Warbirds #392 | Flying Neptune returned to former glory

WWII-era Catalina’s future in flux

Elsewhere in the country, there is concerning news for another significant piece of Australia’s aviation history. The historic WWII-era PBY Catalina A24-385 flying boat ‘Frigate Bird II’, which has lived at the Ultimo Powerhouse Museum for over three decades, now faces an uncertain future as the museum closes its doors.

Frigate Bird II is most well-known for completing the first-ever return round-the-world trip between Australia and South America in 1951. The preserved plane had spent over 30 years in the rafters at Ultimo Powerhouse Museum before it was lowered to ground level in October last year. However, as of 5 February, the Ultimo location closed down to the public to undergo a planned three-year renovation. Many of the artefacts housed there will be moved, however only vague plans have been disclosed for the future of Frigate Bird II, with initial news reports suggesting the iconic aircraft could be moved to the Castle Hill Powerhouse Museum location in north-west Sydney or sent to a “regional museum”.

A spokesperson for the Powerhouse Museum told Australian Aviation that it is “being responsible and accountable by exploring options for where Collection objects may go for the benefit of the communities of NSW”, and confirmed it is in discussion with the HARS Aviation Museum in Albion Park about the Catalina. The Powerhouse Museum also confirmed that after the renovation, “the Catalina alongside other iconic objects from the museum’s Collection will be reinstalled at Powerhouse Ultimo, once revitalisation works are complete.”

The PBY Catalina is regarded as the most successful flying boat to ever be produced. A24-385 was one of the 168 Catalinas ordered by the Royal Australian Air Force during WWII and used to assist Allied forces with mine-laying missions in enemy harbours, detecting Japanese naval vessels, and rescuing Allied troops from the ocean.

A24-385 was delivered to Australia on 3 September 1945 – unfortunately just weeks after the war had ended. After briefly being assigned to 3 Operational Training Unit, the Catalina was placed in storage at RAAF Base Rathmines – the RAAF’s biggest flying boat base at the time. Five years later, the aircraft was handed over to Sydney-born Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor – known often as P.G. Taylor. In 1950, Taylor renamed the flying boat Frigate Bird II ahead of his trailblazing flight to South America – the only corner of the earth yet to see a return flight from Australia at the time. Captain P.G Taylor and his crew took off from Rose Bay on 13 March 1951, making stops in Tahiti and Easter Island along the way.

Wings of Wairarapa grounded due to cyclone

Warbird fanatics in Aotearoa were left disappointed after Cyclone Gabrielle saw the Wings over Wairarapa Air Festival near-totally washed out. The event’s organisers were forced to cram the weekend’s worth of air displays into one day, with windy conditions keeping some of the oldest – and most vulnerable – aircraft on the ground.

This unfortunately included what would have been the air display debut of The Vintage Aviator’s latest WWI-era replica of a German Fokker E.III Eindecker fighter monoplane. Registered ZK-EIN, the replica was built based on several Achim Engels-built Fokker aircraft. Meanwhile, the event marked the final farewell flight for the Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules, NZ7004. Since entering service in 1968, NZ7004 has flown all around the world – including to Antarctica – and aided in multiple humanitarian and disaster relief missions.

RAAF commemorates Australia Day with national flypasts

Back on our side of the pond, the Royal Australian Air Force celebrated Australia Day with several flypasts throughout the country. As is often the case, the RAAF Roulettes took to the skies above Sydney Harbour just after midday on January 26 in their nimble aerobatic PC-12s. One Roulette was later tasked with performing another display further north-west at Governor Phillip Park, in Windsor, New South Wales, just before 6pm. Elsewhere in NSW, a RAAF E-7A Wedgetail took the skies above Port Stevens and Nelson Bay at 12:45pm.

Onlookers from Melbourne and Geelong were able to catch a glimpse of history, with the RAAF Museum’s CAC CA-18 Mustang taking to the skies shortly after midday, passing by Federation Square and Government House in Melbourne before heading out to Geelong to fly past the Royal Geelong Yacht Club at 1pm.

While Canberra was set to also see some classic warbird action with the RAAF’s GAF Canberra Mk.20, this display was unfortunately cancelled due to poor weather conditions out of Temora. In Western Australia, a PC-21 performed a flypast of Sir James Mitchell Park in Perth bright and early at 8am, while those in South Australia were able to spot a P-8A Poseidon just after 7pm from Elder Park in Adelaide. The Northern Territory perhaps got the most excitement, with up to four F-35A Lightning II jets scheduled to dash across the state, starting in Darwin at 12:15pm, Palmerston Recreation Reserve at 12:17pm, and Katherine at 12:30pm.

Southern Cross II finally takes flight over Illawarra

After a gruelling 12-year restoration process, the rebuilt replica of pioneering aviator Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s iconic Southern Cross aircraft finally took to the air for the first time since 2002 for a 15-minute test flight on 8 December. Southern Cross II – a faithful replica of the record-breaking Fokker F.Viib-3m – has been meticulously restored to meet modern regulations and airworthy standards while staying as true to the original design as possible, by the dedicated team at HARS.

The tri-motor monoplane replica was originally built in the 1980s to be as similar as possible to Kingsford Smith’s own Southern Cross, which carried Smith and his team across the Pacific Ocean in 1928 in the world’s first-ever flight connecting Australia and the United States. The aircraft, registration VH-USU, has been grounded since 2002 after it lost a wheel upon takeoff and was ultimately damaged upon landing with a singular wheel. Southern Cross II has been in the care of HARS since 2010 and has been performing numerous high-speed taxi runs at the Museum’s home of Shellharbour since January 2022 in the lead-up to December’s big flight.

Following the momentous 15-minute flight, Australian Aviation spoke with test pilot Bruce Simpson, standing beside co-pilot Mark Thurstan, who praised HARS for the success of the project. “[Southern Cross II] was flying and operating exactly how it was designed to. An extraordinary amount of credit needs to go to the engineers on the project because it does exactly what it’s designed to do. A very successful flight,” he said. “It is a fantastic tribute to the organisation, to the staff, the project management, the sponsors. Without any of those components, this would never have happened,” said Simpson. “It’s an absolute legacy for the aviation industry of Australia.”

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