE in November 2015 but is now back on the local register as VH-EVJ.

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology has added three more Cessna 172S VH-NJL, NPN and NPS to its already impressive fleet of 10 Cessna 172S, five Cessna 182T and two PA-44 Seminoles, and with another 13 brand new Cessna 172S recently arriving in Australia from the Cessna facility in Wichita, Kansas, it is thought than many of these, if not all, will be heading for the RMIT fleet.

Only one aircraft has been Restored to Register this issue, Virgin Australia Airlines Boeing 737 VH-VUJ. It was returned to its leasing company during November 2020 and became N343CG when Virgin was under pressure to reduce its fleet during a restructuring process. With the woes of the company behind them and domestic traffic improving Virgin is now expanding again with VH-VUJ back in the fleet and a further five aircraft arriving from Silk Air in Singapore (see additions).

Seventy-six aircraft are listed in the Deletions section this issue but with the number of additions far outnumbering the deletions the Australian aircraft industry appears to be on an up-swing again.  Add that to the fact than many of the aircraft listed have changed marking or been transferred to the RA-Aus register and therefore still flying within Australia, the numbers look even better.

Of the exports, the country of choice seems to be America with 12 aircraft now flying in that country. Four aircraft have gone to New Zealand, three Virgin Boeing 737s to the Cayman Islands, two Twin Otters to the Maldives and one aircraft each to Zimbabwe, Germany, Ecuador and South Africa. Two aircraft have gone to the UK one of those being Hawker Hurricane VH-JFW, which is now registered G-ORGI. It is indeed a shame to lose the Hurricane but due to the cost of the rebuilt and therefore the estimated worth of the completed aircraft it is not surprising that it was not expected to remain in Australia. Built by the Canadian Car and Foundry Company and delivered to the RCAF as serial number 5481 during October 1942 it was used by the 31st OTU, 1st OCU and 9 Bombing and Gunnery School before being demobbed and delivered to the Canadian Crown Assets Disposal Corporation on 29 November 1944.

The aircraft languished in storage until the early 1980s when warbird restoration expert Jack Arnold obtained it and began an extensive rebuild. Four years later it went to Canadian Terry Dieno in Saskatchewan who continued the restoration work until it was sold again to UK collector Charles Church in 1986. Registered G-ORGI during November 1989 the restoration was completed by Melton Aviation and its first post-restoration flight took place during September 1991. One year later it was obtained by Dave Price and shipped to the US to become N679DP and then in 1994 it was transferred to the Museum of Flight at Santa Monica, California. When the museum closed, the Hurricane was obtained by Canadian Ed Russell who registered it C-FDNL, although it still flew marked as P2970, which it had been since its first restoration in the UK during 1991.

During April 2004 it was shipped to Australia for an extensive refurbishment and was registered VH-JFW. After receiving all new wood and fabric by Luskintyre Aircraft Restorations it was transported to Vintage Fighter Restorations at Scone where the restoration was completed. Sold again last year to Warbird Experiences at Biggin Hill, it has now returned to its old registration of G-ORGI although painted in the livery of RAF 32 Sqn with the serial V6748.