AUSSIE HURRICANE FLIES Out of Africa Convair 440 P-40 Hawks Gathering
Song of the Square Tails Stearman evolution
OUTGUNNED & OUTCLASSED The loss of Hudson A16-201 VOLUME 28 NUMBER 2
AIRSHOWS Atlanta Warbirds ✪ Reno ✪ Oshkosh ✪ Hahnweide ✪ Cold War Jets NEWS NZ Mosquito ✪ Miles Falcon ✪ DH Fox Moth ✪ Wellington & Corsair moves
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Contents Volume 28, No 2, November 2016-January 2017
Features
44 Song of the Square Tails When four early Stearman biplanes flew together at a recent Californian fly-in, it represented a rare gathering of machines that were highly regarded as mail planes and sport aircraft. Andy Wright examines the evolution of the Square Tails.
12 Out of Africa – The Hard Way HARS pilots Doug Haywood and Geoff Sheppard talk to Editor Rob Fox and Andy Wright about ferrying a Convair 440 from South Africa to Australia.
50 When Plan ‘A’ Fails…
18 Outgunned and Outclassed More than four decades after the event, a Japanese pilot recommended an Australian pilot be awarded a medal for bravery. Michael Claringbould explores the loss of Hudson A16-201 and its crew from the Japanese side.
The Japanese failed to deliver a knock-out blow against Allied air and sea power in the Southwest Pacific in April 1943. Michael Claringbould looks at what went wrong.
56 The Perpetual Proctor The Percival Proctor, an overlooked wartime trainer, was a popular type on the post-war civilian market. Neil Follett details the history of one of Australia’s survivors.
24 The Stinson Model A in Australia The Stinson airliner’s glory was short-lived here. From the archives of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia, Monty Tyrrell looks at their service including the largest air search conducted in Australia at the time.
64 The Oxford Today James Kightly concludes his two-part Airspeed Oxford special with a comprehensive round-up of the survivors, including personal insights from owners and museums, along with exclusive content.
30 Baltimore Days Pilot Officer Tony Tubbenhauer remembers his time flying the Martin Baltimore on operations over the Mediterranean.
36 Delightful Dewoitine Luigino Caliaro recently visited the Swiss home of two rare aircraft integral to the country’s aviation heritage.
AUSSIE HURRICANE FLIES Out of Africa Convair 440 P-40 Hawks Gathering
Song of the Square Tails Stearman evolution
$9 95 / NZ $9
0 ( ncl GST)
VOLUME 28 NUMBER 2
OUTGUNNED & OUTCLASSED The loss of Hudson A16-201
02
9 771320 587007 RINT POST A PROVED 10 008 08
A RSHOWS Atlanta Warbirds ✪ Reno ✪ Oshkosh ✪ Hahnweide ✪ Cold War Jets NEWS NZ Mos ui o ✪ Miles Falcon ✪ DH Fox Moth ✪ Wellington & Corsa r moves
COVER: Tri-State Warbird Museum’s award-winning P-40M, 43-5813, lown by TSWM President Paul Redlich and beautifully captured by David Leininger.
Regulars 4 News 42 Poster 60 Personal Effects 72 Airshows F L I G H T PAT H | 3
News
Editor: Rob Fox Ph: (03) 9580 7436 Email: mail@robfoxphotography.com Contributing Editors: Michael Claringbould, James Kightly, Ron Watts, Andy Wright All letters and contributions should be sent to the editor: PO BOX 253 Bentleigh Victoria 3204. Research: Monica Walsh, John Hopton ADVERTISING National Sales Manager: Andrew Murphy, 17–21 Bellevue Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010. Tel: (02) 9213 8272, Email: andrewmurphy@yaffa.com.au Advertising Production: John Viskovich Email: johnviskovich@yaffa.com.au Yaffa Custom Content Director: Matt Porter Tel: (02) 9213 8209 Email: mattporter@yaffa.com.au Marketing Manager: Chris Hamilton Marketing Executive: Jasmine Gale
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4 | F L I G H T PAT H
Hurricane hits town The first Hurricane to fly in Australia since 1946, when the one and only A60-1 (V7476) last flew, took to the air on 2 September with Ross Pay at the controls. Imported in April 2014, the aircraft is the former Canadian-based Russell Aviation Group Hawker Hurricane Mk.XII (Serial No 5481) C-FDNL (see Flightpath Vol.25, No.3). Sold to Australian interests by Platinum Fighter Sales, the Hurricane immediately entered the Vintage Fighter Restorations facility at the Pay’s Airservices Scone, New South Wales, base. There it was fully refurbished before being reassembled. Over the past two years, the Merlin has been overhauled and the airframe repaired, re-covered and repainted. Owned by a local Scone identity, the aircraft has emerged expertly finished as the aircraft flown by an Australian Battle of Britain pilot. Pilot Officer John Crossman flew Hurricane Mk.I V6748 with 46 Squadron RAF at Stapleford Tawney, Essex, in September 1940. Having flown eighteen sorties in a little over two weeks with the squadron, Crossman was sadly killed in action, flying V6748, at Forest Row, East Sussex, on 30 September 1940. He was 22 and the eleventh Australian to die during the Battle of Britain.
Hurricane 5481 was constructed as a Hurricane Mk.IIB and rolled off the Canadian Car & Foundry production line in early October 1942. Taken on strength by the Royal Canadian Air Force, it was transferred to No. 3 Training Command. In 1984, following recovery from a farm, the remains of 5481, minus wings, found their way to Jack Arnold’s Aviation Museum in Brantford, Ontario. Two years later the aircraft was shipped to Charles Church Displays at Micheldever in the UK. Here the Hurricane was completely overhauled and rebuilt. It was sold to Canadian Ed Russell of Niagara Falls in 2004, and flew alongside his Bf 109E 3579 (CF-EML) and Spitfire Mk.IX MK912 (C-FFLC). However, in the years prior to their sale, the aircraft had largely been off the Canadian scene behind hangar doors. Even though the Hurricane never saw active service here, it is a historically important type, as Australians flew it in every theatre that the Hurricane saw action (even Russia). It is gratifying to see that it is no longer vacant from our skies and will hopefully be a common sight at events across Australia. Rob Fox
News
FAR LEFT: Ross Pay makes the irst light in Hurricane VH-FMJ after a two-year refurbishment. [All images Mark Jessop/aviationspottersonline]
ABOVE: Taxiing out for the irst light of the type here in seventy years. Ross Pay and his Vintage Fighter Restorations team will continue to operate and maintain the Hurricane. LEFT: Light on its wheels, the Hurricane about to take to Australian skies for the irst time. * See our POSTER image, pages 42-43*
F L I G H T PAT H | 5
News TV959 lands back at Ardmore after its initial post-restoration test light. [Colin Hunter]
Multiplying Mossies Another DH.98 Mosquito has flown in New Zealand. Superbly restored by Avspecs on behalf of Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection (FHC) in Washington State, USA, the much-anticipated first post-restoration flight of TV959 (ZK-FHC) took place at Ardmore on 26 September. The five-year restoration of the T Mk.III dual control Mosquito began in 2011 when the aircraft arrived from overseas. The test pilots for the flight were David Phillips and Keith Skilling who both flew Avspecs’ first Mosquito restoration, KA114 (ZK-MOS, now N114KA), in 2012. It is now
resident in the US with Jerry Yagen’s Military Aviation Museum in Virginia. TV959 will continue to wear the temporary markings of NZ2337, a 75 Squadron RNZAF aircraft destroyed in a hangar fire at Ohakea in 1950, as it undergoes further flight-testing before being disassembled for shipment to the US. It will be reassembled and repainted at the FHC facility in Everett during the northern winter. The new scheme has yet to be disclosed Built in 1945, the Mosquito was not struck off charge until mid 1963. It was then used in filming ground sequences for ‘633 Squad-
Wandering Wellington
ron’ as MM398 (HT-P). Following completion of filming, TV959 was allocated to the Imperial War Museum. The starboard wing, inboard of the engine, was infamously sawn off to fit the rest of the airframe into the limited space at the South Lambeth facility where it was suspended from the ceiling. The aircraft was later moved to Duxford with The Fighter Collection and it was from here that the aircraft was sold to Paul Allen. There are two other Mossies that we will hopefully see fly in the not-to-distant future. A Mk.VI, PZ474, arrived at Avspecs in 2014 and is being rebuilt for Rod Lewis. The second aircraft currently belongs to Glyn Powell, the man who initiated the type’s resurgence when he built new moulds and templates for the wooden structures. His aircraft, an Australian-built T Mk.43 (the equivalent of a T Mk.III), began life on the Bankstown assembly line as A52-20 (an FB Mk.40) before being converted to a dual control trainer (A52-1054). It was one of four purchased by the RNZAF (NZ2308) in June 1947 and was flown across the Tasman Sea in four hours. Offered for sale in 2014, it is a well-advanced project. Rob Fox
The DH.83 Fox Moth, with renowned airshow pilot Paul Bennet at the controls, on its irst light at Luskintyre. [Ashley Gene Photography]
On 15 September, Wellington Mk.IA 'R for Robert' (N2980) was rolled out of its hangar for the first time since it arrived at Brooklands in September 1985 following recovery from the depths of Loch Ness. The aircraft was treated to a wash after its 31 years on display. Its former home, the Grade II listed transportable Bellman Hangar, in which a large number of the museum’s aircraft were housed, is to be moved. The famous Brooklands racing track is being restored to its pre-war configuration, so the hangar needs to be moved a short distance off the finishing straight of the legendary banked circuit. The rare Bellman hangar will be completely restored as the Brooklands Aircraft Factory before the aircraft are returned. The Wellington is currently housed in a temporary pavilion adjacent to the museum’s Concorde. Gary Brown The Wellington is currently the only example of its type on public display while the RAF Museum’s aircraft undergoes an extensive restoration at Cosford. [Gary Brown]
Fox Moth for Fox The DH.83 Fox Moth (VH-UVL) owned by vintage aircraft collector Roy Fox flew again on 10 October at Luskintyre, New South Wales. The Moth has been at Luskintyre since 2012 for refurbishment and emerged resplendent in a 1930s Royal Flying Doctor scheme and bearing the name ‘John Flynn’. It was acquired by Fox in 2002 from Ken Orrman in
6 | F L I G H T PAT H
Shepparton, Victoria. The first test flight was conducted by Paul Bennet and the owner reported it was “a very successful first flight with just minor snags”. It will be wonderful to see another of this popular type airborne on Australia’s east coast again, as the Fox Moth played a significant part in this country’s early aeromedical services. Rob Fox
News LEFT: The Falcon on its way to Laverton to ilm ‘Half A World Away’. The original G-ACTM took 27 days to reach Darwin, but returned to the UK in record time. [Rob Fox] BELOW: The Falcon being ground run at Lilydale last August. [Andrew Carlile]
Falcon rising One of the most unique light aircraft of the 1930s will soon return to Australian skies. Michael Stalls’ Miles M.3A Falcon will fly again for the first time in many years. Characterised by its forward-raked windscreen and trousered undercarriage, VH-AAT is one of just three imported into Australia. Powered by the ubiquitous Gipsy Major engine, the Falcon is a compact three/four seater. The aircraft was previously owned by his grandfather, the late Colonel Keith Hatfield. Built in 1935, it arrived in Australia as G-ADHG and was re-registered VH-AAT. Impressed by the RAAF, it served as A37-3 from April 1941 until sold by tender in 1945. Suffering several ground loops
during its time in the RAAF and post-war, the Falcon underwent major restorations in the 1980s and 1990s at Casey Airfield, Berwick, Victoria, when owned by Colonel Hatfield. In the 1990 mini-series ‘Half A World Away’, ‘AAT wore the markings of the Falcon prototype, G-ACTM, that was entered in the 1934 London to Melbourne MacRobertson Air Race. Michael has been working hard with Harvey McBain and the Nelson Aeroplane Company to return ‘AAT to flight after a long period in storage. The prospect of this Miles classic being joined in the air in the future by Scott Snibson’s Miles Gemini is certainly one to get excited about. Andrew Carlile
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News
Memorial Flight Le Bourget The workshops of the Memorial Flight (MF) are located on the far side of Le Bourget Airport at Dugny, near Paris, France. For one weekend each year, the doors are opened to reveal the remarkable work in progress. The MF has established a worldwide reputation for the restoration of First World War aircraft and Gary Brown reviews the current projects for the first time. RIGHT: The BE.2f is a reproduction constructed as per original drawings. Powered by a 90hp RAF 1a engine, the aircraft is itted with lighting for night operations and is marked as ‘2560’ of 52 Squadron. Hopefully this aircraft will soon be transported to La Ferté-Alais for light testing in 2017. [All images Gary Brown] BELOW & FAR RIGHT: Two examples of the Albatros D.Va are currently under construction in conjunction with The Vintage Aviator Ltd. Hopefully these aircraft will remain in Europe. They have already been placed on the French historic aircraft register as F-AZUA (No. 622) and F-AZUB (No. 920).
RIGHT: This aircraft is currently being refurbished as a Morane XXIX ighter and will have a 160hp Gnome 9N instead of the 130hp Clerget that was originally installed. In further news from France, Gary also visited the Cercle des Machines Volantes at Compiègne to report on two of their current projects. BELOW: Currently under restoration is the unique Mauboussin M.202 racing aircraft that dates from just before W.W.II. David Beale, who owns the reproduction Mew Gull G-HEKL, is helping with the rebuild of this unique survivor. One day it will hopefully join the two Mew Gulls at Old Warden for a unique formation. FAR RIGHT: During July, Cercle des Machines Volantes took delivery of a rare Potez 60 ‘Grasshopper’ (F-POSE) which was previously based in Lens-Bénifontaine, Pas-de-Calais, in northern France. There are only three airworthy examples of this parasol wing open-cockpit trainer equipped with their original engines, and only 155 of the type were constructed. They were originally subsidised by the French Air Ministry as a way of encouraging civilian lying clubs and private lying.
8 | F L I G H T PAT H
News The Nomad N22 '46122' on display at the Royal Thai Air Force Museum at Don Mueang. [DS]
The Corsair will become the main attraction at the Classic Jets Fighter Museum and, when moved from the workshop, visitors will be able to follow its progress closely. [Dave Soderstrom]
Star attraction on the move Work continues on the restoration of the oldest surviving Corsair, F4U-1 S/N 02270, at Classic Jets Fighter Museum, Parafield, South Australia. Museum Director Bob Jarrett, commenting on the progress, added, “With the winding back of the museum we can focus on the completion of the F4U-1 Corsair. Some display material has been disposed of, along with the museum’s Dassault Mirage III, Avon Sabre and the P-39 Airacobra, and this will now enable space for the final build-up of the Corsair. The museum’s de Havilland Sea Venom will remain on display, along with the hangar’s DH Tiger Moth, DH Chipmunk and two CJ6 Nanchangs.” Bob estimates that the restoration should take about another two years. Rob Fox
Northern Nomad A recent addition to the fantastic collection at the Royal Thai Air Force Museum at Don Mueang International Airport is Government Aircraft Factory Nomad N22 '46122' formerly flown by 461 'Vampire' Squadron of Wing 46, RTAFB Phitsanulok. A ceremony was held at the base on 18 De-
cember 2015 to mark the retirement of the Nomad from RTAF service. On the same day, the final aircraft was flown to the museum. Twenty-two of the type were flown by the RTAF from 1982 and they were used in a wide variety of roles, including rainmaking. Dave Soderstrom
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News Richard Grace taxies out for the Fury G-CBEL debut at Flying Legends . [Gary Brown]
Prototype Sea Fury Recreated Newly back in the UK, Hawker Fury C/No 37539 has been registered as G-CBEL to North Weald Heritage Aviation and repainted into a remarkably original, and appropriate scheme for the type, that of the first prototype Hawker Sea Fury ‘SR661’. Debuting at the Flying Legends airshow, this machine was a popular item at the event in the hands of Richard Grace, and brought back the noise of the aircraft’s original Bristol Centaurus XVIII engine to the UK. This ‘Baghdad Fury’ was a denavalised version sold to Iraq. It arrived there in 1953 and, after retirement from Iraqi use, was one of the famous Ed Jurist and David Tallichet haul of Furies acquired in 1979 and shipped to Orlando, Florida, then New York. Acquired and restored to fly by Bill Laws at the end of the eighties, it was flown in 1991 as N36SF, before being sold on to the UK to John Bradshaw where it was later registered as G-CBEL and flown in an inauthentic metallic blue scheme, with roundels representing the type’s various users. After an abortive attempted sale to France, in 2009 it was sold to Dave Warburton of Moree, NSW, and registered as VH-SFW. However the Fury was only seen at a couple of airshows in Australia. Returning to the UK, it took up its old registration and new paint, the Fury’s Bristol Centaurus having been previously overhauled by Nobby Bartsch in Darwin and reinstalled by him and Peter Bradley. Painted in a white primer, the aircraft was test flown at Moree before being exported to the UK. Sywell’s Air Leasing applied the notably different scheme with the ‘circle P’ of the prototype marking. James Kightly ABOVE LEFT: The Fury lown by Steve Death at the Warbirds Downunder airshow in 2011. [Rob Fox] MIDDLE LEFT: The Fury seen at the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford in 2003, with the Dutch and Canadian roundels visible. [J Kightly] LEFT: A rare colour image of the original prototype Sea Fury in the late 1940s. [Via J Kightly] 10 | F L I G H T PAT H
News LEFT: The Junkers F.13 was exported widely in the 1920s, including in Australia and New Guinea (see Flightpath Vol.21 No.4). [Thomas Luethi] BELOW LEFT: While a reliable and eicient airliner, the F.13 earned a reputation for handling remote and rough conditions that other aircraft could not. [Stefan Schmoll]
BELOW: The cabin of the F.13 airliners could seat four passengers in heated comfort. [via Stefan Schmoll]
First light of Junkers F.13 A completely new-built example of one of Junkers’ most enduring designs, the Junkers F.13, completed its official maiden flight at Dübendorf airfield in Switzerland on 15 September 2016. After seven years of work, test pilot Oliver Bachmann and owner Dieter Morszeck (chief executive of luxury-luggage company Rimowa) lifted the aircraft into the air to the cheers of invited guests. This recreation, HB-RIM, was designed and built by Swiss and German aviation specialists JuAir and Kaelin Aero Technologies.
The first F.13 flew in 1919 and was a revolutionary design when wood and fabric biplanes were the norm. Sadly, a complete set of plans for the world’s first all-metal passenger aircraft do not exist. The French Musée de l'air et de l'espace, le Bourget, Paris allowed its example to be copied, although some compromises were still made. For example, the new F.13 has a tailwheel instead of a skid and a modern brake system has been installed. A 450hp (336kW) Pratt & Whitney radial engine was fitted as no suitable inline engine could be found, which
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recreates the rarer version originally powered by a Pratt & Whitney Hornet. In the coming months there will be a test flying program in Dübendorf before the aircraft makes its public flying debut in spring 2017. It will be based at the Hugo Junkers hangar on Mönchengladbach airfield in western Germany as well as at Dübendorf airfield. The owner is keen to display his machine at numerous airshows and vintage events all over Europe. Construction of a second F.13 will hopefully begin after testing of HB-RIM is finished. Stefan Schmoll
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Home sweet home. HARS’ new Convair landing at Albion Park. [All images via HARS,unless stated]
Out of Africa –
The Hard Way
The Historical Aircraft Restoration Society operates Australia’s largest leet of multiengine radial engine aircraft. On 21 August, the latest addition, a Convair 440, landed at Albion Park after its ferry light from South Africa. With large quantities of Avgas diicult to come by in some locations, this could be one of the last ocean-spanning ferries for an aircraft entering preservation. Doug Haywood and Geof Sheppard, two of the ferry pilots, spoke to Flightpath’s Rob Fox and Andy Wright about their adventure.
T
he ferry flight was the culmination of more than eighteen months of preparation involving restoration, licencing, training, financing, logistics, sponsorship and most importantly, time off work for the flight crew. HARS had been looking for a Convair airliner to add to its collection for some time. Although a suitable candidate was sourced in Arizona, work to make it serviceable is considerable. Two aircraft in South Africa, ZS-ARV and ZS-BRV, had been for sale for some time and in 2015 a HARS committee member contacted the owner, Rovos Rail, a private luxury rail operator in South Africa. One of the aircraft, ‘ARV, required maintenance to return it to flying condition and Rohan Vos, the man behind Rovos, generously offered the aircraft as it was. 12 | F L I G H T PAT H
Globetrotter This particular aircraft (serial 54-2820) rolled off the Consolidated Vultee assembly lines in San Diego as a Convair 340 in November 1954. A few months later it was assigned to the USAF as a VC-131D VIP transport. It then served with the US military until finally being mothballed at Davis Monthan AFB, in Tucson, Arizona, in 1987. The next phase of its life, along with the future ZS-BRV, began when Líneas Aéreas Canedo, a Bolivian domestic airline, purchased the aircraft for services out of Cochabamba. Both Convairs spent nine years in this role until once again made surplus. Bolivia’s road system had been upgraded in that time and the reliance on domestic air travel was reduced. Combine that with
the economics of operating the thirsty airliners, and a decision was reached to put the pair up for sale. This may have been where the aircraft ended their useful life but for the interest of Rohan Vos. Rohan was looking for classic aircraft to complement his existing vintage rail safari tours in southern Africa. Unrest in parts of his network meant he had to fly passengers over the trouble spots rather than operate his trains through them. A Lockheed L-188 Electra was initially considered, but the South African authorities were concerned about support for the type. For various reasons, other aircraft were either not suitable or the owners were not interested in selling. It was not until a Rovos employee discovered the two Convairs for sale that a solution was at
hand. Both aircraft had relatively low hours and were in excellent condition. Rovos aircrew ferried the aircraft from Bolivia, jumping off from Brazil for the eleven hour Atlantic crossing to Ivory Coast before heading south along Africa’s western shoreline. Rovos refurbished the Convairs to a very high standard by installing 44 luxury leather seats (similar in standard to the seating found on Rovos’ railway carriages), a modern galley, much-upgraded avionics and weather radar. The paint and décor scheme was chosen to match the existing train livery. The crowning glory, the railway inspired toilet, would not look out of place on the Orient Express! The first service flight was flown by BRV, the ‘ARV in September 2002, with ZS ZS-BRV, short-nosed Convair, following suit soon after. Over the course of the next seven years these aircraft ranged over Africa connecting rail journeys or conducting air safaris. However, Rovos found the economics of the aircraft proved too challenging. Operating typically out of high altitude airports, the payload penalty meant that on occasion passengers had to have their baggage carried by another aircraft. The Convairs were reluctantly retired and put out to pasture at Freeway Aerodrome, north of Pretoria. Despite their excellent condition inside and out, they proved difficult to y sell. Rovos subsequently restored ‘BRV to full air-worthy status but ‘ARV satt forlornly, now at Pretoria’s Wonderboom Airport. Rohan Vos did not want to see the aircraft reduced to scrap. Enter HARS and the fundraising to return the aircraft to flight began. The Convair had not flown for eight years and required considerable effort to be made airworthy. During this time, the opportunity was taken to paint the aircraft in an authentic TAA livery, even though the airline did not operate the CV-440. Photographs were sent to the maintenance crew who made a fine job of replicating the finish. It is certainly a most pleasing scheme that accentuates the aircraft’s fine lines. A decision was made to paint the aircraft in an overall silver/grey instead of having the original natural polished metal. This also protects the surface and makes for one less job to do at the museum! Engineers Chris Barnard and Abraham ‘Braam’ Mattingh, the engineering team at Wonderboom, and Coenie Van der Walt from Rovos, completed a mammoth task in resurrecting this aircraft for what would be a relatively trouble
TOP: Captain Doug Haywood, First Oicer Geof Sheppard, Captain Ross Kelly, and South African engineers Chris Barnard and Abraham Mattingh ready for adventure on the morning of departure. MIDDLE: The Convair’s well-equipped cockpit is largely due to Rovos Air’s modernisation shortly after the aircraft’s arrival in South Africa. LEFT: The cabin furnishings will be popular with HARS members when re-installed. Note the plush carpet hiding beneath the strip of protective plastic.
F L I G H T PAT H | 13
free flight. Chris and ‘Braam’ would eventually fly as flight engineers on the ferry. While the Convair is certified for two pilot operation, Rovos operated as the USAF did, with a flight engineer, so that was how the flight to Australia would be crewed. After all, ‘ARV would still be a South African registered aeroplane. Chris was part of the original Rovos ferry crew from South America, so his inclusion was well received.
Crewing up
ABOVE: The Convair was paintstripped and painted in the TAA livery prior to being ferried to Australia. RIGHT: The aircraft required a considerable amount of work to ly again and even the pilots got their hands dirty! The engine cowlings are more streamlined on the CV440 than its predecessors, making for a tighter it, but access for maintenance is superb.
14 | F L I G H T PAT H
In early May, Captain Ross Kelly, Captain Doug Haywood and First Officer Geoff Sheppard left Sydney bound for Africa. Upon arrival at Wonderboom, checking in at the airport terminal’s hotel was postponed in order to see the Convair, despite the late hour. The crew eventually settled in with their South African hosts to discuss aeroplanes and piston engines over beer and pizza. Licencing and endorsement were some of the immediate hurdles for the flight crew to overcome. The aeroplane was to fly on the South African register, so South African licences were required to operate it. A variation is that the South African authorities will recognise a foreign licence once the appropriate credentials are provided. The pilots were still required, however, to sit an Air Legislation exam and do a two-hour flight-test in a Cessna 172. First Officer Geoff Sheppard had never even sat in one. After a few weeks, the three pilots had a fresh PPL in their hands. They then had to get a Convair 440 endorsement on their Australian licences. Fortunately Rovos Air’s chief pilot, Captain Brian Stableford, was still active and conducted the training and testing using both Convairs. The aircraft is fairly conventional. Flight controls are not power assisted and are quite heavy with an aileron and rudder interconnect for co-ordinated turns. Careful engine handling is paramount and power
Last time together, the short-nose Convair, ZS-BRV, had been maintained in airworthy condition so was also used for HARS crew training. ZS-BRV has been acquired by the Breitling Constellation group in Switzerland.
changes are done smoothly and slowly. Drag in the form of early flap and gear extension, rather than major power reduction, is used to enter the circuit and land. The engines are also worthwhile talking about. The eighteen cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp was a groundbreaking engine when it was first developed. Unlike previous engines, the cooling fins of the smaller displacement R-2800 were milled, rather than cast, to enable more efficient cooling due to the larger surface area. The engines in the Convair are rated at 2,500hp (1,864kW) at 63 inches Manifold Air Pressure with water injection. These days of Low Lead fuel, however, mean that the best power output is 2,400hp (1,790kW) at 59.5 inches. Standard air pressure is about thirty inches, so the supercharger gives about two atmospheres’ compression.
Heading out Preparation for the ferry flight involved removal of some of the seats for the installation of ferry fuel and oil tanks. The seats were shipped to Albion Park, courtesy of Qantas, in late 2015. The engines were initially burning oil at the rate of three US Gallons (11 litres) per hour per engine, so this had to be catered for. The ocean sectors were far beyond the conventional range of the aircraft. The routing was constrained by going via the Seychelles. Somalia and Yemen, further north along the eastern African coast, were not options due to various conflicts and the very real threat of surface-to-air missiles! The first ferry attempt earlier this year had to be abandoned as there were insufficient Avgas supplies at the Seychelles. The 6,000 litres requested was more than the islands’ entire month’s quota. The fuel would be shipped in as long as it was prepaid in US Dollars. Coupled with the aircraft not quite being ready, the flight crew returned to Australia to await the next window.
Ready for a new lying career on its fourth continent, the Convair 440 is a graceful, but deceptively large, aircraft.
RIGHT: With the gear just beginning to come up, ZS-ARV takes of from Wonderboom. BELOW: Captain Doug Haywood complete with TAA wings on his shirt, waves to the crowd on arrival at HARS following the epic light..
F L I G H T PAT H | 15
As a VC-131D with the U.S. Air Force, the Convair transported government oicials and dignitaries.
August came and things ere starting to fall into place. t is hard to imagine how much lanning is involved in a ferry light. Throw in a very old aeroplane and you must cater for many possibilities and be selfsufficient in relation to spares and engineering. August 9 was a beautiful day. The aeroplane was stocked and ready to go, the crew were resplendent wearing TAA wings on their uniforms for the ferry, but there was no fuel available in Won-
ABOVE: The Rovos Air colours relected the scheme used on the railway leet operated by Rovos Rail. [Karl Jensen]
The Convair ZS-ARV arrives at its new home Albion Park. With HARS it will take up the registration VH-TAA. 16 | F L I G H T PAT H
derboom. Fortunately, the fuel in the tanks was enough to get to the port of departure from South Africa – Kruger – just an hour away. A quick turnaround was foiled by customs issues and resulted in an unplanned overnight stay. The next morning was a slightly longer leg to Beira in Mozambique. Despite arriving before midday, the crew waited with the aircraft for seven hours before a problem with the fuel supply for the refuelling was resolved with some difficulty. The aircraft’s longest sector in fifteen years, almost 2,800 kilometres to the Seychelles, was the next hurdle. It was a good and safe test due to the many diversion ports along the route. The following day involved four hours of refuelling and a good dose of maintenance in preparation for the 3,000 kilometre leg to Sri Lanka. Another day of work and refuelling from drums followed, before the flight over Sumatra and the Straits of Malacca to Johore Bahru in Malaysia. A day of working on the aircraft preceded a well-earned day off to visit Singapore. Malaysia seemed to see the end of the teething problems with the Convair and the remainder of the ferry – Bali, Darwin, Mt Isa, Dubbo, Albion Park – was relatively uneventful. Either way it was an epic voyage, not without its challenges. Doug Haywood, captain, reflected on flying a 62-year old aircraft that is no stranger to such adventures.
The aircraft in the early stages of being paint -stripped prior to the application of the TAA schem e.
“Most of the takeoffs were conducted at very heavy weights as we had full fuel, oil and spares on board. An interesting feature of the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engines is the use of a water/ methanol injection system. This allows the use of higher than normal manifold pressures, and the water mix prevents detonation at these settings. We were no longer able to pressurise the aircraft as the cabin windows were not of sufficient strength due to their age. Thus we were limited to 10,000 feet, although the original aircraft was certified to 23,000 feet. “Part of the reason for the lengthy trip was refuelling. Generally we would fly a full day and then spend the next day fuelling thousands of litres from drum stocks and re-oiling as well as dealing with minor mechanical items that cropped up. These old engines and systems were problematic even in their heyday of airline and Air Force use, so when you consider their age and lack of constant use, it’s no wonder our engineers were kept on their toes. “No serviceable autopilot forced us to rely on rusty flying skills throughout. We did have the luxury of weather radar though. We were very fortunate with the weather through most of the trip. Flying an unpressurised airliner
though the tropics could throw some significant thunderstorms in our path. “One of the memorable moments for me was flying over the Maldives at 9,000 feet and I heard Qantas QF2 come up on VHF. I normally fly this route in my day job. They must have got a surprise when ZS-ARV asked to speak to them. I enquired as to how good the movies and meals were. No steak sandwiches or cappuccinos on our old bird, but the view was tremendous; the Maldives group is truly awesome from low altitude.” First Officer Geoff Sheppard also remembered an encounter with a modern airliner. “Over the Bay of Bengal, an Air Lanka aircraft called us up, curious as to who we
were. Once he knew what we were doing, from the tone of his voice, he’d swap places instantly. He was that enthusiastic!” Such a reaction is understandable. The Convair, soon to be VH-TAA thanks to the previous owner of this registration, is a striking aircraft that will turn many a head as it flies the flag for HARS. It will share hangar space with TAA’s very first DC-3, the famous VH-AES ‘Hawdon’, of which the museum recently became custodians (see Flightpath Vol 28, No 1). The Convair has experienced several reprieves and enjoyed a working career in three continents. With the generosity of its previous owner and many sponsors, the aircraft is in good hands as it begins a new life in preservation.
F L I G H T PAT H | 17
Outgunned and
Outclassed
More than forty years after the event, a Japanese pilot recommended to the Australian minister for Veterans Afairs that an Australian airman be awarded for bravery. Such a request from a former enemy remains unique in Australian history and the aftermath of the bitter Paciic war. South Paciic Correspondent Michael John Claringbould explores the action from the Japanese side.
F
oreshadowing the iconic Kokoda campaign, and not far from a colonial Anglican mission, Japanese personnel began unloading supplies onto a grey, sandy beach near the northern New Guinea coastal village of Buna on 21 July 1942. Allied leadership, acutely aware of the consequences of the landing, set about organising maximum air opposition. One of the direct outcomes was the loss of RAAF Hudson Mk.IIIA A16-
201 on the second day of the landing; not remarkable in itself, save for two factors. First was the way the bomber fought back when outclassed and outnumbered six to one. The second, and no less remarkable, was that one of the enemy pilots would later lobby the Australian government to have the pilot recognised for bravery. Access to both sides of the story provides a detailed account of what transpired over New Guinea’s northern coast
Cowan lew A16-201 back through the Japanese Zero formation, and opened ire with his two .30in calibre nose guns. This rendition portrays him encountering FPO2c Yonekawa Masayoshi and FPO3c Mogi Yoshio on the way, the two wingmen of the ‘Zero’ patrol’s second light. [Artwork by info@aerothentic.com] 18 | F L I G H T PAT H
during the afternoon of 22 July 1942, and the fate of the crew: pilot P/O Warren Cowan, 31, navigator P/O David Taylor, and the gunners, sergeants Russell Polack and Laurie Sheard. Confronted with the sudden and unforeseen news of the Japanese landing, Allied commanders were faced with the task of assembling and coordinating Australian and American aerial assets which were scattered all over Queensland and New Guinea. None-
A6M2 ‘Zero’ HK-535 (likely tailcode V-158) taken at Lakunai airield, Rabaul, in April 1942. The twin yellow command fuselage sash is almost invisible in this B&W photo. Lt Kawai Shirō is in the cockpit of his new mount while WO Takatsuka Tora’ichi watches from the wing. Kawai was previously assigned V-153, which he was likely lying when he conducted the irst ‘Zero’ patrol over Buna on 22 July.
theless, Allied opposition began on the first day of the landing at 18:02 when five 22nd Bombardment Group B-26 Marauders bombed two anchored transports and four destroyers anchored offshore Salamaua. Although a good 200 kilometres from the landing site at Buna, it was correctly suspected that these ships were supporting the landing. Shortly afterwards, the same ships received similar attention from six 3rd Attack Group Mitchells. One of these Queenslandbased aircraft damaged its undercarriage taxiing at Cooktown and, after the remaining five had staged through Port Moresby, marginal weather hampered persistent efforts to locate the ships. The logistics of such long-range attacks were always challening by capricious weather in New Guinea. Meanwhile, 32 Squadron RAAF maintained a Hudson contingent at Port Moresby’s 7-Mile Drome and their skills would now be impressed to monitor the invasion force via armed reconnaissance flights. The squadron had been hastily formed at Port Moresby in February 1942 with personnel and aircraft drawn from other units including 6 and 23 Squadrons and even 24 Squadron which had evacuated from Rabaul. The new composite squadron commenced reconnaissance and bomber operations from the first day of its formation, equipped mainly with a mix of Mk.IIIA and Mk.IVA Hudsons. Only days into its formation, on 24 February 1942, Japanese bombers demolished much of the unit’s camp and also destroyed a Hudson. At 06:25 on the second day of the Japanese invasion, 22 July, it was a Hudson Mk.IIIA (A16-218 flown by L.W. Manning) from this squadron that conducted the first attack on
LEFT: A rendition of FPO1c Ōta Toshio closing on A16-201 from astern just before Cowan unexpectedly stood the Hudson on its left wing and headed back into his pursuers. Given the steepness of the tuns, there can be little doubt they were assisted by his application of asymetric power. [Artwork by info@ aerothentic.com]
the actual landing force. His bombs were dropped from 12,000 feet, however, and fell short. A second attack made by B-17 Flying Fortresses scored a hit on the transport Ayatosan Maru. Mitchells, Airacobras and 76 Squadron RAAF Kittyhawks now entered the campaign. As an indication of how desperate Allied commanders were to mobilise everything they had, even eight A-24 divebombers based in Charters Towers were ordered to Port Moresby. They too would later attack Japanese transports still anchored offshore Buna, but at calamitous cost. In the early afternoon of this second day, a hastily assembled collection of eight Airacobras from three separate USAAF squadrons – the 39th, 41st and 80th - strafed targets along Buna’s grey beach. The attacks were made at treetop height against a target-rich environment of unloaded supplies and recently established anti-aircraft posts. When the Japanese merchantmen had fi-
nally discharged their men, materiel and cargo, they steamed towards Rabaul escorted by destroyers. Allied command wanted to keep tabs on this retreating flotilla to keep open the option of attacking the destroyers. Cue the subject of this article; the loss of Hudson A16-201 under the command of Warren Cowan. The Hudson itself was almost brand new. It had been assembled in Australia only three months prior and delivered to the squadron on 25 April. Cowan’s mission was an armed reconnaissance, launched from 7-Mile Drome half an hour before midday. Two hours later the crew broadcast they were about twenty miles (32 kilometres) out to sea after having flown over the northern coast near Gona. Although it was never heard from again, with the benefit of hindsight, we can deduce the Hudson failed to find the destroyers, for Japanese records confirm it dropped its bombs over Buna on the return journey. F L I G H T PAT H | 19
The line-up in this undersized chūtai nonetheless relected a seasoned crop of experienced lyers FPO3c Okano Hiroshi as wingmen. YamashiWhile the Allies faced the challenge of deta’s second flight was led by WO Takatsuka terring the invasion force, Japanese comTora’ichi accompanied by FPO2c Matsuki Sumanders faced the equally challenging task sumi and Flyer1c Motoyoshi Yoshio. After paof defending it. In doing so they, like the Altrolling Buna before searching unsuccessfully lies, had to do so with constrained logistics. for the convoy, Yamashita’s red-striped ‘Zeros’ Their main defensive weapon was a crack returned to Lae at 16:00. detachment of A6M2 ‘Zero’ fighters based at The third and final patrol was airborne Lae Lae and assigned to the Tainan Naval Air at 14:00, and would be responsible for the deGroup. Although this unit had lost many airmise of Cowan’s Hudson in an extraordinary craft in recent months, mainly due to bombsequence of events. These were initiated ing raids, recent ship-borne replacements courtesy of six blue-sashed ‘Zeros’ led by delivered to Rabaul had been flown to Lae to Lieutenant(jg) Sasai Jun’ichi with FPO1c ˚ta replenish the unit’s ranks. Nonetheless, it Toshio and FPO3c End˛ Masuaki on his wing. was still understrength when, on 22 July The second flight was led by FPO1c Sakai 1942, eighteen ‘Zeros’ sortied from Lae Sabur˛, accompanied by wingmen FPO2c throughout daylight hours to cover both the Yonekawa Masayoshi and FPO3c Mogi Yoshio. Buna beachhead and the retreating convoy. These six ‘Zeros’ arrived over the Gona/ These flights consisted of three separate Buna landing area 45 minutes after leavshifts of six aircraft each, broken down by separate squadrons (ch͌tai). The normal ing Lae. The line-up in this undersized squadron size for the Imperial Japanese Navy ch͌tai nonetheless reflected a seasoned was nine aircraft. The fact that each ch͌tai crop of experienced flyers, arguably a reponly launched six aircraft that afternoon (diresentation of Japan’s best at the time. In vided into two flights of three) is a reflection fact, Mogi was the only pilot in the line-up of strained resources. Japanese planning for who had not consistently participated in the day staggered the patrols half an hour combat in recent months. Hampered by apart from midday onwards, designed to thick overcast, Sasai’s ‘Zeros’ failed to lokeep the ‘Zeros’ overhead both at Buna and cate the outlying retreating convoy, but the departing merchantmen that afternoon. they did spot a lone twin-engine bomber The first ch͌tai to launch was led by Lieuhigher in the distance. This was Cowan’s tenant Kawai Shir˛. This departed for the first Hudson which the ‘Zeros’ tried to catch in three-hour patrol from Lae in cloudy overcast which persisted southWithin a few months of forming at Port Moresby in east down the coastal litFebruary 1942, 32 Squadron RAAF was made up of toral well past Buna. The a mix of Mk.IIIA and Mk.IVA Hudsons including ‘Zeros’ in this patrol all A16-8/101/103/134/136/153/162/192/201/218 wore yellow oblique fuseand 221. These were equipped with the lage stripes which denotBoulton-Paul turret, originally painted ed Kawai’s ch͌tai. Flight matt black at the factory as seen Petty Officer (1st Class) here. The irst objective of the Yoshida Mototsuna and ‘Zero’ pilots was to neutralise FPO3c Got˛ Tatsusuke Cowan’s turret gunner. flew as Kawai’s wingmen, while the second flight was led by Lieutenant(jg) Hayashitani Tadashi, accompanied by FPO2c Hoshiya Yoshisuke and FPO3c Ut˛ Kazushi. This second flight reported a brief and distant sighting of one small aircraft at 13:45; mission logs show this was a lone Airacobra that returned to 7-Mile without incident. The second ‘Zero’ patrol launched about half an hour later, led by Lieutenant(jg) Yamashita J˛ji escorted by FPO2c Yamazaki Ichir˛bei and 20 | F L I G H T PAT H
A rare 1941 photo of Hudson Mk.I A16-39 when it was with 24 Squadron RAAF at Rabaul prior to the outbreak of hostilities.
LEFT: All Tainan Naval Air Group pilots in this photo taken at Lae in June 1942 were non-commissioned oicers. Copies were made for all of the Lae detachment and FPO1c Nishizawa Hiroyoshi sent this particular copy (circling himself top left) back to his family in Japan. Only Nishizawa and Yamamoto Suehiro are wearing kapok lifejackets, relecting operational duty. The only occasion the two lew together at Lae was on 2 June 1942 (irst patrol at 12:30), so it is probable this photo was taken then. Nishizawa described the assembled as “The Brave men of the Southern Sky”, four of whom were responsible for downing Cowan’s Hudson. They are circled in white: (back row) FPO3c Endō Masuaki and, middle row left to right, FPO1c Ōta Toshio, FPO1c Sakai Saburō, and FPO2c Yonekawa Masayoshi [Nishizawa family via Nobuyuki Takeda] F L I G H T PAT H | 21
a gradual climb from behind. The Japanese followed the Hudson, which had clearly seen its pursuers, as it descended smoothly south-east towards more friendly skies at Milne Bay. Cowan would have realised that even in a faster descent configuration, the Japanese fighters would eventually catch him. The ‘Zeros’ released their drop tanks to gain a marginal increase in speed, but in doing so lessened their range. The predictable scene was set to become a series of stern attacks, with time and distance factors to dictate the duration of combat. The pursuit would, however, fail to follow standard practice for, at a range of about 600 yards (550 metres) the Hudson unexpectedly stood on its left wing and headed back towards its pursuers. Cowan’s decision was made under considerable duress. Without knowing the range of the ‘Zeros’, he was confined to two choices: continue descending to low altitude where the ‘Zeros’ would likely pick him off from behind, or turn and face his attackers, perhaps with a fighting chance. As the Hudson pulled its steep turn, Sasai’s ‘Zeros’ also banked sharply to follow. They pursued the Hudson in a ten minute running battle, a lifetime in Pacific air combat, that wound all over the sky. The Hudson’s unanticipated aboutturn, during which it fired its nose guns, sorely tested Japanese formation discipline. Furthermore, none of the A6M2 ‘Zeros’ carried radios. These had been removed by the Tainan pilots shortly after arriving at Lae three months prior due to their unreliability. The sets were in fact well-designed and well-built for this early stage of the war, however their effectiveness was hindered by poor shielding and grounding of the installation. The inadequate shielding against the radial engine’s dual ignition system in particular caused severe interference to both reception and transmission. Static generated by movement of the airframe through the atmosphere contributed to this unacceptable situation. Technical officers at Lae or Rabaul were insufficiently familiar with the system to effectively fix matters, thus the situation quickly led to removal of the radios. This forced the Tainan’s pilots to resort to traditional hand signals during combat. Since the Hudson had effectively U-turned into their formation, one can only imagine the spirited gestures of the surprised pilots. Despite Cowan’s precipitous and steep maneuvers, likely assisted via asymmetric one-engine turns, A16-201 was on borrowed time having placed itself squarely among a pack of Japan’s best. Now headed in the wrong direction back towards Buna, and at low altitude, the ‘Zeros’ first killed the Hudson’s turret gunner, then flamed the bomber’s left engine and wing. Out of hight and options, the Lockheed rolled towards the jungle below, starboard engine at full throttle, and exploded into the jungle canopy. Japanese records cite the victory for 14:50, awarding the kill equally 22 | F L I G H T PAT H
between all six Japanese pursuers. When an individual Japanese navy pilot was clearly responsible for a kill, it was officially credited to that individual. Hence, we can be confident that the attackers themselves, under Sasai’s command, viewed the kill as equally divided (contradicting some accounts which credit the victory to Sakai.) In the following year of 1943, and subsequent to the area being secured by Allied forces, a USAAF team guided by locals recovered bodies from a crashed USAAF Douglas C-47 near Popondetta. During the recovery the Americans were told of another crash site further inland near Popoga village. Four sets of remains were recovered from this second site and buried in the coastal American cemetery at Dobodura. There they lay for about two years until early 1945 when U.S. authorities decided that the four unknown graves were not American. Another investigation was conducted of the site on 1 March 1945,
accompanied by Australian war correspondent Denis Warner who wrote, “Bits of the fuselage and unrecognisable pieces of the engine were scattered for hundreds of feet throughout the thick jungle”. After positive identification of the wreck as A16-201, the crew today lie in Lae’s Commonwealth War Cemetery. Japanese mission leader Lieutenant(jg) Sasai Jun’ichi was later shot down over Guadalcanal, by Grumman Wildcats, on 26 August 1942. Following his death, a summary of his substantive exploits was sent to all naval units and he was posthumously promoted two ranks to Lieutenant-Commander. Against the backdrop of Japan’s deteriorating strategic situation of the time, Sasai was someone the Tainan Naval Air Group could least afford to lose. His presence remained ubiquitous throughout the New Guinea campaign, his exemplary leadership being a platform upon which his ch͌tai flew and fought.
More than forty years after the event, the only surviving pilot from the mission, Sakai Sabur˛, wrote to the Honourable Danna Vale, former minister for Australian Veterans Affairs, outlining his version of the encounter, and requested that Cowan be awarded for his bravery. The minister noted that the request could not be legally granted as the ‘End of War’ list had closed in 1945, thus shutting avenue to bestow all posthumous awards. Nonetheless such a request from a former enemy remains unique in Australian history and the circumstances and aftermath of the Pacific war.
LEFT: IFPO1c Sakai Saburō in China before he served in New Guinea. BELOW: A ine study of a pair of Hudson Mk.IIs, the model prior to Cowan’s. A16-51 and A16-52 are seen here in Singapore in September 1941. The former was lost to enemy action on 6 March 1942.
Sources: www.paciicwrecks.com, Kodochosho Tainan kaigun kokutai, Nishizawa family, US historian Ed DeKiep, book by Sakai Saburō, ‘Ōzora no Samurai’, RAAF history No 32 Squadron
F L I G H T PAT H | 23
VH-UYY after conversion to two Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340 engines and, now in ANA hands, renamed ‘Tokana’.
RIGHT: VH-UHH is, sadly, the most well known of the four Stinson Model As to ly in Australia.
The Stinson Model A
in Australia By Monty Tyrrell
T
he Stinson airliner story covers a transition period in local aerial transportation. When they were introduced, some of the commercial aircraft still required the leather-coated helmet and goggle type of pilot and this, in a way, brushed off on the passengers. Some things were, in a comparative manner, still with the roaring twenties. Passengers felt they were intrepid heroes, nonchalant in the face of danger. The Depression was still with us, but the local paying passenger had seen little of what was to come. Only the brief appearance of Parmentier and Moll in the Douglas DC-2 and Roscoe Turner in the Boeing Model 247 during the MacRobertson Air Race of 1934, from London to Melbourne, illustrated that old-type airliners were on the decline. Airlines of Australia Ltd were thinking progressively, unlike some of the other firms, and, in their search for something 24 | F L I G H T PAT H
up to the minute, became very interested in the new Stinson Model A, a three engine airliner built in the USA. It seemed to suit their purposes admirably as it had the ability to operate from the comparatively rough grass airfields prevailing in Australia at the time and, unlike the much sought after all-metal aircraft, was available for immediate delivery. Four were bought at a cost of £13,000 each. The aircraft were built by the Stinson Aircraft Corporation at Wayne, Michigan, during 1936, shipped to Australia and assembled at Mascot airfield, Sydney. They were tested on the Brisbane–Sydney route by the company’s senior pilot, Captain Keith Virtue, and Mr. Pat Boyer of the Stinson Aircraft Corporation. The airliners brought the travelling public in Australia their first taste of highspeed, comfortable airline flying, and the passengers found they were flying to the
capital cities and country towns in half the time taken by the old Avro Ten aircraft. The Stinsons’ glory was short-lived here, however, due to two tragic crashes within a short period; but their history is interesting, for it includes the largest air search conducted in Australia to that time (excluding that for the ill-starred Avro Ten ‘Southern Cloud’), and an example of aeronautical engineering improvisation during a wartime shortage of parts.
VH-UGG ‘City of Lismore’ c/n 9122 This was the first Stinson to come into operation. It was completed at Wayne on 28 January 1936 and appeared on the Australian civil aircraft register on 16 April. It was not equipped with a radio, but the airframe was bonded and fitted with an aerial ready for a future installation. It served Airlines of Australia on the inter-capital and provincial routes for almost twelve months. At
VH-UYY in what looks like a northern Quee
nsland setting.
LEFT: VH-UYY was the last Stinson Model A to be built.
dawn on 28 March 1937, it had an engine failure on take-off in foggy weather at Archerfield airport near Brisbane. The airliner was northbound for Townsville with one passenger and a load of mail, newspapers and freight. The pilot, Thomas Cameron, and the passenger, Ernest Shang, were killed instantly and the aircraft was completely destroyed by fire.
VH-UHH ‘City of Brisbane’ c/n 9126 Completed on 27 April 1936 and registered in Australia two months later, like VHUGG, it was not equipped with a radio during its period of service. Ironically, the equipment was scheduled for installation in about early March the following year, but the airliner famously disappeared about a fortnight before this. It is doubtful whether the radio would have achieved anything except for pinpointing the time of the crash and thereby saving the futility of a week’s
search in the wrong area (and there would most likely have been one extra survivor had this been achieved). It had the usual career of a commercial airliner until Friday, 19 February 1937. At 1:00pm on that day, it left Archerfield for Sydney on a scheduled flight with enough fuel for five and a half hours in the tanks - a more than adequate reserve. Its non-arrival in Sydney by nightfall caused one of the most intensive air searches in Australia to be put into operation, but due to bungled reports, most of the search was concentrated in the wrong areas. Because the aircraft had not arrived at Lismore in New South Wales it was assumed that, due to a cyclone in that area, the captain had bypassed the town and headed straight for Sydney. Hundreds of reports poured in from witnesses who swore to seeing the missing Stinson airliner at points within fifteen minutes’ flying time from Sydney. They were probably so used to its regu-
larity and the high-pitched ‘song’ it made in flight, that they were convinced they had seen it on the day of disappearance also. The search dragged on for a week without a single clue. A man named Bernard O’Reilly, who was the proprietor of a guest house on the rugged Lamington Plateau in southern Queensland, reasoned that, despite the reports, the aircraft was down in the heavilytimbered Macpherson Ranges astride the nearby border with New South Wales. He deduced this from reports from local inhabitants who had seen the airliner climbing over the ranges towards Lismore and from the fact that the pilot, due to lack of a radio, would not know he was heading into a cyclone. O’Reilly also had great confidence in Gordon Stephens who lived near Mt. Widgee. Stephens stated he heard and saw the Stinson climbing over this mountain at about 5,000 feet. As Mt. Widgee was about 3,000 feet high, O’Reilly reasoned that after the last-known sighting, the airliner F L I G H T PAT H | 25
LEFT: VH-UGG at Archerield, Queensland, in 1936-37. Avro Ten VH-UPI, seen illing the hangar, was struck from the register in September 1937 due to corrosion. BELOW: The lying career of VH-UGG lasted less than a year.
flew into the cyclone and could have been dashed against the northern face of any of four high mountains on the flight path to Lismore. He therefore packed his tucker bag, set forth into the bush, and within two days proved his theory to the very letter. After much climbing and descending in the rugged wooded country, he found the crashed aircraft just after 4:00pm on Sunday, 28 February. Nearby there were two survivors, both in very poor condition. Both had been passengers. John Proud lay very close to death with gangrene in a leg and Joe Binstead was physically exhausted by his ordeal in caring for his seriously injured companion. For a week he had crawled 300 yards each way to a source of water and berries over rough rocks and through thick jungle vines. Binstead told O’Reilly how the airliner had been caught in a terrific 100mph downdraft and how, when the crash was inevitable, Captain Rex Boyden banked the aircraft swiftly to 26 | F L I G H T PAT H
starboard. This act in his last seconds of life saved the three passengers on the port side (Binstead, Proud and Westray) but resulted in the death of the other three passengers (Bill Fountain, Roland Graham and Beverley Shepherd) and the gallant captain. As the aircraft exploded into flames, Proud was first out, despite the injured leg, and then Binstead. They in turn pulled Westray through a broken window. They could only lie there and watch the wreckage burn through the evening. On the next day Jim Westray, being the fittest, set forth for help in the general direction of Lismore. Binstead and Proud were disappointed to learn that O’Reilly had not seen him. O’Reilly made the two men as comfortable as he could and set out for help. On the way he came across the body of Westray who had been killed in a fall down a cliff while on his errand of mercy. O’Reilly ran through the bush during the night and, on reaching the small township of Christmas Creek, organised
rescue parties. These parties took almost three times as long as O’Reilly had in traversing the route to the scene of the crash. By 11:00am on Monday, Proud and Binstead were in safe hands and receiving medical treatment. The body of Westray was buried near the wreck which was left to be covered by the jungle. Aerial search would never have found it in the dense bush, for while circling 100 feet above the scene, there was nothing to mark the spot except the rescue party’s campfire. On return to civilisation, O’Reilly found he had become a national hero overnight and faced the media’s batteries of cameras.
VH-UKK ‘City of Townsville’ (later ‘Binana’) c/n 9128 This was the only one of the four Stinsons to survive to retirement. It was completed at Wayne on 19 May 1936 and appeared on the Australian civil register on 30 July. It faithfully served Airlines of Australia on
ABOVE: VH-UGG was the irst of the four to arrive in Australia and the only one to have previously carried a U.S. civil registration (NC15162). LEFT: The modiication to the nose of the former tri-motor gave the aircraft a much more modern appearance.
the usual routes, mainly on the services to northern Queensland, until late 1941. With the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941, the airliner was used under charter to the Allied Air Forces in the South West Pacific Area during 1942 and early 1943. However, late in this career, the spares shortage became apparent, because an old de Havilland tailwheel and shock absorber had been fitted and numerous forced landings occurred due to one or two of the three old Lycomings giving up the ghost. The airliner was finally grounded through a lack of spare parts for the engines. As its sister ship VH-UYY was having the same trouble, it was decided to fit each aircraft with just two Pratt & Whitney Wasps. VH-UKK was flown to Melbourne in early 1943 where it was modified and refitted in the workshops of Australian National Airways (ANA) at Essendon airport. On 15 June 1943 the ownership was
changed to ANA and the aircraft came back into service as a twin-engine transport sporting two Wasp R-1340-ANI engines and a nicely rounded nose similar to that of the Douglas DC-3. Because of the increased power, the payload had been raised somewhat to just on 1,000lb (454kg) gross and it was now designated on the register as a Stinson Model A2.W. In keeping with the ANA policy of names ending with ‘ana’, the modified aircraft was rechristened ‘Binana’ and resumed flying for services in Queensland. Some trouble was experienced with engine fires when cold starts were made, but this was overcome by replacing the priming pump. In this form it faithfully served ANA for just over eighteen months until, just days after VH-UYY’s accident (see following), the certificate of airworthiness was suspended on 10 February 1946. It was left to join the CSIRO’s Division of Aeronautics at
Fishermen’s Bend, Melbourne, for test purposes but fell derelict through exposure to weather, vandals and souvenir hunters, and was eventually scrapped. The registration was cancelled on 27 June 1946.
VH-UYY ‘City of Grafton’ (later ‘Tokana’) c/n 9130. This aircraft was completed on 17 October 1936 and was registered here on 29 December, just six weeks before the disappearance of VH-UHH. This meant that there was only a short period when all of the Stinsons were operating at the one time. VH-UYY differed from the other three by being fitted with a radio from the outset, but due to the weight of this equipment, it had to carry either less fuel or freight or one less passenger to keep the gross take-off weight the same as for the other Stinsons (VH-UKK was fitted with a radio sometime after coming into service, but this rule did not apply to it for some reason.) F L I G H T PAT H | 27
RIGHT: VH-UKK, now ‘Binana’, after conversion to Model A2.W coniguration. BELOW: VH-UHH. The script above the door, to remind passengers who they were lying, said ‘Airlines of Australia Ltd.’
THE AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA The Aviation Historical Society (AHSA) was formed in 1959 and has members in all Australian states and in several overseas countries. Part of our Statement of Purpose is: • To encourage and assist the research and writing of Australian aviation history. • To record the achievements of Australian aviation and its people. • To produce journals relating to Australian aviation history. Since the inception of the AHSA, a journal has been produced. Now titled “Aviation Heritage”, and published quarterly, it covers all aspects of Australian civil and military aviation and is now in its 45th volume. A quarterly newsletter gives information on current events and short historical articles. Visit www.ahsa.org.au for further information and to download a membership application form or email: editor@ahsa.org.au
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The life of VH-UYY ran a close parallel to that of VH-UKK, as described above, except that in October 1942 the former was fitted with longitudinal metal seating when in use with the Allied Air Forces. For civilian work, these seats were able to be quickly removed so that the usual forward-facing seating could be replaced. As with VH-UKK, the spares position for the Lycoming R-680-B5 engines forced the airliner out of commission for some months in 1943. Consequently, it was also modified to Stinson A2.W configuration at Essendon airport. Change of ownership to ANA was effected on 15 June 1943, and it made its first flight as a Model A2.W on 1 October 1943. It was re-named ‘Tokana’ and operated on the usual ANA services until completely destroyed in a crash near Mia-Mia, Victoria, on 31 January 1945. The crew of two and eight passengers were killed, and according to reports, it was falling apart in the air during the final dive. At that date the total flying hours of VH-UYY were 13,763 and the flying hours since modification to Model A2.W configuration were 2,797. The port outer wing was found some distance from the main wreckage and it was established that this section had failed first
in the air. Parts of the structure of the port and starboard wings were examined and it was found that cracks existed in some members of the main spar. The fracture of the port outboard tension boom at the root fitting was attributed to complete fatigue failure. A crack in the weld metal had progressed through the root fitting until half of the cross-section was faulty before sudden fracture of the remaining section of the fitting had occurred. The crack had arisen from a high stress concentration that was caused by poor penetration of the weld metal into the inner tubing and from the occurrence of a high fluctuating load on the wing. The route over which the aircraft had been operated was noted for turbulent conditions and these were reported to be exceptionally rough just before the accident. The four Stinson Model A aircraft in Australia came from a comparatively small production run by the Stinson Aircraft Corporation. The tri-motor airliner came on the scene just as the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2 appeared for the airlines of the world. The Model A was a good aircraft, but due to the larger payload and equal speed that the other airliners gave to operators, the Stinson product had few takers. It was eased out of produc-
tion towards the middle of 1937 after the orders for Airlines of Australia, American Airlines and Delta Airways in the United States, a few smaller operators, and some executive custom models, had been delivered.
Footnote From 1921, the Commonwealth Government had prohibited, by customs regulation, the import of any aircraft that had not been granted a Certificate of Airworthiness by a country which was a signatory to the International Convention of Aerial Navigation (ICAN). The majority of nations were signatories, but notable exceptions were the USA and Germany; thus direct importation of US-built aircraft had not been possible in Australia. In late 1935, the prohibition was abolished and importation of U.S. aircraft, in particular, was permitted under licences that could be issued upon recommendation of the Department of Civil Aviation. The first U.S. transport aircraft to fly in Australia after removal of the embargo was the Stinson Model A VH-UGG which made its first flight at Mascot airfield in mid-April 1936. On 19 April, it commenced a seven-day, three state, goodwill tour of centres between Cairns and Melbourne to ‘fly the flag’ for Airlines of Australia.
VH-UKK outside the Airlines of Australia hangar at Archerield. It was the only one of the four Stinsons to survive its lying career.
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Baltimore Days “It’s 20 December 1942 and I stand peering over the pilot's shoulder in the Wireless Operator/Air Gunner’s (WOP/Ag) position in Baltimore AG793. We are of on an air test and I’m trying to pick up as much information on the Baltimore as I can on such a short trip.” Four days later on 24 December in AG850, after some ground instruction, Pilot Oicer Tony Tubbenhauer is there again, but this time it’s for his irst and only dual experience.
T
he twenty-minute flight in the Martin Baltimore, during which the instructing pilot tries to tell me how to fly it and, hopefully, how not to fly it, was the only instruction I will have. We land, he climbs out, I take over and off I go, white knuckled. How have I come to this point here in Egypt? As a country kid in the 1920s I dreamed of flying, sketched aeroplanes, made rubber-powered flying models, collected and cashed-in empty bottles, saved the money ready for when the once a year ‘joy-flighter’ landed on the golf course and offered flights for ten shillings. Precious money then for it was in very short supply. A few days after the outbreak of the war, as a quiet, not greatly confident country teen, I volunteered for the RAAF, but as a gunner. How could I hope to be like Kingsford Smith and the other aviation greats of those days? RAAF Recruiting, in chaos, lost the application, and said “apply again”. I did, but as a pilot.
Martin Baltimore IV FA475 of 233 Sqn, 232 Wing, at Gerbini, Sicily, 5 September 1943. [Howard Levy via The Aviation Historian]
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On Tiger Moths I found I was a natural and should have soloed after four and a half hours, but bounced the landing, going off again at six hours. It was at Benghazi in Libya, with 500 hours up on singles and twins, that, when asked to jump into a light truck and drive to the other side of the airfield to pick up one of the mechanics, I admitted to never having driven. ”Get into the ‘effen’ thing,” was the reply and I had my first and only driving lesson. Starting out at Bradfield, Sydney, on November 11 1940, for our initial training, a bunch of hairy-arsed schoolboys carrying suitcases arrived to the catcalls of “You'll be sorry” from 7 Course who were ahead of us. It was then off to Tamworth on Tigers, Amberley on Ansons, to Egypt on the Queen Mary, and a spell as acting C.O. of the ground staff of an RAF squadron that somehow, when coming out from England, had lost its officers (that was a hilarious experience for a very junior pilot officer). Then it was off to Nakuru, Kenya,
to convert to Blenheims. Get caught low-flying at Tamworth and we were in big trouble. At Nakuru we practiced very low, blasting our way around at zero feet, stampeding elephants, sending crocodiles scrambling for the water, scattering flamingos, and scaring the bejesus out of the vultures. Much adventure so far. After a couple of months at Nakuru, it was back to the holding camp near Cairo, and a posting to 244 Squadron RAF, based at Sharjah in the Persian Gulf, to fly Blenheims hunting submarines over the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. En route to Sharjah, we were stuck for a couple of months at Habbaniya, a permanent RAF overseas base in Iraq west of Baghdad, while the worn-out-over-Europe Blenheims we were to take to Sharjah were patched up. The base Communications Flight, short of pilots and using some ancient aeroplanes (a Gladiator, Hawker Audax and Vickers Valentia, for example), grabbed us and put us to work flying them, which I enjoyed very much. The Blenheims ready, off we went down the Gulf bound for Sharjah on 7 April. Getting there, we dropped down to zero feet and gave the camp a big beat up, then landed to find that the AOC, lots of 'scrambled egg' on his cap, was there ahead of us. We expected a big bollocking, but, maybe remembering his own youth, he greeted us and said nothing about the low flying. There, we settled into routine anti-submarine patrols and convoy escorts. Our Blenheims were well worn, perhaps the equivalent of a second hand car after it has passed through several owners and been sitting in the car yard for some time. I’d
BELOW: An early model Baltimore (Mk.I or II – note the hand-held machine gun where the Mk.III had a turret), of 203 Squadron, lown by the author from Benghazi in 1943. The author is in the light trousers. [All images by Tony Tubbenhauer unless otherwise credited] LEFT: The author at the controls of a 244 Squadron Blenheim in 1943. BOTTOM: Tony climbing into Gladiator K7936 of 201 Group Communications Flight at Habbaniya, Iraq. This was one of the aircraft Tony lew while waiting for the Blenheims to be made serviceable. This aircraft was collected brand new from Gloster in May 1937 and lown to 65 Squadron by future Battle of Britain ighter ace Bob Stanford-Tuck. It subsequently served with 54, 603 and 141 Squadrons before being sent to the Middle East in May 1941. Its lying days ended late in 1943.
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ABOVE: The author sitting on one of the many Axis aircraft in the Benghazi graveyard. This appears to be a Regia Aeronautica Breda BA-39 liaison aircraft. RIGHT: A mock squadron crest for 244 Squadron, probably dating from the pre-Blenheim days when the squadron was lying Vickers Vincents and Valentia transports.
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h had to take one of the old ones to Habbaniya for major maintenance. H During my pre-flight walk around D d noticed on the II’d ti d some corrosion i th ttrailing edge of the wing. On touching it, I found that I ccould break off quite large pieces. IIt was a very relieved crew that left that ancient machine standing forlornly on the tarmac at Habbaniya. So far, much, much adventure. The system was to do about thirty operational flights, have about six months break at another unit as instructors, and then do another lot of ops on a different squadron. My crew of two Aussies, Gordon (navigator), Bill, (WOP/AG) and I, had done our quota at 244 and were ready to move on. The Battle of El
Alamein had recently taken place in Egypt. The German Army was fleeing west in a retreat that would take it out of North Africa, the first major defeat of the mighty German Army and the beginning of Hitler's demise. The squadron’s C.O. asked us if we would forego our time as instructors as we were needed. Being silly young buggers, we volunteered to do just that, and a few days later were in Cairo on the way to 203 Squadron and its Baltimores. We asked for a few days leave, they said no. We decided we'd get lost for a couple of days. It was worth the big bollocking we got from the 203 C.O. We Aussies didn't have quite the respect for RAF discipline as did their own members. That's a very short explanation of how I got to be in AG793 at 203 Squadron that day. The squadron, in Egypt when we arrived, followed the 8th Army and settled at Benghazi. A fourth Aussie crew member, Bob, a WOP/AG, was added. It was a maritime squadron. A large part of our work was in anti-submarine convoy escort where we droned around the ships for hours keeping the enemy subs down deep and, of course, dumping a load of depth charges on any we found.
As a change, there were long reconnaissance trips across the Mediterranean and dropping to about 150 feet to keep under the enemy radar, but in the light flak, swinging right into the Aegean between Greece and Crete and doing a low level tour of the enemy-held Greek island harbours expecting to be shot at. No way could we surprise the gunners, for there were enemy listening posts on the islands reporting our presence by radio. That we gave them a burst from the .50 calibres in the turret as we passed didn't go over too well either. The alternative was to head north up the Greek west coast, sometimes at 6,000 feet in the 88mm flak, to Valona, photographing enemy harbours on the way, then the German airfield at Valona, see the dust trails of fighters taking off, do a left diving turn for the relative safety of the sea, keeping offshore from the heel of Italy and clapping on the pace to land at Catania in Sicily at the American-held airfield and overnight there. Their food was extra good. There was even ice cream. Next morning, with Mount Etna's smoking summit in sight, we’d take off for Malta, find some fault with the Balt so we could overnight there and look at the pretty girls.
ABOVE: A 244 Squadron Vickers Vincent (K5363) receiving a lot of attention to some sort of undercarriage problem at Habbaniya in 1943. The squadron continued to use the type even after the irst Blenheims arrived. BELOW: A 244 Squadron Bristol Blenheim Mk.V, also known as the Bisley, at Sharjah in 1943. The Blenheims were tired aircraft by the time Tony lew them and engine failures and crashes were common.
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The author standing on the wing root of a 203 Squadron Baltimore Mk.I.
Tony was this Vickers Another of the Comm Flight aircraft lown by 244 Squadron. with lown Valentia transport that had previously
The war could do without us for a day, so it was back to Benghazi the next day. One variation was to fly east, refuel, overnight, and next day fly up the Turkish coast keeping outside territorial waters, go left through the Aegean and the Greek isles, then back to Benghazi. Came the day, up in the Aegean doing our 78th operational flight, when we had experienced the heaviest flak we'd ever had, many light flak guns and a big naval one banging away at us as we flew past low and fast with our .50 calibres answering, that after landing we were called to the C.O.’s office to be told that we had done more than our share, were off ops, and were going to be instructors. We didn't argue. A few weeks later we were at 75 OTU at Gianaclis in Egypt. I was flying trainee air gunners around to fire at towed targets. It was tame flying after ops. Firing finished, I'd kick the Balt onto its side, point the nose at the ground and let the speed build. The guns, after a long burst, could cookoff an unfired round left in the breach. Gunners were told not to centre the guns. I'd landed. A ground crew guy called me. One round had cooked off and the bullet had left a big hole in the rudder, missing the hinge by a couple of inches. Easy to die, even when instructing. What followed was a bit out of this world. A four day flying boat trip to Durban, three days on a train to Norton, in what is now Zimbabwe, a two month RAF Flying Instructor’s Course, back to Egypt, then the best news: we are going home. Back in Oz, I was posted to Tocumwal to teach people to fly four-engine Liberators. Then the lovely Yanks dropped their two bombs that ended W.W.II.
Unidentiied Martin Baltimore I at Fayid, Egypt, 15 April 1943. [Howard Levy via The Aviation Historian] 34 | F L I G H T PAT H
Eighteen different aircraft flown, 78 opA line-up of Baltimore IIIAs of 203 Squadron at Benghazi, 1943. Number ‘45’ is FA350 and ‘40’ is FA157 erational flights, and which went missing on an exercise from 75 OTU at Petah Tikva, in Palestine, in January 1944. I never marked one with anything I did wrong and never got a bit of enemy flak on my aeroplane. They wasted it. Sheer luck. The Baltimore? A good, strong, wellarmed aeroplane, twelve machine guns, meant for short bombing trips, but it did have some problems. Because of the suitcase-shaped fuselage the cockpit was fighter size. That was okay for Comm Flight Hawker Audax K7526 having its short trips, but RR Kestrel engine run-up by ground staf at Habbaniya in 1943 prior to a hard on pilots who couldn't test light by Tony. move out of the seat on seven-hour flights. The three other crew had little space too, but at least had some room to move. The most the pilot could do was to grip above him and lift his bum off the seat when high enough to let go of the controls. I had to pee in a prominently marked water bottle when high enough. Anything else, bad luck, sit in it as there was no autopilot, but then we usually were too low to use one anyway. The range was too short for the near seven-hour Aegean trips so an overload tank was hung on the bomb hooks. It had no contents gauge and no self-sealing. Using it first, we flew until the motors faltered, hurriedly changing to the you blow a main tyre at speed the underwing tanks. The pilot sat on his parachute. consumption/hour check flights which carriage folds and you skate along on your It contained a one-man dinghy. The inflawere a good chance to have fun. belly and if fast on your feet you have a tion bottle for it pressed hard on the backs Usually radial engine exhaust was colgood chance of survival. Balts had very of his legs and became uncomfortable on lected in a ring around the motor and led strong undercarriages. Blow a main at long trips. We wheeled them in like a trike out under the wing and the sound was speed on a dirt airfield and the leg would onto the main wheels. There was a violent bearable. The Balt had open stub exhausts sometimes dig in, the aircraft would swing swing as the tailwheel touched and anoththat poked out of the cowlings. Being bethrough 360 degrees, stand up nearly verer as the throttles were opened on taketween the two 1,700hp (1,268kW) engines, tically, and teeter there before deciding off. Those produced some spectacular my ears were bombarded by the exhausts whether to go over on its back where the ground loops. These swings I used on a pointing towards me. The DVA still pays spilled fuel would go up, assisted by Tripoli flight to get into and out of a small me some pension for the big damage done bombs, ammunition or depth charges. airfield. I taxied far across wind, turned, to my ears. But, given its faults, it was a Whatever. I know because I had one of stood on the brakes, full throttle, released good, strong machine with reliable motors those at about eighty knots. the brakes, built up speed crosswind then and I was sad when I realised I had flown They could give us extra fuel for long used the swing to gently turn into wind my last Balt flight on June 2 1944. trips, but could not increase engine oil caand get off easily. pacity. Sand got through the filters and enIf you held off too high on landing, one Tony returned to Australia to become an gines had to be replaced when oil conwing would stall, drop and hit the ground. instructor on B-24 Liberators at Tocumwal. sumption became excessive (sometimes We had to be accurate in Balts. In most after only 100 hours). We did a lot of oil tail draggers loaded with explosives, if F L I G H T PAT H | 35
Delightful Dewoitine The airport at Lausanne-Blécherette, north of Lausanne, Switzerland, is the home of the Association pour le Maintien du Patrimoine Aéronautique (Association for Maintaining Aerospace Heritage). Luigino Caliaro recently visited Lausanne and presents a detailed look at two rare types operated by the Association.
T
he Association (AMPA) is the operational branch of the Fondation pour le Maintien du Patrimoine Aéronautique (FMPA) and its origins date from the early 1980s when many old aircraft were unable to be operated under civilian registrations due to their inability to comply with the modern civil aviation regulations. To overcome this problem, FMPA/AMPA was created and, through its activities, managed to modify the applicable legislation. One important step was completed when the Swiss Air Force agreed to supply the new organisation with a Pilatus P-2 that had been retired from service. This signalled the start of the Association’s operation of historic aircraft. Today, AMPA and its associates are also members of various aviation organisations, among which, obviously, are the Swiss Aero Club and the Air Force. The Association is also involved in providing conversion courses and training for its own member pilots. The fleet of aircraft owned by, or associated with, the Association comprises some fifty military and civil aircraft constructed between the 1930s and 1950s. Among these are some which are truly noteworthy for their rarity including a Dewoitine D.26 (HB-RAI) and 1938 Messerschmitt Bf 108B Taifun (HB-HEB).
The Dewoitine D.26 The first French-built Dewoitine was selected by the Truppe di Aviazione Svizzera in 1930 to replace the Fokker D VII biplanes that had been in service since 1918. The Swiss order was also of fundamental importance to the French company as for some years it had struggled and was facing closure. A licenced production agreement for a first batch of 500hp (373kW) Hispano-Suiza V12 powered D.27 36 | F L I G H T PAT H
monoplane fighters was followed by a further series of contracts that would see 66 acquired by the Swiss Air Force. The Dewoitine D.27, which was the first metal construction aircraft to serve with the Swiss Air Force, proved to be a valid fighter aircraft when in service and, despite its flying characteristics being a challenge for inexperienced pilots, it remained in active service until 1944. Only fifteen were lost in flying accidents.
AMPA’s 1931 Dewoitine D.26 HB-RAI/284 is just one of two that remain airworthy. [All images Luigino Caliaro]
ABOVE: The Hispano Suiza 9Qa 250hp radial engine is actually a Wright R-975 Whirlwind produced under licence in France. FAR LEFT: During W.W.II the Dewoitine ighters formed the irst line of defence in border monitoring missions. LEFT: Post-military service, the D.26 was successfully used for many years as a glider tug and was capable of towing up to three sailplanes simultaneously.
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The 108 was named the ‘Taifun’ by the German aviatrix Elly Beinborn TOP: AMPA’s Bf 108B, A-201, was part of a batch of ifteen aircraft acquired in 1938 and used principally for conversion onto the Bf 109E ighter. LEFT: The 250hp Argus As10 engine drives a mechanically controlled Argus variable pitch propeller. BELOW: The ‘108 was on static display at Zurich Airport for thirty years before being handed to AMPA, for restoration to lying condition, in November 2001.
During W.W.II the Dewoitine fighters formed the first line of defence, along with the more potent Messerschmitt Bf 109D and E-models, in border monitoring missions. In parallel with the D.27 fighter version, in the early thirties a dedicated advanced trainer version was developed with a Hispano Suiza 9Qa 250hp (186kW) radial engine (a Wright R-975 Whirlwind produced under licence in France). Despite the smaller engine, the result gave a similar performance to the fighter variant, and was certainly more than adequate for training activities. Nine aircraft, coded 281 to 289, entered service in 1931 and were followed by another two aircraft (280 and 290) specifically modified for fighter training and fitted with a slightly more powerful engine, capable of producing 300hp (224kw), and equipped with machine gun cameras mounted in the wings.
Swiss Service The first nine training variants of the D.26 were delivered to the various fighter units of the Truppe d’Aviazione which used them for advanced operational training of new pilots. The model proved to have particular longevity, remaining in service until 1948 (none, it seems, were lost in accidents), the year in which the D.26 fleet was retired from active service and passed to the general aviation community. The tie-ups between civilian registration and original military codes were 282/HB-RAA, 283/HB-RAD, 284/HB-RAI, 285/HA-RAH, 286/HBRAG,287/HB-RAB, 288/HB-RAE, and 290/ HB-RAC. HB-RAE was the last to be utilised by the Swiss Aero Club and was finally grounded in 1970. 38 | F L I G H T PAT H
Today, besides the two flying survivors, a few examples of the Swiss Dewoitine are on static display in museums. One example of the fighter with an inline D.27 engine, number 257, is on display at the Flieger Flab Museum at Dubendorf. Also on static display at the Swiss Transport Museum in Lucerne is HB-RAE/288, painted in the original colours worn when it was in service with the Swiss Air Force, while HB-RAC/290, today F-AZJD, is owned by the AJBS collection in France. HB-RAA/282, now N282DW, is preserved in the Fantasy of Flight collection in the USA.
The AMPA Dewoitine Fortunately two examples of the D.26 remain airworthy in Switzerland today. The first, HB-RAG/286, is owned by Albert Zeller and is based at Sittersdorf, while the other is AMPA’s own HB-RAI/284. The post-service history of this aircraft is similar to the other surviving ex-amples that were retired. From Augustt 1951, it was successfully used for manyy years as a glider tug, being capable of si multaneously towing up to three sail planes. Despite these excellent charac teristics, the inexorable advance of time, and the shortage of qualified pilots, re sulted in the aircraft being abandoned d towards the end of the fifties. In 1960 it was spotted in a scrapyard by enthusiastt Eric Isaac. He purchased the still com plete D.26 for restoration and, after twen ty years of work, the little fighter resumed d flying over Switzerland on 14 Novemberr 1980. Unfortunately Isaac died a few dayss afterwards, but his widow, as a memorial to her husband, decided to donate the aircraft to the FMPA (Fondation pour le
ABOVE: The ten year restoration of the ‘Taifu
n’ saw the airframe completely dismantled
and restored to impeccable condition.
F L I G H T PAT H | 39
Maintien du Patrimoine Aéronautique), created at Lausanne Airport on 21 June 1981. For more than twenty years the FMPA, through its operational branch, AMPA, operated the aircraft, displaying it at the principal airshows in Switzerland until 28 May 2005 when, with a total of 1,120 hours, the Dewoitine was grounded for a major overhaul. Unfortunately, other projects had higher priority, in particular the restoration of the Messerchmitt Bf 108B, so work on the parasol fighter continued slowly. It was the forthcoming one hundredth anniversary of the Swiss Air Force that proved to be the incentive required for the completion of the restoration. The work was completed in the summer of 2014 and, at last, on 6 August, the D.26 returned to the air. At the controls was Laurent Calame, one of the most experienced Swiss warbird pilots and a member of the AMPA. One month later, he presented the aircraft to the public at the official airshow celebrating the centenary at Payerne.
Messerschmitt Bf 108B A-201
fifteen aircraft acquired in 1938 by the Truppe Svizzera. Subsequently, it was joined by another civilian aircraft and a further two German aircraft that were requisitioned during the course of the conflict. These aircraft were used principally to simplify the conversion of Swiss pilots posted to fly the Bf 109E fighter, as its configuration, with retractable undercarriage, flaps, and leading edge slats, was very similar to that of the fighter. With the entry into service of the new fighter models towards the end of the war, the Swiss Air Force successfully used the German aircraft in the role for which it was most suitable, that of transport and liaison, and it served with the force’s units until the type’s final retirement, which was as late as 1959. Bf 108B A-201, having been on static display at Zurich Airport for thirty years, was assigned to AMPA on 16 November 2001 on the precise understanding that this significant aircraft would be returned to flying condition. This process required some ten years of work, during which the airframe was completely dismantled and restored, and the acquisition of a new engine. More than 1,000 hours of labour later, on 30 April 2011, A-201 returned to the Swiss skies.
This aircraft is the result of a fortunate design developed in the early thirties in response to a specification issued by the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium) for a sport aircraft. The aircraft, the first flight of which took place on 13 June 1934, proved to be particularly suited to the light transport and liaison role, while technically it showed itself to be extremely modern for its time thanks to its all metal construction and excellent flying characteristics. It was powered by a 250hp (186kW) Argus As10 engine which drove a mechanically controlled Argus variable pitch propeller. The Bf 108, which could rightfully be considered to be the ancestor of the Bf 109, was operated by the Luftwaffe until the end of the war, while numerous other aircraft were assigned to aero clubs and sold to other European nations. The name ‘Taifun’ (Typhoon) was assigned to the aircraft by the German aviatrix Elly Beinhorn, famous for her 3,470km flight completed on 13 August 1934 that linked Germany and Asia. Messerschmitt manufactured this aircraft in the two-seat A variant and the more widespread Bf 108B, a four seater, that became the most-produced version by Messerschmitt and, subsequently, by the Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord in France. The latter company also developed the Me 208, a development of the German design with a tricycle undercarriage and, after the war, built the Nord N.1000 Penguin and Noralpha The Dewoitine is the star of the leet of which were powered by the Renault aircraft owned by, or associated with, 6Q or Potez 6 engines. the Association, which comprises some Returning to the AMPA Bf 108, ifty historic aircraft types. the aircraft was part of a batch of 40 | F L I G H T PAT H
Members of the Association pour le Maintien du Patrimoine Aéronautique at Lausanne-Blécherette, Switzerland, move the Dewoitine from the hangar.
LEFT: The cockpit of the 1931 ighter trainer has been authentically restored. ABOVE: The Dewiotine D.26 on Lausanne’s grass strip. F L I G H T PAT H | 41
Hawker Hurricane Mk.XII (S/N 5481) VH-FMJ. Photography by Mark Jessop/aviationspottersonline
The Pemberton’s C-4DM ‘Senior Speedmail’ leads the ‘Jimmie Allen’ C-4D. Now owned by Gary Peters, the C-4D is the oldest surviving Model 4. [Craig Rembold]
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Song of the
Square Tails ‘Boeing Stearman’ conjures up images of the big biplanes that were the backbone of the United States’ wartime primary light training. The famed airliner manufacturer gave its name to these superb trainers, but the design owes its existence to a small company that constructed well made, albeit very expensive, and highly sought after mail planes and sport aircraft. Contributing Editor Andy Wright examines the evolution of the Square Tails.
L
loyd Stearman is one of those aircraft designers who played a far more significant hand in post-W.W.I aviation than many realise. He gave his name to a couple of iterations of his business, and in so doing worked with the likes of ‘Matty’ Laird, Walter Beech and Clyde Cessna, while the histories of Travel Air, Boeing and even Lockheed, where he designed the Model 10 and became president in 1932, would be grossly incomplete without mention of his name and achievements. An architect by trade, Stearman took the leap in 1919, and a sizeable pay cut, into aviation when he joined Laird and Jake Moellendick as they were developing a three-seat biplane, the Swallow, that was ultimately unsuccessful. Stearman was made chief engineer of the Swallow Airplane Company five years later after several employees bought out Laird following his departure in 1923. The ‘New Swallow’ was built and began Stearman’s reputation as the designer of clean and fast biplanes. A move towards the future and the use of welded steel tubing, instead of wood and wire, led to the founding of the Travel Air Manufacturing Company, of which Lloyd was once more appointed chief engineer. Again, these were sleek, fast and fine looking aircraft. In the mid to late 1920s, when success in aircraft production was measured by orders in double figures, due to the nascent industry and the abilities of assembly lines, Travel Air led the field by a considerable margin (more than 1,000 of the 2000, 3000 and 4000 series were built).
Enter the Square Tails Stearman struck out on his own, more or less, in 1927 when he moved to California and formed Stearman Aircraft Inc. The first
of the Square Tails, the C-1, was soon designed and constructed. A three-seat (one pilot, two passengers) aircraft, it was a strong foundation on which to build a dynasty. Only one was built and was originally powered by a Curtiss OX-5 of 90hp (67kW). The C-2 continued down the water-cooling path, but the radiator was now mounted between the undercarriage legs. This gave the nose a much more streamlined profile. A design feature that would carry forward in all succeeding C-series aircraft was the new aileron control arrangement. The push rods of the C-1 were replaced by torque tubes inside the upper wings (where the sole set of ailerons could be found). The C-2 became a familiar sight around southern California and even appeared in several movies. Only three were built, however, before Lloyd Stearman was on the move again. This time it was a return home to Kansas and what would be a stellar future. Several of Lloyd’s friends in Wichita, Kansas, helped him start again with the Stearman Aircraft Corporation. It was a different style of entity in that it was ready from the start to handle more than just single orders for aircraft. Mind you, it was still only 1927. The Kansas business built another thirty examples of the C-2. A variety of engines could be hung on the aircraft as considerable effort had been made to avoid altering the structure aft of the firewall. Water-cooled engines were included in the mix, but eventually the Wright J-4 and J-5 Whirlwinds prevailed. The company really started to attract attention when it introduced the C-3. Slightly larger than its predecessor, it was designed for commercial usage. A three-seat, open cockpit biplane once again, the C-3 carried a larger oil tank and, enforcing its potential money-making prowess, an enlarged luggage compartment.
F L I G H T PAT H | 45
The Scott family’s C-4E ‘Junior Speedmail’ is still based in Reno, Nevada. Extras like the wheel pants increased the price of what was already an expensive aircraft. [Craig Rembold]
It was a robust aircraft and was the first Stearman to receive a type certificate. Once again, it could be delivered with any engine out of an almost nauseating range on offer. The model designations, consequently, are many. The most numerous, with almost 140 built, was the C-3B/C-3MB (‘M’ for mailplane) powered by the favoured Wright J-5. The performance was impressive with a climb of 1,000 feet per minute and a top speed of 126 mph (203 kph). The C-3R, known as the ‘Business Speedster’ and powered by the seven-cylinder Wright J-6, was perhaps the ultimate development of the C-3 and 38 were built. It essentially took advantage of the new J-6 as production of the J-5 came to an end. It was the use of Stearman aircraft as mail planes, however, that cemented the early types’ reputation. Yes, they proved popular with big business and airlines alike, but their speed and load-carrying ability more than made up for the premium price paid for the rugged biplanes. The M-2 ‘Speedmail’, popularly known as the ‘Bull Stearman’, was a development of the C-3, with a 525hp (391kW) Wright Cyclone, and could carry 1,000lb (454kg) in a mail pit forward of the cockpit. Only seven were built, to specifications requested by repeat Stearman customer Varney Air Lines, and were the first of the Square Tails to be fitted with a tailwheel instead of a skid, due to the extra weight of the aircraft. It proved difficult to handle, however, and the Cyclone was heavy on maintenance (one M-2 was delivered to another customer with a Pratt & Whitney Hornet). The M-2 spawned three other models, one of which Lloyd Stearman is often quoted as saying was his finest design. The five seat (four passengers in a cabin forward of the pilot) LT-1 was slightly larger and well appointed, but paled in comparison to the CAB-1 with the pilot finally out of the weather in an enclosed cockpit forward of the passengers. With the reputation Stearman had built up in 46 | F L I G H T PAT H
a relatively short time, these two types (three and one built respectively) would have been a success, but for the financial troubles of the time. Suddenly nobody wanted such impressive machines. Even the magnificent C-4A (4-C), an improved, smaller version of the M-2, was built in small numbers (41). The Model 4 range fitted nicely between the C-3 and M-2, yet had a load-carrying ability and performance approaching the latter due to its redesigned fuselage and range of more powerful engines on offer. Again, the modular flexibility of the Wright J-6 led to the nine-cylinder variant powering the most numerous version (25 built), the 4-C ‘Junior Speedmail’ and the 4-CM ‘Senior Speedmail’. Despite the uncertain financial environment, the Stearman Aircraft Corporation was acquired by United Aircraft & Transport Co. This conglomerate included Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, several airlines (United Airlines) and other major aviation brands. The acquisition was completed in August 1929. Two months later, with the stock market crash, Stearman faced a battle for its survival. Lloyd left his company at the end of 1930 and returned to California where, eighteen months later, he, and several associates, was in the right place at the right time to purchase the bankrupt Lockheed. Prior to his departure, however, and taking heed of the quickly diminishing market for large biplanes, Stearman, with one eye also on military demand, designed the smaller, lighter, less-expensive (to build and buy) Model 6 ‘Cloudboy’. Half a dozen were built for civilian customers, but the type at-
tracted the attention of the Army. While it lost to a Consolidated design, subsequent redesigns led to the legendary Model 75 that, although built by a company that had been a subsidiary of a now independent Boeing for some time, would always be reverently and loyally known as a Stearman.
Square Tails in the 21st Century More than forty Square Tails survive today, with about half of the population airworthy. They are, understandably, a popular type among collectors and certainly attract a lot of attention, and in some cases a lot of awards, wherever they go. Many of the survivors, once their passenger and mail carrying days were over, flew on as crop dusters until replaced by the later, more numerous, Model 75 post-war. Stearman gatherings are regularly held across the United States, but to see several Square Tails in attendance is still a rare treat. Four of them came together at the Antique Airplane Association’s 2016 West Coast Regional Stearman/Ryan Fly-In at Gillespie Field, El Cajon, California (see Flightpath, Vol 28, No 1). Each is a masterpiece and a testament to Stearman’s original rugged designs and the passion of the current custodians.
LEFT: NC785H wears its original Standard Oil colours. [Rob Fox] BELOW: This is the forward cockpit of the ‘Jimmie Allen’ Stearman, NC667K. In mail planes, this area would have been a mail pit. [Mike Shreeve]
LEFT: The C-4DM ‘Senior Speedmail’ leads the C-4D and C-4E ‘Junior Speedmails’. [Craig Rembold] BELOW: Stearman 4E ‘Junior Speedmail’ NC785H (N785H) the sole survivor of three aircraft built for Standard Oil in 1930. [Rob Fox]
F L I G H T PAT H | 47
NC794H is Part of the Allen Airways Flying Museum, Rembold] [Craig ols. contr the at t seen here with David Vopa
C-3R ‘Business Speedster’ NC794H
C-4D ‘Junior Speedmail’ NC667K
‘Bill’ and Claudia Allen are no strangers to beautiful old aircraft. An avid collector of aviation memorabilia since he was a boy, and eventually creating the Allen Airways Flying Museum to showcase it all, there is little surprise that ‘Bill’ should own one of the great American biplanes. The 1930 C-3R was acquired in 1990 after being restored for Jeff Robinson and winning Reserve Grand Champion at Oshkosh in 1984. The Wright J-6-7 was overhauled in 2005 as all of the fabric was being replaced. The aircraft is somewhat of a lucky survivor in that it was already working as a cropduster when the U.S. entered the war. It therefore avoided being scrapped for its metal, but consequently, as any hard-working machine is apt to do, lost a lot of its original fittings as it was modified, repaired and serviced. Indeed, its commercial career ended when it flew into a tree! David Vopat, one of the pilots fortunate enough to fly Allen’s collection, and a regular pilot for Planes of Fame and the Collings Foundation, regards the C-3R as extremely elegant to fly. “Its Wright J-6-7 powerplant is slightly under-powered, and limited to 1650 rpm, but is a joy to fly. It has bungee-type shock absorbing struts that make landing the easiest thing ever. The wheels just roll on.”
Perhaps the best known of the airworthy Square Tails, Gary Peters’ 1929 C-4D was actually built as a 4C (Wright J-6-9). The early Stearmans, robust yet elegant, were popular with oil companies and NC667K was no exception. Purchased by the Richfield Oil Company of California, the aircraft was the promotional aircraft for the ‘Jimmie Allen Flying Club’. The real life heroes of the day, the aviation pioneers, were complemented by fictional characters via comic strips and radio serials. Jimmie Allen was one such character, a teenager who travelled the world in a Stearman 4E, naturally, solving mysteries and flying in air races. The incredibly popular serial was sponsored by Richfield. Club members, more than half a million worldwide, could claim the latest giveaway from Richfield’s service stations. The Stearman, emblazoned with the club’s name, would attend air races where club members would pit their rubber band-powered model aircraft, purchased at a Richfield outlet of course, against each other. Although Richfield bought the Stearman in 1929, making it the oldest surviving Model 4, the special livery was not applied until 1933, and the aircraft only stayed with the company until 1937. Its subsequent career
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involved four owners and two crashes before ‘Mal’ Carberry, a cropduster responsible for saving a good proportion of today’s surviving Square Tails, acquired the aircraft in 1942. Eventually restored for Sarah Wilson, who became the new owner in 2007, NC667K was modified to a 4D with the installation of a Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior. Even during its time with Richfield, despite being built as a 4C, the aircraft had been fitted with a Wasp to make it a 4E. The original Wasp Junior was rated at 300hp (224kW) and was a ‘greaser’, meaning the valve train had no oiling and had to be greased every five hours. The current engine is a newer R-985 and produces 450hp (336kW). The current custodian of this magic machine is Gary Peters. A keen Stearman enthusiast, his collection includes several examples of the Model 75.
C-4DM ‘Senior Speedmail’ NC485W Addison Pemberton bought this Square Tail from David Tallichet and embarked on a 5,000 hour, three-year restoration that saw the aircraft fly again in May 1992. Delivered in 1931, as a CM-1 (optimised for night operations and cold weather, the ideal mailplane), NC485W was part of an American Airways order of twelve aircraft.
LEFT: More than forty Square Tails survive today, with about half of the population airworthy. [Craig Rembold] BELOW: When Addison Pemberton bought NC485W, its various components were stored. The fuselage was in Kansas while the wings, tail and undercarriage were in California. [Craig Rembold] BOTTOM: Former President of the Stearman Restorers Association Tom Lowe in his 1931 C-3R, NC799H. [Rob Fox]
With only 41 Model 4 aircraft built, this was the largest order of the type. American Airways eventually fitted controls and instrumentation to the aft mail pit to convert the aircraft into an instrument trainer. The Pembertons restored the aircraft as a DM by, once again, fitting a Pratt & Whitney R-985, a more readily available and reliable engine than the original nine-cylinder Wright J-6. In 1993, Addison and his two young sons (both are now pilots) recreated the trans-continental mail route by flying more than 2,500 kilometres from Reno, Nevada, to Iowa City, Iowa.
C-4E ‘Junior Speedmail’ NC663K This is the Grand Champion ‘Speedmail’ to which all others are compared. Ordered in late 1929 as a 4E by William Keith Scott, the owner of Chevrolet and Cadillac dealerships in Los Angeles and Reno, it was delivered in early 1930. Scott had a number of extras added to his order such as wheel pants, a reserve fuel tank and a radio. He eventually sold it in 1942 to cropduster ‘Mal’ Carberry. Restored in the mid-seventies, it passed through two owners before the Scott family heard of its survival. The Stearman returned to the family and was restored to award-winning condition in 2003 by Rick Atkins at Ragtime Aero in California.
As a 4E, it was delivered with a Pratt & Whitney Wasp. The engine currently fitted was rebuilt in 2015 with a modern piston design that includes an additional ring, an oil control ring, that has seen the oil burn rate go from about four litres per hour to roughly one litre per four hours of operation. Once again, David Vopat has flown this aircraft and holds it and all ‘Speedmails’ in high regard. “The airplane has 106 gallons of fuel and I have flown 497 mile (800 kilometres) legs with 23 gallons (87 litres) left in reserve. With the ability to ride smoothly through turbulence, elegant flight control feel, and long range, it was the Gulfstream of its day. There were bigger aircraft, Ford Trimotors for example, but they did 80-90mph (130-145kph) max, while the 4E indicates 118mph (190kph) at 1,650 rpm and 23 gallons per hour.” Mention ‘Stearman’ to an enthusiast and he or she will probably think ‘pilot maker’. An owner or a pilot, of a Square Tail in particular, will quite likely drop ‘quality’ and ‘elegance’ into the conversation. This is what Lloyd Stearman strived for. The designer said it best, “…that Stearman products may have lasting character is the aim of every Stearman workman in the building of all Stearman aircraft. The ultimate success of any product is measured by the degree of public acceptance it enjoys – particularly among those who know.”
F L I G H T PAT H | 49
‘A’Fails…
When Plan
The Japanese decided to launch an aerial knock-out blow against Allied air and sea power in the Southwest Paciic in April 1943. However, for all the resources and complexity deployed, ’Operation A’ achieved little. In researching previously unpublished information from the Japanese perspective, South Paciic Correspondent Michael John Claringbould focuses on how it was conducted and what went wrong.
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or nearly four decades, tail gunner Mitsuru Otani remained in the mangled wreckage of the G4M1 ‘Betty’ bomber that, on 12 April 1943, met a fiery end on the southern face of New Guinea’s Mount Albert Edward at 9,500 feet. In late 1982, Otani’s remains were reclaimed by Japanese officials after the wreck was discovered a few months prior. In a macabre twist, local villagers relayed how Otani survived the impact and was trapped inside the tail, calling out for help. Frightened by the crash, they ran away and Otani succumbed to his wounds. Flown by Yoshikatsu Narusawa, this ‘Betty’ bomber (tailcode 378) was assigned to the 751st Naval Air Group (Kokutai). It is likely that a USAAF 39th Fighter Squadron (FS) Lightning piloted by Second Lieutenant Richard Smith shot down this bomber when he claimed a “Betty bomber over Mt. Albert Edward” that day. The sprawled wreckage is one of the last vestiges of a grand Japanese plan to neutralise Allied airpower in the New Guinea/Solomons theatre in April 1943.
‘Zeros’ and D3A ‘Val’ dive-bombers from carriers Zuikaku, Zuiho, Hiyo, and Junyo started arriving en masse at Rabaul’s airields. For security purposes, their alphabetical preixes were removed from tailcodes, and most ‘Zeros’ had already had makeshift camoulage schemes applied while on the carriers. This is Model 21 tailcode 2-1-128, assigned to Junyo, arriving at Vunakanau from Truk. [Artistic rendition by the author] 50 | F L I G H T PAT H
Masterminded by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who termed it ’Operation A’ (IGo Sakusen), there was no shortage of optimism for success. The initiative derived from a Tokyo high command directive of 15 March 1943 which ordered “the establishment of a superior and impregnable strategic position”. This new defensive doctrine contained only one offensive element – a short but decisive air campaign against the Solomons and New Guinea. Purely an Imperial Navy affair, the operation Yamamoto drew up from the directive was ambitious. Four targets were chosen - Guadalcanal, Oro Bay, Port Moresby and Milne Bay. In order to ramp up maximum effort, Yamamoto ordered that carrier aircraft would supplement Rabaul’s land-based Navy fighters and bombers. By the end of 1942, the Navy’s land-based units at Rabaul were worn down to the extent that Admiral Matome Ugaki wrote “we cannot expect much of our landbased air force partly because of a passive atmosphere among them”.
This strong language reflected several factors which had worn down the units. Sickness, mainly Malaria, was a seminal contributing factor, as was a severe attrition rate. The strain of facing frequent insurmountable odds, particularly for the bomber crews, wore down morale. Replacement aircrew, inexperienced and inadequately trained, were rarely up to the task. Yamamoto knew that morale in the carrier units was superior and, besides, he needed the extra firepower they could provide. Accordingly, he approached Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa to ‘borrow’ his carriers’ airpower. Ozawa, who originally opposed the idea, subsequently approved it, and later offered to assist in Yamamoto’s supervision of the operation from Rabaul. Thus it was that Yamamoto amassed nearly 350 aircraft to do the job. However, despite these numbers, the Allied inventory was barely affected.
to Shokaku, This is D3A2 ‘Val’ tailcode I-2-236, assigned after the taken at Kanoya air base in Japan in June 1943 hile ent. W accid l tiona opera an after ly operation, short the none of this carrier’s aircraft participated in ved from operation, the photo shows the preix ‘A’ remo the tail code. [Family of Ryoichi Yokoyama].
In the end, exaggerated claims, accepted at face value, and implausible to the extreme, provided an illusion of success. The Japanese cannot be singled out for their inflated claims, for the initial Allied claims for Japanese planes destroyed were almost as bad. The overly optimistic assessment of results, including shipping claims, by the Japanese can be largely attributed to aircrew inexperience and faulty intelligence assessment by command staff accompanied, perhaps, by a subconscious dose of wishful thinking. These factors became increasingly severe as the war proceeded. With matters in train, ‘Zero’ fighters and D3A ‘Val’ dive-bombers from carriers Zuikaku, Zuiho, Hiyo, and Junyo started arriving at Rabaul on 2 April 1943. They would temporarily base themselves at regional airfields. For security purposes, alphabetical identifiers were removed from all tail codes, and most carrier-based ‘Zeros’ had makeshift camouflage schemes applied at short notice on board the carriers. Many of the arrivals flew from Truk, such as Junyo’s squadron of divebombers, equipped with external fuel tanks for the job. In addition to the aircraft flown to Rabaul from Truk, eighteen ‘Kates’ from Zuikaku and nine from Hiyo were also deployed, but were stationed at Kavieng. Their role is unclear, as none participated in any offensive operations. It is likely that several provided navigational guidance for the delivery route or flew search patrols. However, all ‘Kates’ returned to Truk on 14 April, several days before the ‘Vals’ and ‘Zeros’. Yamamoto touched down mid-afternoon in Rabaul, having flown by flying boat from Truk on 3 April, to supervise the inaugural stage of the plan. The following day he celebrated his 59th birthday. He oversaw preparations from the modest surrounds of a wooden porch of the operations briefing hut alongside Lakunai airfield, with an active volcano as a backdrop. In the evenings he repaired to comfortable quarters – a residential annex at the former German colonial government’s house on the side of Namanula Hill.
LEFT: This personally-signed photo is of ‘Zero’ pilot Kenji Yanagiya, one of the six 204th Kokutai pilots who lew the Guadalcanal mission. He later became the sole surviving escort pilot from the ill-fated Yamamoto mission. For the rest of his life he felt guilty about not being able to protect Yamamoto. Yanagiya later lost his right hand during combat with a VF-11 F4F Wildcat, lown by Lieutenant Commander Gordon Cady, over the Russell Islands on 7 June 1943. The rapidly deteriorating fate of Japanese air units in the Solomons around this time is exempliied by the fact that three of the Yamamoto escort pilots were also lost on this one mission alone; FPO1/c Yasushi Okazaki, PO2/c Kameji Yamane, and FPO/2c Yoshimi Hidaka. For the rest of his life, whenever Yanagiya had his photo taken, he always hid his right hand from view. Yanagiya married the military nurse who tended him and together they had two children. [Henry Sakaida]
Strike One - Guadalcanal The first strike was the largest and, therefore, the most challenging to coordinate logistically. Weather always predicated matters in the Pacific, and this mission would be no exception. In the days leading up to the strike, low cloud obscured New Britain and the Solomon Islands, and delayed the operation by two days. This delay briefly threw longplanned aircraft movements into disarray. As one example, the detachments from Junyo were rescheduled to arrive at Ballale Island at dusk on 6 April, but low cloud delayed their arrival until the next morning, delaying planned departure by about an hour. Thus the orders as originally written explain the inaccuracy of several post-war historical accounts and do not necessarily reflect the way the mission unfolded. In another example, the initial plan was for the ‘Vals’ from Zuikaku to be split between Buin and Ballale. The weather intervened, however, to ensure all departed from Buin.
As luck would have it, a pair of F-5A Lightnings obtained excellent coverage of Ballale the evening before the raid. The photos showed one group of 47 ‘Zeros’ crowding one side of the island, with a second separate group of seventeen from Zuiho on the other side. Also present were 32 ‘Vals’ and one medium bomber recently arrived from Rabaul. This was a G4M1 ‘Betty’ assigned to transport Rear-Admiral Kakuji Kakuta and his staff to the island so Kakuta could personally command all Second Carrier Division operations. The island was about as full as it could get. The Guadalcanal assault was organised into six separate formations; two fighter sweeps would herald four formations of ‘Val’ dive-bombers escorted by ‘Zeros’. The first fighter sweep launched from Ballale’s runway at exactly high noon, followed by the second fifteen minutes later. Ballale had never been busier, with fighters jockeying for position in limited space as ground crew F L I G H T PAT H | 51
elatedly shouted and waved their hats in farewell. Optimism was the order the day as the impressive formations flew to the Russell Islands before heading to Guadalcanal as follows; first fighter sweep, 253rd Kokutai comprising 21 ‘Zeros’ led by Saburo Saito; second fighter sweep, 204th Kokutai comprising 27 ‘Zeros’ (one abort) led by Zenjiro Miyano; Attack Unit One led by Sadamu Takahashi (target shipping Tulagi Harbour), Zuikaku seventeen ‘Vals’ and 27 ‘Zeros’, Zuiho three ‘Zeros’; Attack Unit Two led by Tatsuo Takahata (target shipping Tulagi Harbour), 582nd Kokutai eighteen ‘Vals’ (one abort), 22 ‘Zeros’ Zuiho four ‘Zeros’; Attack Unit Three led by Kiyokuma Okajima (target shipping Sealark Channel), Hiyo seventeen ‘Vals’ and 24 ‘Zeros’, Zuiho six ‘Zeros’; and Attack Unit Four led by Toshio Tsuda (target shipping at Koli and Lunga Points), Junyo seventeen ‘Vals’ (one abort) and 21 ‘Zeros’ with another three from Zuiho. The USAAF Thirteenth Air Force was alert and expecting trouble. Accordingly, all Allied bombers were flown off Henderson Airfield and headed to the far southeast of the island where they circled in wide patterns to wait out the raid. The first ‘Zeros’ that entered Guadalcanal airspace at 14:25 hours were met by a mixture of approximately twenty F4F Wildcats, P-38 Lightnings and P-39 Airacobras. The next few hours would witness wide-ranging combat, from which claims on both sides, not surprisingly, were confused. The first and second combined attack units of ‘Vals’ and ‘Zeros’ launched from the Buin and Ballale airfields from 11:45 to 12:30 hours and took about two hours to reach the target. These departures commenced before the two fighter sweeps, as the slower ‘Vals’ would take longer to arrive at Guadalcanal. The weather was heavy en route, and the second ‘Val’ attack, arriving at the target area at 15:15 hours, was unable to find the targets because of the heavy cloud. Nine of these aircraft even-
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tually did, but the remaining eight dropped their bombs harmlessly into the ocean. The third and fourth ‘Val’ attack units departed and headed for Sealark Channel between 12:53 to 13:30 hours. Their escorting ‘Zeros’ engaged enemy aircraft and did not return to Ballale until 18:00 hours. Three battle-damaged ‘Zeros’ diverted to Kolombangara, a remote grass island field opposite Munda airfield.
The Japanese claimed 44 aircraft The fourth group of ‘Vals’ focused their efforts on shipping off Lunga and Koli Points, loosing their bombs at around 15:15 hours. Not surprisingly, with U.S. fighters by now well and truly roused, this last formation sustained the heaviest losses. The burden of defence fell to the escorting ‘Zeros’ from Junyo which mostly stayed with the bombers, fending off abundant enemy aircraft over Lunga Point and Sealark Channel. The half hour battle forced six ‘Vals’ to detour to Munda, and one to Kolombangara. The Junyo fighters sustained the heaviest losses of the day. One was shot down and five went missing. Shozo Katayama, Chiune Yotsumoto, Shiro Itesono, Matsutaro Kobayashi, Yuji Ando and Ippei Ninomiya were all killed. The two fighter sweeps returned to Buka between 17:05 and 18:30 hours, verging on dusk. It had been a long day. The day was also eventful for the Americans. Major Paul Bechtel led a dozen 12th Fighter Squadron Lightnings to meet the first Japanese. As Bechtel led them in a Luf-
bery (defensive) Circle, they were bounced by ‘Zeros’. As they dived for protection, Second Lieutenant Joseph Young bailed out and was later cut out of a tree by Marines. As he pulled away to engage, Bechtel was confronted head-on by a ‘Zero’, forcing him to pull up to avoid a collision. Elsewhere in combat, the 70th Squadron lost its new commanding officer, Major Walden Williams, who had only arrived at Guadalcanal the day before. The mission’s total losses saw nine ‘Vals’ lost to combat, with another three lost to operational causes. Most of this damage had been inflicted by the F4F-4 Wildcats of Marine squadron VMF-221 which had to dodge friendly fire when attacking. Flight Division Leader Lieutenant ‘Zeke’ Swett claimed five ‘Vals’ before his Wildcat was forced to ditch. He was subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor for his persistent efforts. Seven Wildcats went down, but all pilots were safe. The mission marked the last time the Marine Corps would use Wildcats in the skies above the Solomons before converting to the F4U Corsair Altogether, a dozen ‘Zeros’ were lost in combat, meaning 21 Japanese aircraft were lost on this mission. These numbers contrast sharply with initial combined U.S. claims of over 100 Japanese, downgraded after intelligence had time to analyse combat reports. Once settled, the official U.S. score was 25 kills to the Marine squadrons and eleven to the USAAF. Several myths endure about the day’s combat including the alleged involvement of F4U Corsairs. In fact, there were only six Corsairs airborne that day, but they only claimed one Japanese fighter. The Japanese claimed 44 aircraft, among them Wildcats, Corsairs, Airacobras, Lightnings and a single Catalina.
Strike Two - Oro Bay A three-day respite preceded the next punch in the plan – Oro
Bay. The day of 11 April was heavily overcast with bulky cumulus clouds. Japanese reconnaissance flights had scoured mainland New Guinea in recent weeks. Something was up, so aircrews had their leave cancelled and constant daylight patrols were the order of the day. These orders were reluctantly handed down as many pilots had already given so much in the past weeks. The 9th Fighter Squadron had fifteen Lightnings airborne by mid-morning when they were alerted, at 11:30 hours, of the massive incoming formation. Led by Major Jesse Peaslee, the gaggle was ordered by radar control to circle Cape Sudest. This made little sense, for any Japanese attack would surely target the airfields and shipping in the vicinity of Dobodura and Oro Bay. Despite the radar vector to hold over the Cape, Peaslee ordered four pilots to descend towards the harbour area. This flight, led by Darwin veteran First Lieutenant Clyde Harvey, was quickly reduced to three when one P-38 landed early due to engine trouble. The remaining trio suddenly became entangled, and at a distinct disadvantage, with about a dozen ‘Zeros’. The Japanese ganged up on the trio at 15,000 feet, and the Lightnings landed with the scars to prove it. Another quartet of 9th FS Lightnings scrambled from Horanda Field below but became disorientated in the overcast and, at 25,000 feet, were attacked by more ‘Zeros’ holding the advantage. Around Dobodura’s airfields, every availa-
ble fighter scrambled, including sixteen 7th FS P-40K Warhawks in two groups of eight. The first group wound up in cloud, frustrated by constant radio chatter that told them combat was unfolding nearby, but engagement remained elusive. The second group launched at 11:50 hours and quickly found ‘Val’ divebombers at 17,000 loitering overhead merchant shipping. Numerous engagements followed, with one ‘Zero’ pilot seen to abandon his aircraft at 8,000 feet when it erupted in flames. This was either Lieutenant (jg) Taiz˛ Okamoto, from Zuikaku, or PO2C Sadakazu Iwaki from the 253rd Kokutai, the only two ‘Zero’ pilots lost. As the Warhawks pressed the ‘Vals’ to lower altitudes, friendly fire from ship-based anti-aircraft guns drove them off. Meanwhile, the 8th FS launched three flights of older E-model Warhawks which mixed it with the ‘Vals’ and ‘Zeros’, one of which was described in a subsequent combat report as “grass green”. At the end of the day senior Japanese Naval officers again compiled glowing accounts of the day’s success to present to Yamamoto. In re-
ABOVE: Zuiho Division oicer Lt Saneyasu Hidaka in Truk prior to I-GO before the carrier’s ighters had their tail codes adjusted and before the application of camoulage schemes. FAR LEFT: This disciplined tartan weave camoulage was applied to the ighter of, among others, Lt Toshi Makino. This oicer pilot was the direct descendent of a ship-wrecked Scottish sailor who found a bride on the beaches of Tokyo Bay some thirty years before the war. The scheme, which appeared on A6M2 tailcode 2-1-113, is one of the more unusual of any Imperial Japanese Navy camoulage scheme, and relects the artistic talent of the crew on board Hiyo when they had some time on their hands during cruises. LEFT: On 12 April 1943, pilot Itaru Shikano lew against Port Moresby with the ighter contingent from Zuiho. During takeof from Vunakanau, his drop tank released prematurely forcing an abort. His ground crew quickly ixed a new tank to his ‘Zero’ and Shikano took of after his other thirteen Zuiho counterparts. A newspaper photographer took this framed shot of Shikano making his second and successful take of attempt with Admiral Yamamoto waving farewell. Shikano had this very photograph presented to him in Japan by the responsible photographer. After the war Itaru Shikano operated an aircraft maintenance facility and passed away in 2002. F L I G H T PAT H | 53
ality, the Oro Bay attack achieved no strategic gains for the Japanese. The sum damage inflicted by the raid was rendered to one of the merchantmen attacked by the ‘Vals’. That evening, the ship was secured and under repair in the safety of Oro Bay harbour. A decisive victory this was not.
Strike Three – Port Moresby With light losses from the previous day’s mission, it was decided to maintain the momentum of I-GO. Port Moresby had become New Guinea’s major thorn in the Japanese side and, predictably, Yamamoto earmarked it for special attention. In terms of Japanese logistics the raid would be a maximum effort. At Rabaul there was a hiccup in high command when Admiral Ugaki was hospitalised for two days due to dengue fever. A total of 131 ‘Zeros’ would escort two groups of bombers; 55 ‘Zeros’ were assigned ‘air superiority’ responsibilities (23 from Zuikaku, fifteen from Junyo and eighteen from Hiyo, minus one abort). Separately, 32 ‘Zeros’ (eighteen from 253rd Kokutai, fourteen from Zuiho) escorted eighteen 751st Kokutai G4M1 bombers from Kavieng. Another 44 ‘Zeros’ would escort 27 705th Kokutai ‘Bettys’ which launched from Vunakanau (24 from 204th Kokutai and twenty from 582nd Kokutai). Four ‘Zeros’ flew a combat air patrol over Gasmata, but encountered no opposition.
Despite generous USAAF claims, no ‘Zeros’ were lost The formations initially set course for Milne Bay as a feint. Warning of the raid appeared early when, at 07:30 hours, three 8th FS Warhawks were diverted from escort duties to intercept a ‘Dinah’ reconnaissance aircraft cruising at 29,000 feet. The ‘Dinah’ climbed to avoid interception, but the fighters maintained pursuit. In the end they followed the ‘Dinah’ all the way from Dobodura to Port Moresby and back before finally claiming it. Meanwhile, 9th FS Lightnings based at Horanda Drome, Dobodura, were surprised when they were ordered to scramble southwards to Port Moresby. When they arrived they were vectored northwards where they successfully intercepted the bomber formations. When the Japanese formations finally approached Port Moresby, they were tracked by the USAAF radar station atop Paga Hill. From the ground, Allied personnel observed the incoming bombers’ substantive ‘V’ formation above as numerous dogfights spread over Port Moresby’s skies. The bombers targeted the five airfields around Port Moresby, dropping bombs between 10:15 and 10:25 hours 54 | F L I G H T PAT H
from 25,000 feet. A RAAF Beaufighter and three 3rd Bombardment Group (BG) Mitchells were destroyed, a paltry result considering the effort involved. Another dozen or so USAAF and RAAF aircraft received varying degrees of damage, but the raid also fasttracked Allied resolve to hit back. The vast Japanese fighter presence scored a surprising lack of results which, given the intensity of ensuing combat, is challenging to explain. American losses included two 39th FS Lightnings which force-landed with combat damage; one at 30 Mile Drome (Rogers) and the other at 7-Mile Drome. Although four Airacobras from the 40th and 41st Fighter Squadrons were also shot down, all pilots bailed out safely and returned to duty. One was Richard Culton who was attacking a ‘Zero’ when another opened fire from behind, damaging the engine block and lodging shrapnel in his neck. Culton bailed out and landed near Haima village where he was given a cup of tea by surprised villagers before being returned to his airfield late that afternoon by the jeep dispatched to look for him. His fighter crashed about two kilometres from the village. Second Lieutenant Richard Kimball bailed out of his P-39D north of 7-Mile Drome, but his parachute tangled in a tree where he remained until villagers cut him loose. For eight days he followed them back to Moresby, following ridge lines wherever possible. Despite generous USAAF claims, no ‘Zeros’ were lost. In fact, the Japanese mission record unusually has a specific entry citing “no losses”. However, back at Rabaul, two ‘Zeros’ collided on landing (one each from 582nd and 204th Kokutai), badly damaging the former. Not only did the ‘Zeros’ barely score that day, it appears they also neglected their defensive duties to a large extent. The 751st Kokutai lost seven ‘Bettys’. While the 705th Kokutai lost none, eleven sustained combat damage, forcing two emergency landings at Lae and Gasmata. It is hard not to conclude that Port Moresby’s defending USAAF fighters enjoyed almost unencumbered access to the green ‘Betty’ intruders. There was, however, a fundamental flaw in the day’s results.
For reasons best known to themselves, the Japanese bombers targeted the town’s satellite airfields instead of 7-Mile Drome where they would have hit strategic targets including command posts and unit headquarters. Back at Rabaul, Yamamoto was informed of another intense aerial battle and decisive Japanese victory. The Japanese ‘Zeros’ claimed eight P-38s, eleven P-39s, two P-40s, and another four unspecified aircraft. Thus, the Japanese claimed the destruction of 25 American fighters against no combat losses. One can be more sympathetic to Yamamoto’s optimism against such unbalanced representations. The following day at Rabaul, Petty Officer Igarashi wrote in his diary, “the carrier-based pilots are all highly motivated. They bolster the morale of our land-based attack units as we tend to be in low spirits”.
Strike Four - Milne Bay With only one day’s respite, the 14 April raid on Milne Bay involved the same ‘Bettys’ that had struck Port Moresby; seventeen from the 751st Kokutai again departed Kavieng, while 26 from the 705th launched from Vunakanau. For the Japanese, bad luck plagued the mission from the start when six 751st ‘Bettys’ aborted, including two which collided when forming up, causing one to crash into the ocean. The ‘Betty’ attack force was complemented by 23 ‘Vals’ from Hiyo and Junyo. American interception of the incoming Japanese was marked by misadventure and tragedy. The 9th FS scrambled eight Lightnings from Dobodura in a heavy cumulus build-up. Led by First Lieutenant Bill Sells, the fighters wound their way between the cells, guided by radar, until they reached 26,000 feet. During the climb, three fell away due to engine problems and Sells’ remaining pilots found nothing over Goodenough Island. Sells descended with two wingmen to scour lower altitudes, leaving Lieutenants Richard Bong and Carl Planck to patrol at altitude. With the Lightnings now separated, the higher pair suddenly encountered a returning formation of G4M1 bombers. Bong poured fire into one of the
FAR LEFT: Today the remains of ‘Betty’ bomber, tailcode 378, lown by Yoshikatsu Narusawa on the 12 April 1943 Port Moresby mission, still lie at altitude on the side of Mt Albert Edward, one of the last vestiges of Operation I-GO to have survived seven decades later. LEFT: Movie ilms were taken on board Hiyo just prior to her complement of aircraft being assigned to I-GO. This photo was extracted from an associated ilm sequence, and shows a Model 21 ‘Zero’, tailcode A2-2-102, taking of. BELOW: Yamamoto approached Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa to ‘borrow’ his highly motivated carrier air wings. Ozawa originally opposed the idea, but subsequently approved and even ofered to supervise carrier deployments from Rabaul. Ozawa is seen here, just prior to I-GO, inspecting the ighter division from Zuiho on Truk. ‘Bettys’, which was then set upon by RAAF Kittyhawks as it descended towards the ocean. Down below, Sells’ trio stumbled into the retreating ‘Zeros’ and ‘Vals’, described as having “mottled” camouflage. Sells’ mount was riddled in the ensuing combat so he had to put down as soon as possible. He headed to Gurney Field at Milne Bay and set himself up for a wide approach. His starboard engine seized in the landing pattern and his fully lowered flaps left him low, slow and unstable. One of the returning RAAF Kittyhawks cut in front of him on finals, forcing Sells to swerve to avoid a collision. The Lightning fell from the sky into nearby trees and exploded. By the time the rescue team approached the wreckage there was little left of the Lightning, and even less of Sells.
Post-Script The failed operation underlined the degree to which the Japanese under-estimated the need for repeated and sustained aerial assault for there to be any real impact by 1943. I-GO conducted only one mission against each chosen target. Even if the Japanese had wished to sustain the operation, they lacked the resources at the time. The same could be said of the Fifth Air Force aerial campaign against Rabaul whereby General George Kenney declared victory and suspended operations, leaving the Thirteenth Air Force and USN to carry on for another three months against substantial opposition. Back in Japan, the operation’s combat losses were glorified by the Japanese media. Joh Toyoda was an observer in one of the ‘Vals’ which ditched during the initial strike, against Guadalcanal on 7 April 1943, and was captured. He spent the duration in a POW camp in New Zealand and was repatriated home in 1946 whereupon he discovered that his family had erected a tombstone for him. He also discovered that a local newspaper had elaborated on his last dying moments, written by a journalist enthused more by patriotism than historical accuracy. Toyoda subsequently penned a clarifying article quoting passages from his ‘obituary’ with refutations on what had actually happened. Obituary: “As his plane was
engulfed in flames, his squadron mates were deeply moved to see our hometown lieutenant wave a Rising Sun flag in final farewell.” Toyoda: “I recall fuel streaming out of a punctured fuel tank, but no fire or smoke. I certainly didn’t do any flag waving. Maybe they saw my silk scarf fluttering in the slip stream.” Obituary: “His squadron mates were moved to tears when they saw him raise his arms in a final “Banzai!” as he gave his life for Emperor and Nation”. Toyoda: “I did no such thing. I couldn’t possibly have raised my arms because I was busy hunkered down in my rear cockpit, going through the check list, and furiously pumping up the life raft before ditching.” Namanula Hill, where Yamamoto stayed during his Rabaul sojourns, now hosts the largest Japanese war memorial in New Guinea and the Solomons. Content with the success of Operation ‘A’, Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Mineichi Koga conceived
and implemented Operation ‘B’ (Ro-Go Sakusen). The paradox was that the campaign’s foremost achievement was that it authored Admiral Yamamoto’s own demise. He was killed by a USAAF ambush over southern Bougainville on 18 April 1943 when he was headed to Ballale Island to congratulate aircrews on the apparent success of the operation.
Sources: www.paciicwrecks.com, Senshi Sosho Vol. 96 Nanto Homen Kaigun Sakusen, Gatto Tesshu Go Southeastern Area Naval Operations, relevant USAAF records, Memoirs of Commander Okumiya, staf oicer to Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta, Combined Fleet Secret Op Order #19 of 1 Dec. 42, and historian Osamu Tagaya.
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The Perpetual Proctor By Neil Follett
P
ercival’s low wing, all wood Proctor was a military trainer developed from the company’s successful prewar Percival Gull series designed by Australian Edgar Percival. The first Proctor was test flown at Luton, England, on 8 October 1939. It was ordered in large numbers for the RAF and Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm during W.W.II as a communications aircraft and dual control wireless trainer. The military Proctors were built by the Percival Aircraft Ltd plant at Luton Airport, while large numbers were sub-contracted to the woodworking factory of F. Hills and Sons Ltd in Manchester. All Proctor models were powered by the 210hp (157kW) de Havilland Gipsy Queen II driving a constant speed propeller. At the end of the war, 225 examples of Marks I, II and III were stripped of military fittings and civilianised as three-seaters for club, charter and private flying. Many were sold overseas and VH-AUC, a Mk.I, was one of these. VH-AUC (c/n K.253) started its aeronautical life in the RAF as P6194. After its service life and disposal, it was registered to Newman Aircraft Limited on 26 February 1946 as G-AHDI. On 2 November 1948 it was registered to Stanley Caliendi until 1 June 1951 when it was struck off the British register as sold to Australia. It was acquired by Morris Air Service at Bankstown, with the purchase being financed by Sutton Motors, and shipped to Australia for resale. The first registered owner in Australia was Neville Crisp of Yelta Station near Ivanhoe in New South Wales. Registered to him in late September 1951, it was operated from his property for 56 | F L I G H T PAT H
six years until he needed to sell the aircraft to raise funds to further expand his property holdings. The Proctor was ferried to Moorabbin by Arthur Schutt, of Schutt Aircraft Sales and Service, for overhaul and resale on behalf of Crisp. The flight is described in the book This Flying Business, by Wal Davies, an account of the life of Arthur Schutt: Schutty knew the aircraft had not been examined for C of A for about 4 years but was still being flown regularly. “When I arrived at Yelta, Neville rolled the Proctor out of the hangar so I could make an inspection. It was a typical station workhorse showing signs of a hard life but when I inspected the main spar I found it had begun to break away due to the failure of glue in the joint. I told him there was no way I was going to fly it in that condition, but finally
agreed to do so - provided it passed a test I had in mind. Neville was to fly the Proctor into Broken Hill and return. Before he took off I would place a piece of tape across the joint. He made the trip and when I checked the tape there was no sign of movement. This seemed to indicate the joint was still sound so I flew it back to Melbourne. The only precaution I took was to depart at daybreak to make sure of getting smooth air but I also made sure to fly with extreme care - just in case. After it was overhauled by Schutts, VHAUC was sold to Brian Treloar of ‘Mooleulooloo’ Station, Mingary, South Australia and registered to him on 3 December 1957. In June 1963 VH-AUC was flown to Parafield for its C of A renewal by Aerokair. On inspection it was found that it needed extensive woodwork repairs, the cost of which made it uneconomical to repair so
VH-AUC, looking in prime condition when owned by Brian Treloar, probably on an outback South Australian airstrip.
the Proctor was removed from the register on 12 November 1964. It languished at Parafield until May 1965 when Brian Treloar donated it, less engine, to the Australian Aircraft Restoration Group (AARG) operators of the then Moorabbin Air Museum. ov A detailed account of the Proctor’s recovery from Adelaide to Melbourne was written by the author for the Aviation Historical Society of Australia (AHSA) newsletter. In August 1965, four AARG members headed to Adelaide to take delivery of the Proctor. The wings departed on a trailer and the fuselage was to be towed on its own wheels with the tail wheel fork being attached to a towing dolly comprising of two Wirraway wheels and a length of water pipe. Because of the width of the aircraft, the direct route through the then narrow roads of the Adelaide Hills and the narrow bridge at Murray Bridge, was not possible. It was decided to take a northern route via Gawler and cross the Murray on the ferry at Mannum. About half way between Gawler and Mannum the bolt through VH-AUC’s tailwheel fork sheared disconnecting the Proctor from the tow bar, but it was saved by wire rope that was acting as a safety chain. The incident happened on a narrow, slightly hilly road. When the aircraft, dolly and car were all separated, the dolly took off on its own, down the middle of the road, until veering off to wrap itself around on one of South Australia’s famous Stobie light poles. We all know that
many Wirraway parts were used in the manufacture of the Boomerang, so here we were with the axle between our Wirraway wheels, Boomerang shaped. It was decided to take the dolly back to Gawler to find a garage that could do a bit of welding to enable us to continue. A garage in Gawler somehow managed to straighten our axle and a couple of hours later we were off to the river ferry crossing, much to the surprise of the operator. After crossing the Murray at Mannum, we headed south to pick up the Dukes Highway and head home.
MAIN: VH-AUC, together with John Treloar’s VH-SCC, at one of the family’s properties. [all images via the author] TOP: VH-AUC at Moorabbin circa 1967. [Neil Follett] MIDDLE: Coming of the Ferry at Mannum, South Australia. The ferry operator still couldn’t believe the sight of an aeroplane crossing the Murray River on his ferry. 22 August 1965. [Neil Follett] BOTTOM: VH-AUC on the roadside near Gawler, South Australia, showing the towing rig with the Wirraway wheeled axle.
F L I G H T PAT H | 57
The road was gravel and being upgraded. A large rock, or small boulder, sitting about six feet onto the roadway, jumped out in front of us. The Holden missed it, but the Proctor didn’t. When Edgar Percival designed the Proctor he didn’t expect it to be travelling backwards at speed while still on the ground, and the ensuing impact tore the port undercarriage away from the main spar. A local farmer came to our aid in the form of two tractors. One was equipped with a hoist and was used to lift the Proctor off the ground and the second tractor was used as tow vehicle. The farmer offered to store VH-AUC on his nearby property, until we could arrange suitable transport to finish the journey home.” It was several months before we returned with the museum’s six-wheel trailer to recover the aircraft. Even though it was out of sight of the road, more damage occurred in the form of broken perspex windows, no doubt inflicted by the farmer’s children. We could hardly complain as we appreciated the farmer’s assistance in rescuing us and allowing VH-AUC to live on his farm for a few months. 58 | F L I G H T PAT H
After spending a short time at the museum, VH-AUC was transported down to Geelong, where AARG member Ken Baird used his woodworking skills to bring the aircraft back to the condition that it is still in today. After Ken had finished the restoration, as there were no undercover facilities at the museum at the time, VH-AUC was loaned to the RAAF Museum at Point Cook, where the serial number A75-1 was applied. This represented the only Proctor the RAAF had on charge, a Mk. IV, which was attached to the Governor General’s Flight, after which it became VH-BNB. VH-BNB never actually carried its RAAF serial during its career as it retained its RAF serial of NP336.
The Treloar family Proctors Our Proctors were fitted with DH Gypsy Queen 2 six cylinder engines of 205 HP and C/S prop. They had a beautiful exhaust sound which could be identified from miles away. My wife could hear me coming back to Broken Hill and was usually at the airport to pick me up by the time I landed. My ‘SCC, which I bought in 1956, was a solo control 4-seater, and Keith and Graham’s ‘AVG was a dual control 3-seater. Both cruised at 136 MPH (all ASI’s were
The scene of the accident on the unmade road between Mannum and Murray Bridge, on 22 August 1965, clearly showing the damage caused by the wayward boulder. [Neil Follett]
in MPH back then) but Brian’s ‘AUC, which was dual control and 4-seater, cruised at 150 MPH - for the reasons I will put forward. The Proctor was a military version of the Vega Gull. The Vega was a hot ship which held many world records. I’m told construction drawings were minimal and each airframe was slightly different. When W.W.II started and the war office wanted a militarised version in large numbers, the design staff at Percivals worked 24 hours a day for 3 weeks preparing drawings so that the work could be farmed out to sub-contractors. The resultant Proctors weighed 600 lbs more than the Vega. I think Brian’s AUC was still basically an upgraded Vega built before standardisation and farmout took place. It had cabin lining which looked more like a civilian version. More importantly, its centre section was attached to the fuselage with a markedly different angle of incidence which gave it a distinct nose down attitude in cruise. I also think it was lighter since it really leapt off the ground. The Proctor could use bush strips that many people would hesitate to use with their modern machines. One technique I used on take-off (as suggested by Arthur Schutt) was to start the run with no flap
(to blank out the tail) to get the plane in the flying attitude quicker, then drop 1/4 flap. This jacked the plane off the ground sooner and away you went. One drawback with the Proctor was the limited endurance of 4 hours—it carried only 40 gallons at 10 GPH. However, most places had fuel, even at least 4 gallon tins. DCA took to wooden box spar aeroplanes in the 1960s after they were given Aero Commanders to fly around in instead of their Avro Ansons. They brought in the spurious glue pull test and vandalised our aviation heritage. They would not listen to anyone--they just
wanted them out of the air. I had better stop there in case my blood pressure reaches dangerous levels. Arthur Schutt told me once that the basic design of the Bonanza was done by Edgar Percival and sold to Beech. I would believe this since Schutty knew Edgar Percival personally. John Treloar (For more on John Treloar’s Waco aircraft see Flightpath Vol. 28, No.1) VH-AUC is just one of four Percival Proctors preserved in museums in Australia and can be seen in the Australian National Aviation Museum at Moorabbin Airport, Victoria.
OPPOSITE: On display in the then Moorabbin Air Museum in June 1993 after restoration by Ken Baird. Note RAAF serial and in lashes. [Neil Follett] LEFT: A more recent view of VH-AUC at Moorabbin. [Neil Follett] F L I G H T PAT H | 59
Personal Efects
BBMF Autumn Journal 2015 The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is easily the most well known military memorial flight in the world. Its official supporters’ club produces two excellent publications at either end of the Flight’s display season. The ever-popular Yearbook appears as the aircraft and crews begin the hectic period of flying displays and flypasts while the Autumn Journal is published towards the end of the calendar year to summarise events and look forward. Both publications are provided to club members. The Autumn Journal for 2015 was a glossy magazine of more then seventy pages and featured a variety of articles from display highlights to the challenges of maintaining the aircraft and historical pieces related to specific machines or those represented by the Flight. The photography, as you’d expect, was superb and ably supported by some good writing. Although a little pricey for overseas memberships, the membership pack and other goodies provide value for money. A subscription also directly supports the Flight’s operations. (reviewer: Andy Wright) Royal Air Force Memorial Flight, £40.00 (o/s subs), www.memorialflightclub.com
Consolidated B-36 Originally conceived to reach targets in Continental Europe from the U.S. in 1941, the B-36 did not enter service until 1948. It eventually played the critical role of the USAF’s intercontinental nuclear bomber during the early Cold War years. Though its ser60 | F L I G H T PAT H
vice was to last a mere decade, it set early benchmarks for both range and payload, and remains the largest bomber ever built. With few airframes surviving, from the beautifully preserved 52-2220 in the USAF Museum in Dayton to another whose fuselage sections serve as storage sheds, this wonderful collection of photographs continues to preserve the heritage of this amazing aircraft. The book is nicely presented in chapters by model, starting from early mockups and prototypes through to the derivative YB-60. Of special interest is the detailed inclusion of the engineering samples and, in particular, the original twin tail and rudder design. Onto production models from the B-36A, each photograph contains a detailed description as it captures the type’s service and development. The author goes the extra mile with the B-36D and includes nicely detailed photos, including engine cutaways and good detail on the intake covers applied when the turbojets were not in use. ‘Consolidated B-36’ finishes with the B-36H, rounding off the bomber’s development. The many black and white photographs are beautiful and clear and are supported by a good number of colour shots and illustrations. A must for any student of the Cold War from an author whose visual history subjects continue to raise the bar. (reviewer: Takis Diakoumis) David Doyle, £17.95 plus p&p, The Ampersand Group, www.casematepublishing. co.uk
Air Force. Four were still in service in 1943 and one was still flying in Bogota as late as 1966! Intended as an eighteen seat airliner, the type is best known for its transport role with the Luftwaffe during W.W.II, but, as the author points out in this authoritative 256-page hardback history of the type, the Ju 52 served far longer with the French Armée de l’Air as the AAC 1 Toucan. The star of ‘Where Eagles Dare’, a Swiss Air Force example delivered in 1939, was retired in 1982! The book takes the reader on a journey from the desolate snowswept airstrips of Pitomnik and Gumrak in Stalingrad (medevac, resupply) to the high green valleys of North Vietnam (paratroop drop and level bomber), from the jungles of the Amazonian rain forests (medevac) during the Latin-American wars of the 1930s to the deserts of North Africa during the mid-1950s. Nicely illustrated with some 150 photos, including 44 in colour, it includes appendices covering French and Spanish production, a listing of Luftwaffe units and Lufthansa aircraft and an index and a bibliography. This is a compelling and satisfying history of one of the most significant aircraft of the 20th century. (reviewer: Neil Page) Jan Forsgren, £22.50 plus p&p, Fonthill Media, www. fonthillmedia.com
The Junkers Ju 52 Story
Without Precedent
Designed and built by the Junkers Aircraft Company of Dessau, the Ju 52 first flew as a single-engine all-metal transport on 13 October 1930. The classic three-engine Ju 52/3m followed in April 1932 and was delivered to airlines and air forces worldwide. Some of the first examples went to the Colombian
This work is a diverse biography of Phillip Zupp, a fighter pilot, commando and career aviator, and Australia’s first Purple Heart recipient. Written by his son Owen, an accomplished aviator and author in his own right, the book is an enthralling and fascinating tale of his father’s life, a man who served in two
very different wars. From slogging through the jungles of New Guinea in W.W. II to flying Meteors on ground attack sorties over North Korea, Phillip saw more than his fair share of action. He flew 201 combat missions in the midst of intense ground fire and threatening MiG fighters. During a sortie to try to find a downed pilot from his squadron, Phillip was wounded by shrapnel and the canopy of his aircraft shattered, but he still managed to land safely. Later we follow his equally engaging aviation career post-war flying target-towing Mustangs, Qantas Constellations, air ambulances and several stints instructing. Splendidly written and thoroughly researched, this work is a true page turner and will keep the reader transfixed from first page to last. (reviewer: Rob Fox) Owen Zupp, $45.00, There and Back, www.owenzupp. com/without-precedent
GHOSTS 2017: A Time Remembered & The Great War Internationally renowned aviation photographer and Flightpath favourite, GHOSTS’ Phillip Makanna, has produced two typically stunning calendars to adorn the walls of our studies, workshops and offices in 2017. ‘A Time Remembered’ is the 37th edition of this famous W.W.II aircraft calendar and again it is a fine representation of some of the best warbirds to be seen in today’s movement. This year the Erickson Aircraft Collection’s P38L Lockheed Lightning heads up this great selection. Also included are a Supermarine Seaf-
Personal Efects Bill Lancaster: The Final Verdict: The Life and Death of an Aviation Pioneer
ire, Hawker Hurricane and Ki-43 Oscar to name a few. Additionally, GHOSTS W.W.I – ‘The Great War’ Calendar presents further enduring images that are led off by a Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a. Other rarities include a Fokker Dr.I, Albatros, Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe and many more to admire. (reviewer: Rob Fox) Phillip Makanna, $25 plus p&p, www.aviationart.com. au, 03 9592 1943
All the Fine Young Eagles Through personal interviews, wartime diaries and letters and exacting research, the pages of this masterful work describe not only the contributions made by individuals, but also highlights the very important role Canadian fighter pilots played in the Commonwealth war effort. Originally published in 1996, the many veterans’ post-war reminiscences capture the essence and extent of the Canadian contribution, as the narrative seamlessly shifts from the beginnings
in Europe to the defeat of Japan. The author, Lt Col (retired) David Bashow, a fighter pilot himself, flew the CF-104 Starfighter for ten years with 439 Squadron RCAF in Germany, and performed instructing duties on exchange with the USAF’s Fighter Weapons Instructor Course in Phoenix, Arizona. On retirement, he became editor of the Canadian Military Journal and is also an Associate Professor of History at Royal Military College. Filled with first-hand accounts, the reader is placed in the cockpit to experience aerial combat with all its exhilaration, grit and brutal reality. The often tedious periods between engagements are set within a large-scale historical framework with detailed descriptions of tactics, equipment and people. This updated edition contains a substantial amount of new material from veterans. (reviewer: Rob Fox) Dave Bashow, C$28.95 plus p&p, Douglas & McIntyre, www.douglas-mcintyre.com
The inter-war period was a time when record-setting aviators were front-page celebrities. For each of the still well-known ‘Alist’ aviators, there were several more who didn’t make the front pages as often, or were not as lucky, or, arguably, as talented. Definitely unlucky was Bill Lancaster, who died on what proved to be his last record attempt in 1933, when he became lost in his Avro Avian over the Sahara and, despite surviving a forced landing, his mummified body wasn’t found until 1962. The remains of the Avian, ‘Southern Cross Minor’, previously operated by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and for a time on display in the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, are currently in store. Well-known aviation author Ralph Barker’s story of Lancaster was first published in 1969. This revised edition, with an update by Barker’s daughter, Sarah Duncanson takes in the events, such as the recovery of the Avian in 1975 that occurred after the original edition. (reviewer: James Kightly) Ralph Barker, £19.99 Pen & Sword Books, www.pen-andsword.co.uk
Phoenix – A Complete History of the Luftwaffe 19181945. Vol.1 The Phoenix is reborn 1918-1934.
and the Nazi Party in power in 1934. This period is probably the most neglected area for study in German aviation history, and the remarkable depth of detail that the author has laid out from his research essentially fills this gap. The cover, and one aspect included, features the secret German training bases in Soviet Russia (such as Lipetsk) in this period, a generally forgotten aspect of aviation history. It is worth noting the next two volumes will cover 1935-37 and 1937-39, which gives a good indication of the depth of detail planned. Although structured in encyclopaedic format, it is well written and very readable as well as undoubtedly the most accessible resource on the topic. (reviewer: James Kightly) Richard Meredith, £44.95 plus p&p, Helion & Company, www.helion.co.uk
Echoes from an Eagle There is a prevalence these days for books to be written by family members of aircrew who have left a treasure trove of memories to be deciphered. Quality and presentation varies, but all have their place in recording the relatively forgotten.
This is the first of many volumes on the story of the German Luftwaffe from the end of the first to the end of the second of the world wars. This volume covers the Weimar Republic period, starting with the desperate attempts to evade the Allied Powers’ efforts to entirely shut down aviation in Germany in 1919, and continues through until the arrival of Adolf Hitler F L I G H T PAT H | 61
Personal Efects The author is the son of tail gunner Vernon Elder, who flew with the 19th Bomb Group (BG) in Java and Australia. His crew, and others, had flown from California via South America and Africa before finally arriving in Java in late January 1942. After a month flying missions there, the survivors were evacuated to Australia where, once regrouped, Elder and his colleagues operated from Cloncurry and then Mareeba in Queensland. Elder continued to fly throughout the ten months the 19th BG was in action, and finally returned home in late 1942. It was not an easy tour. His Fortress ditched soon after take off from Horn Island in mid-July. This incident proves pivotal in the author’s journey of discovery. His father served out the war training new bomber crews. With Vernon’s story told, it is the author’s turn as he discovers more about his father’s war and travels to Australia to visit the submerged wreckage. A tidy paperback of almost 150 pages, it does need a slight edit to smooth things out and some of the maps could be better. It is, however, a valuable and well-researched account of a USAAF airman’s experiences in wartime Australia at a time when the Allies were on the back foot. (reviewer: Andy Wright) Ken Elder Bledsoe, US$17.00 plus p&p, www.kenelderbledsoe.com
263 Squadron: Gladiators over the Fjords The RAF twice sent 263 Squadron with its Gloster Gladiators to Norway during the first half of 1940. The first deployment lasted two days. Returning the
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following month (May), the squadron performed surprisingly well before being evacuated three weeks later, only for the surviving pilots to all be lost in the sinking of HMS Glorious. This is a slim, large format book of 120 pages. The striking cover art is reflected in the detailed profiles and the excellent period photographs. The photos themselves are of a particularly rare subject, given the effective retreat and loss by the RAF and Allied forces. The initial narrative, before the Norwegian adventures, feels like a padded out ops book. It’s not terribly exciting at all, but it does build a feeling of the calm before the storm. The sojourns in Norway are a flurry of flying over a strange, hostile terrain. The success of the second effort was perhaps in vain, given the eventual evacuation, but the calibre of the RAF personnel is evident. A sense of foreboding looms, however. The reader cares for the airmen (biographies included) before they are callously wrenched away with the sinking of Glorious. This book does not muck about. It is straight to the point without any embellishment besides strong supporting records and personal recollections. It is brought into the present with an excellent look at the surviving remnants of the Gladiators and the efforts being made to preserve them. A small, fascinating part of the Norwegian campaign well told. (reviewer: Andy Wright) Alex Crawford, £19.00 plus p&p, Mushroom Model Publications, www.mmpbooks.biz
The “Easy” Boys Bomber Command remains popular, at long last, with the number of books published on the subject each year surely eclipsing those on the Battle of Britain. That makes sense, given the number of people and length of time involved. RAAF aircrew regularly feature, but books specifically about Australians are thinner on the ground. Consider, then, a book about a RAF squadron Lancaster crew, including four Australians, written by an Englishman and published in the U.S. It’s an odd market for the initial release of such a book. Although based on the diaries of Flying Officer Reg Heffron
RAAF, the mid-upper gunner, there is a good deal of comment from the other members of the crew, but mostly from the Australian pilot. The 622 Squadron RAF crew completed their tour of thirty ops by mid-December 1944. Reg would spend the best part of a year in the U.K. before finally being repatriated home. The book is built around the diary entries. Where their brevity precludes an explanation, the author sallies forth with clarifications and context fortunately, unlike a previous work, avoiding repeating the contents of the diary entry! That said, as with the previous work, there is an insistence on inserting words into the diary entries to apparently make them easier to read. The vast majority is completely redundant, ruining the integrity of the original diary entries. However, this is a magnificently produced, beautiful hardback that is as comprehensive a bomber crew account as you are likely to get. (reviewer: Andy Wright) Martyn R. Ford-Jones, US$34.99 plus p&p, Schiffer Books, www.schifferbooks. com
rather incredible 66. Many readers will be familiar with some of these crashes. Indeed, there are probably quite a few who have visited some of the crash sites. The first chapter is about a familiar aircraft, the B-24 Liberator ‘Little Eva’, and there are a number of other incidents and surviving wreckage that even your reviewer recognised. What is rarely seen, however, is this level of detail. Aircraft histories are relatively easy to ascertain. The biographical details of the people involved is not so straightforward, particularly when many were from the U.S. The author must have had so many leads to follow, so many threads to pull, to include as much as he did about those involved in these crashes. Service photos, family photos, headstones, newspaper clippings, personal letters and memorial photos abound and are what really add the weight (literally!) to this book. Without them, and their presentation into a readable account, this book would have been nothing more than a listing of index cards. It is doubtful many stones were left unturned. A second volume is underway and while some consistency needs to be addressed, it has big shoes to fill. (reviewer: Andy Wright) Michael Musumeci, $65.00 plus p&p, michael.musumeci@bigpond.com
Aircraft Crashes of Northern Queensland Australia 19421945 RAAF Bombers First things first. This book is more than 570 pages long and Over Germany printed on good paper stock. It is heavy, well-priced, and an im1941-42 pressive piece of work. More than fifty aircraft incidents are presented in, mostly, considerable detail. Depending on the type of incident, coverage ranges from one page to a
Before the four engine heavies turned Bomber Command into a particularly devastating offensive force, crews were flying twin engine, relatively basic air-
Personal Efects 44 Days
craft like the Handley Page Hampden and Vickers Wellington. These were the aircraft flown by the men of Bomber Command’s RAAF squadrons – 455, 458 and 460. Anthony Cooper’s latest book is a companion to his Kenley Wing Fighter Command title, being concurrently released by Fonthill, and a continuation of the ‘RAAF aircrew in 1942’ theme started by ‘Kokoda Air Strikes’. The RAAF squadrons were mostly RAAF by name only. Australians were pushed through to these squadrons, but a four or five-man bomber crew could easily be made up of three or four nationalities. Two of the squadrons, 455 and 458, scored a reprieve when they transferred to operate with Coastal Command and in the Mediterranean respectively. Their time with Bomber Command, along with that of 460 Squadron, which soldiered on until removed from the frontline to convert to heavies in late 1942, was one of sacrifice for relatively little material impact. It’s a hard thing to say, but Bomber Command was evolving at the time and, despite some impressive achievements, often the result could barely justify what was a revolving door of aircrew. This book is the typically insightful, analytical and carefully constructed work that is expected from this author. It is at once matter of fact, yet capable of exquisite personal detail. Well-illustrated, with pleasingly comprehensive captions, it ranks alongside the likes of Nelson’s ‘Chased by the Sun’. (reviewer: Andy Wright) Anthony Cooper, $34.95 plus p&p, Rosenberg Publishing, www.rosenbergpub.com.au
With a popular trilogy of aircrew stories, and a successful stage show based on them, Michael Veitch has established himself in this genre nicely. His latest book focuses on what is probably the RAAF’s best known action of W.W.II. The newly-formed 75 Squadron RAAF was famously sent to Port Moresby in March 1942 to establish an aerial defence against the seemingly invincible Japanese. Seven aircraft were destroyed in the first three days, and it was a valiantly fought downhill slide from there until just one Kittyhawk returned to Australia. It is a legendary tale and, naturally, a relatively common subject among enthusiasts, historians and laymen alike when the RAAF and New Guinea come up in conversation. Lacking proper servicing facilities, proper sanitation and, importantly, widespread operational experience, the squadron’s tenure in Port Moresby had little chance of longevity which is why it somewhat remains in popular culture. It is the classic story of fighting hard against overwhelming odds with inadequate equipment. Therefore, it is pleasing to see Veitch tackle it. While perhaps not wielding the air of authority of earlier works on the subject, it is well crafted, flowing and, for want of a better word, an enjoyable read. Importantly, it has attained something the majority of previous works have not – widespread availability. It is always pleasing to see books like this in bookstores of all description and places like Kmart and Target. It is the ideal vehicle to spread the word on, or even introduce, what these remarkable men achieved. (reviewer:
Andy Wright) Michael Veitch, $32.99 plus p&p, Hachette Australia, www.hachette.com.au
185 The Malta Squadron This book is the diary of 185 Squadron RAF, in its entirety, for 1941 to 1943. It details the life of one squadron in what was the most bombed place on the planet at the time. As this is the diary, as opposed to the Operations Record Book, the reader is privy to more than just sorties, victories, losses and the like. There is a lot of that, of course, but the diary also provides some insight into the living conditions and social aspects of the squadron. The entries vary in quality and detail due to the number of authors. Indeed, on one day where nothing of note occurred, the entry simply reads “SFA”. The editor and compiler of the entries (which include a considerable number of interest from 1944 and 1945), has applied a
gentle, consistent hand to the original text as, obviously, with so many authors over the years, the style varies on occasion. Some short comments or clarifying words are added to the entries, but, in this case, all are complementary and useful. By its nature it is not the easiest book to read, sometimes staccato, but it almost reads as a Who’s Who of the Malta defence, and Rogers’ delicate editorial touch ensures an ‘edge of the seat’ experience as the tempo of almost continual readiness and numerous short, sharp engagements daily take their toll. The first book to concentrate solely on this squadron, it would be a welcome addition to the li-
brary of any Maltaphile. (reviewer: Andy Wright) Anthony Rogers, £17.99 plus p&p, The History Press, www.thehistorypress.co.uk
101 Nights Fiction very rarely rates a mention within these pages, although some readers may think otherwise! In the case of this book, however, it is more than welcome. Ray Ollis was a navigator with 101 Squadron RAF, and his book is a lightly fictionalised account of his war. It is comparable, in tone and themes, to Charlwood’s ‘No Moon Tonight’ – a beautifully written window into the doomed youth of Bomber Command. Being presented as a novel, of course, the narrative has been embellished here and there to add a bit of wonder and intrigue, but, for the most part, what was written was Ollis’ own experiences flying Lancasters. How do we know it closely mirrors the wartime service of the author? Because Robert Brokenmouth, a South Australian historian, has gone to great lengths to match Ollis’ service records with what was written in the book. The extensive annotations, listed over forty pages at the rear of the book, are testament to that, as is the excellent forty page essay on the author’s life, penned by Brokenmouth. In some ways, ‘101 Nights’ is both a novel and a non-fiction memoir. This new edition is most certainly that, with its extensive appendices, glossary and bibliography. It is also clearly an attempt by the author to shed some of the demons he was forced to live with. You will not be able to put it down. (reviewer: Andy Wright) Ray Ollis, $29.95 plus p&p, Wakefield Press, www. wakefieldpress.com.au F L I G H T PAT H | 63
LEFT: The South African Air Force Museum Oxford at an early stage of rebuild. [‘NJR ZA’] BELOW: An Airspeed Consul, seen here at Liverpool Airport, that was to travel to Canada and then New Zealand for restoration. [Ken Fielding] RIGHT: The Consul project after arrival at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand from Canada. [AFMNZ] BOTTOM RIGHT: The distinctive warning triangles and bands are clear on the RAF Museum’s Oxford, seen here when in the main display hall. [J Kightly]
Following last issue’s ‘Airspeed’s Forgotten Oxford’ Contributing Editor James Kightly brings a comprehensive round-up of the surviving Airspeed Oxfords and the other known remains, including personal insights from numerous owners and museums worldwide and exclusive content unavailable elsewhere.
T
he Airspeed Oxford, like many other W.W.II all-wooden aircraft, survives in small numbers, the majority of which have been reconstructed or rebuilt. Although many were converted to the Consul airliner version post-war, the problems with W.W.II glue, as well as the development of more efficient light feederliners meant that they all were withdrawn from service. A very few were acquired by museums before they were burnt (the alltoo-common fate of obsolete wooden aircraft). Further, various parts collections and even one ‘found in a barn’ recovery have since added to the very limited numbers. With the roll-out of the Air Force Museum of New Zealand’s Oxford restoration this year, another complete, display example has been returned to the list, and other individuals and organisations are working on long term restorations of cockpit sections or even complete aircraft. Here we explore the remarkably diverse stories of the remaining Airspeed Oxfords.
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Australia The B-24 Liberator Memorial Restoration Fund, Werribee, have an Airspeed Oxford project which has moved along significantly in recent years. Starting with a rotted-out wing, the wooden wing structure has been fabricated virtually from scratch, as little of the original wood has survived, but the numerous metal fittings makes the project viable. While recreating that wooden structure, for simplicity small amounts of fibreglass has been used in areas like the wingtips. Tail surfaces and other parts, such as scratchbuilt propellers, have already been built and are on show in the hangar. The group is looking for help with any available Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah engines.
Belgium Oxford Mk.I 016, MP455 is on display at the Brussels War Museum. After W.W.II, the Belgians serving with the RAF returned and set up the Militaire Vilegwezen and the British donated, among other types, thirty
Oxfords to form a flying training school. In 1960 the last example was donated to the Brussels War Museum. However that wasn’tt the whole Belgian story. In April 1944, six x Oxfords had been transferred to the Forcee Publique in the Belgian Congo, remaining in use there until 1955.
New Zealand The recently unveiled Oxford of the Air Force Museum of New Zealand is a magnificent achievement. Originally manufactured at Portsmouth, England by designers Airspeed Ltd, as an RAF Oxford Mk.I, PK286 was sold back to Airspeed for conversion to civil Consul standard in 1946. Registered ass G-AIKR it was leased to Chartair Ltd, then purchased in 1947 by Airwork Ltd, where itt was used for aircrew training and variouss military contracts. Passing in 1962 to the Rapid Flying Group Ltd at Baginton airport, Coventry, it failed to acquire a new certificate of airworthiness in 1965, and luckilyy was bought by the Canadian War Museum m
F L I G H T PAT H | 65
ABOVE: The Subritzky example is remarkably original. [J Kightly] LEFT: The Subritzky Oxford has been itted with the stores racks and practice bombs in the centre-section bomb bay. [J Kightly] MAIN: The IWM example when in service with Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd. [Paul Beaver]
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(now the Canada Aviation Museum) before it become a children’s playground attraction. In late 2000 the Air Force Museum of New Zealand arranged for the long term loan of G-AIKR, and the aircraft was shipped to New Zealand in pieces in 2001 and 2004. To reverse the Consul airliner changes, the museum’s woodwork department staff and museum volunteers had to remove all passenger seating and airline cabin bulkheads, along with the Consul-style cabin windows, and the elongated nose baggage compartment. New Oxford-type windows and nose glazing was fabricated, as well as reinstalling the bomb bays into the wing centre section and reinstalling the turret fittings, as well as sundry aircraft systems and military fittings, such as the flare chutes and Wimperis bomb sight. Most of the original woodwork was retained, along with the metal fastenings, while other fittings and systems were replaced from the museum’s stock of genuine Oxford parts (including those from NZ1289 / V3267 and NZ1302 / P8846). The finished artefact was intended to be as historically accurate and complete as possible. After 14 years and 30,000 ours of work, it regained the original serial, over its standard British Commonwealth training scheme, and was rolled out to much justified acclaim in February 2016.
Barn find Oxford One of the most remarkable survivors is the Oxford Mk.II NZ1332 / AP414 with the Subritzky family of Dairy Flat near Auckland. It started with a man turning up with a letter and story in 1995 about a neighbour having an aircraft in a shed that he wanted to get rid of. Don Subritzky takes up the story:
“I thought I’m going to follow up on this one. I raced off down to Wanganui, met the old guy that sent the letter, and he took me round to the man’s house. It all fell into place quite nicely – he just wanted to get rid of it. … I gave him the money he wanted, plus more, because I realised its significance. Even at that stage, when looking into the garage outhouse, I thought ‘man that’s the best windscreen unit I’ve seen off an Oxford’. And ‘hey this nosecone’s not bad either’ thinking he’s kept a really good few bits that haven’t been vandalised. Anyway over the next two to three hours as we cleaned this shed out, more and more of this Oxford came out. I said to Mike and Steve, my two sons, ‘it’s a shame we haven’t got its registration’ and with that, Mike slipped the side of the rear fuselage down out of the rafters with NZ1332 written on it’!” It turned out that the complete Oxford had been carefully dismantled down into its component pieces, however small. Almost ‘matchstick’ sized. Reconstruction was going to be a challenge. While the whole aircraft was in overall yellow, luckily one wing was primed in white internally, the tail and other wing in silver dope, while the fuselage interior was green. As Don says of the ongoing reconstruction: “It’s probably the biggest and most enjoyable jigsaw I ever had the privilege of sorting out.” Today the Oxford is mostly together, as seen by the author, and remarkably little of even the wooden structure has had to be replaced with new material.
LEFT: The Belgian example, the only Oxford in Continental Europe. [J Kightly] BELOW: The Airspeed Oxford Mk.I V3388, nearing the end of the major conservation programme at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford in January 2006. [IWM]
Internet Project Stuart Atkinson of at Papakura, Auckland, has an Oxford restoration project, bought from an internet trading website.
F L I G H T PAT H | 67
ABOVE: The Air Force Museum of New Zealand Zealand’ss Oxford on roll-out in February 2016. [AFMNZ]
MIDDLE: The cockpit of the IWM Oxford was remarkably original before conservation. [J Kightly]
TOP: After completion, the Duxford Oxford was hung in the AirSpace building. [J Kightly]
RIGHT: The Singapore Airlines Consul seen at Singapore airport in 1987. [Rolf Wallner]
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He stated: “As it happened, I really bought it to add to my cockpit collection as it was really cheap, but found that there was more aircraft than I thought, so I have decided to make a project of it (plus finding out that only six exist also encouraged me, I like a challenge!). I am not new to this game however as I overhaul W.W.II instruments in my spare time plus help restore Glyn Powell’s Mosquito here in Auckland. I have an original R/H panel on loan from the Subritzky’s as a sample to copy for my own aircraft. “As I have been told by the previous owner, the remains - and I say remains - were collected from various farms in the South Island of NZ. Windwhistle had the most parts and an ‘identity’ was able to be found on them (being NZ2155 / PG942). The biggest pieces were the engine firewalls, main wheels, and engine cowls, all of the parts were off surplus aircraft; not crashed or damaged except by the farmers who cut them up for parts. Some of the parts were buried in farm dumps and as a result are only good for samples. They would not even suit static display due to corrosion. “All the woodwork is gone, but I do have a rudder and most of the elevators, which are in very tidy condition. Most of the hydraulic and pneumatic and electrical system components are all there, however I will need to make more airworthy units in the future. … At this stage I am trying, like most restorers, to get all the parts so that I can set up to do the woodwork a while down the track. Finally in New Zealand is the former Oxford R6029, rebuilt postwar and registered as Consul G-AJLR, and currently configured as Consul VR-SCD to commemorate Singapore International Airlines’ first aircraft, when they were Malayan Airways Ltd. Delivered to Singapore and restored for static display in the eighties, it later went on to the Croydon Aircraft Company at Mandeville, for further work, but the project is apparently stalled.
South Africa Oxford I ED290 was a Mk.I later converted to Consul status as G-AITF and used by Airwork Ltd. Acquired by the RAF Museum Collection in 1970, it was traded to the South African Air Force Museum in 1984 in exchange for a Lockheed Ventura. After arrival, optimistic plans to restore it to airworthy condition were downgraded to a taxiing condition rebuild, and later still to static. Both engines were overhauled and ran one and a half hours each on a static test rig in the early nineties, but other demands on the museum meant that other work slowed and the fuselage refurbishment (started with stripping out in 1995) only recommenced in the early 2000s, with the pneumatics and hydraulics restored to operational order. But the wing structure had not been rebuilt, and a change of priorities saw the aircraft being completed, possibly temporarily to static condition. Future plans include adding the gun turret, and completing the camouflage and yellow scheme to an aircraft that served with 42 Air School, a navigation, bombing and gunnery training unit for training SAAF and RAF aircrew at Port Elizabeth.
United Kingdom Hendon The Oxford Mk.I MP425 is on display at the Royal Air Force Museum London, Hendon, in an unusual and important scheme as a ‘BAT’ Flight aircraft. One of 750 Mk.I Oxfords constructed by Standard Motor Car Co Ltd of Coventry, MP425 was from the last batch of 150 aircraft, and was issued on12 March 1943 to No.1536 Beam Approach Training Flight, at Spitalgate, Lincolnshire. The Flight trained newly-qualified night fighter pilots in instrument landing practice, and BAT Flight Oxfords carried distinctive yellow triangles to warn other aircraft to keep clear, since the pilot was frequently flying on signals and instruments with the cockpit windows screened
off. Many of the techniques developed in this role led to modern airliner blind landing technology and procedures. This Oxford, civilianised as G-AITB, was sold to Air Training Services of Hamble, where it continued in a variant of its wartime role, training BOAC pilots in instrument flying. Acquired by the RAF Museum 1969, it was restored and completed in 1990, and loaned for a period to the Newark Air Museum in Nottinghamshire, before returning, in due course, to Hendon.
Duxford The Airspeed Oxford Mk.I V3388, on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire was the last flying example, with its final flight in 1972, years beyond the grounding of most of its brethren. Built in 1940 by the Standard Motor Group, with construction number 3083, it had a quiet war. After wartime service it was operated by Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd. as G-AHTW for fourteen years as a company machine, before being acquired by Peter Thomas’ vitally important gathering of then unregarded aircraft, the Skyfame Collection at Gloucester’s Staverton Airport. One of the aircraft regularly flown by Skyfame (along with sister aircraft Avro Anson G-AMDA) it was displayed in the expert hands of David Ogilvy. But eventually it was unviable to continue (confidence in wooden aircraft that had not been rebuilt tended to ebb away) and it was grounded. It was delivered by road from Staverton to Duxford in March 1978, after the winding up of Sky-
fame which had, nevertheless secured multiple types for posterity, several of them going to the Imperial War Museum and then on to other collections. In the early 2000s, it was decided that the Oxford, still at Duxford, would be suitable for the then forthcoming AirSpace Commonwealth aircraft display building, and it was put into a major conservation programme in the hands of expert IWM Conservator Andy Robinson, at which time the author was able to examine the aircraft closely. Despite its long service with Boulton Paul, it was remarkably original inside, including most of the wartime systems and controls in place, and the turret base and flare chutes. On completion of the works, in 2006, it was suspended from the roof of the AirSpace display where it remains on show.
Others Other Oxford remains are known, including an Oxford rumoured to be restored to static condition at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. The wreck of Oxford Mk.I NZ277 (P2030) which crashed in October 1942, on display at the Taranaki Aviation, Transport and Technology Museum near New Plymouth, New Zealand. In the UK, it has been stated that ‘Oxford V EB518 is stored at Baxterley’ in Warwickshire. Other parts, such as a complete engine unit collected just before the author’s visit to Lincoln Nitschke’s collection in Greenock, South Australia in 2014, to join the nose section Oxford Mk.I V3475 continue to appear. The Oxford story is not yet complete.
Acknowledgments & Sources The author has personally inspected six of the listed complete airframes. The main accounts are based on firsthand interviews with the museums or owners, or direct quotation. However, addition or corrections are most welcome and updates will be added in future issues of Flightpath where appropriate. We would also like to thank the numerous people who have helped over the last twenty plus years on the Oxford story resulting, in part, with the compilation of this feature.
F L I G H T PAT H | 69
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Airshows
Oshkosh AirVenture As ever, the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) annual Airventure delivered in a big way. Photographer David Leininger was there to capture some of the beautifully restored award-winning aircraft airborne at the event for Flightpath. Although Warbird numbers were down this year, over 560,000 visitors and 10,000 aircraft attended during the week. The US Coast Guard’s centennial was celebrated, as was the 80th anniversary of the Spartan Executive. The EAA’s Young Eagles program, introducing youth to the world of aviation, also achieved a milestone with its two millionth Young Eagle taking to the air. Actor and pilot Harrison Ford flew the lucky passenger. The Martin Mars made its debut and thrilled enthusiasts by operating off Lake Winnebago and making water drops along the airshow’s display line. While it was a first for the Mars, Airventure 2016 also
marked the last time F-4 Phantoms would appear while in USAF service. An unprecedented eight Spartan Executives attended, eighty years since the type’s first flight, and a nice collection of Great War replicas were among the many vintage aircraft that drew the enthusiasts away from the warbird action. The Grand Champion W.W.II Warbird was keenly contested, but for antipodeans there could only be one winner. Happily, ex-RNZAF P-40M Kittyhawk NZ3119 (N5813), originally recovered from a scrapyard in New Zealand, took home the coveted award and it is easy to see why. The Tri-State Warbird Museum also earned a well-deserved Gold Wrench for its decade-long restoration of the fighter. Next year has already been announced as a celebration of the 70th birthday of the US Air Force. John Freedman
This beautiful 1929 Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker took home the Best Silver Age Outstanding Closed Cockpit Monoplane Award. [David Leininger]
72 | F L I G H T PAT H
P-51D ‘Alabama Rammer Jammer’ owned by Tom Henley made a triumphant return to light last May after almost twenty years in storage. [David Leininger]
Only twenty Spartan 7W Executives, of the 34 built, remain. Seven of the eight examples on show at Airventure 2016 were airworthy. [John Freedman]
LEFT: The W.W.II Reserve Grand Champion Award went to the stunning and rare Stinson L-1A Vigilant owned by James Harker. American Aero Services was awarded a Gold Wrench for their restoration. [David Leininger]
Airshows
Making its debut at Airventure 2016 was Tri-State Warbird Museum’s veteran Curtiss P-40M. Allied Fighter Rebuilds in Auckland performed the structural restoration. TSWM President Paul Redlich is at the controls. [David Leininger]
The star of the show, Coulson Flying Tankers’ mighty Martin Mars ‘Hawaii Mars’, drops its load of more than 27,000 litres of water. [John Freedman]
Team Aeroshell, led by Mark Henley, lies of the wing of the Mustang piloted by his son Jonathan while his youngest son, William, enjoys the view from the back seat. {David Leininger]
F L I G H T PAT H | 73
Airshows
American Flyers’ Spartan 7W Executive NC17613 owned by Alex Boone, Lexington, Kentucky. [John Freedman]
The Commemorative Air Force’s P-39 Airacobra. It is one of only two airworthy examples in the world. [John Freedman]
1943 Cessna UC-78C Bobcat N88878 ‘Class of 43’ is a civilian-build T-50 that was impressed into military service during W.W.II. [John Freedman]
A perfect pass by two USAF F-4 Phantoms. The grey F-4E (73-167) was to be shot down later in the week. By year’s end, the USAF will have stopped lying Phantoms. [John Freedman]
Airshows Rod Lewis’ P-47 Thunderbolt won the Best Fighter award and a Silver Wrench for restorers, Paciic Fighters. [John Freedman]
David Martin, the veteran, multi-award winning aerobatic pilot, lying his 1936 BĂźcker Jungmeister for the crowd. [John Freedman] F-4E Phantom 74-1638 (AF-349) makes a fast low pass. [John Freedman] LEFT: Douglas DC-3 Pan Am Clipper is highlighted at one of the two night shows. [John Freedman]
F L I G H T PAT H | 75
Airshows
Reno Unlimited T
he youngest competitor in the Unlimited Gold Class race, Steven Hinton Jr, came home with a win in the highly modified P-51D Mustang ‘Voodoo’ at this year’s Reno air races. It was the third time this particular combination had swept all before it. The 53rd National Championship Air Races held in Reno, Nevada, 14-19 September, was a great success despite a series of ups and downs. Only eleven aircraft vied for a coveted podium finish in the Unlimited Gold this year. Two popular former champions, Grumman Bearcat ‘Rare Bear’ and Hawker Sea Fury ‘September Fury’, attended the event, but remained on static display. ‘Voodoo’ and Hinton set the pace earlier in the week with a qualifying speed of 475.027mph, while newcomer Jay Consalvi, flying the highly modified Yak-11 ‘Czech Mate’, clocked a respectable 444.121mph. Consalvi flew the Yak into second place ahead of Brian Sanders, who qualified at 440.432mph, in the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major-powered Sea Fury ‘Dreadnought’. The fourth, fifth and sixth places were filled by Sea Furies with former astronaut ‘Curt’ Brown in ‘Sawbones’ (Wright R-3350) holding off two more aircraft from the Sanders stable. Rookie Joel Swager, in the R-2800-powered ‘Argonaut’ finished ahead of father-in-law Dennis Sanders flying the Centaurus-powered ‘924’. Once again, four different engines powered four different Sea Furies.
Steven Hinton Jr brings ‘Voodoo’ in to land after taking out the Unlimited Gold Class race for the third time in the highly modiied P-51 [Luis Drummond]
Australian jet race pilot Charlie Camilleri and his four ladies. ‘Charlie’s Angels’ won best pit crew. [Luis Drummond]
The Planes of Fame P-51A Mustang (43-6251) proved an impressive racer. [Luis Drummond]
76 | F L I G H T PAT H
Airshows
The Sanders family acquired this T Mk.20 from Burma where it had lown with the Burmese Air Force as UB-451. [Keith Charlot]
The six Unlimited Gold racers. [Luis Drummond]
F L I G H T PAT H | 77
Airshows Yak-11 ‘Czech Mate’. “Thanks Ed Maloney” on the gear door was worn by the Unlimited aircraft as a tribute to the recent passing of the man responsible for saving so many old aircraft when few valued them. [Luis Drummond]
Charlie Camilleri was the only Australian pilot in the 2016 jet class. [Luis Drummond]
The Silver Class race saw a win for a Yak-11 with ‘Dusty’ Dowd pushing Race 25, ‘Lylia’, to 372.770mph. Rob Patterson came in second in Steve Hinton's P-51D Mustang ‘Wee Willy’. Remarkably, third place went to Johnny Maloney in the Planes of Fame’s ultra-rare P51A ‘Mrs. Virginia’ with an impressive speed of 349.562mph. Mustangs flown by Doug Matthews and Brant Seghetti finished fourth and fifth respectively. After the popular and well-attended jet races last year (a class that appears to be going from strength to strength), eighteen aircraft fought it out around the pylons. Last year’s surprise winner, the DH Vampire flown by Peter Zaccagnino, was unfortunately damaged in a forced landing during the Jet Gold. Rick Vandam in the L-39 Albatros ‘American Spirit’ won the race with a speed of 497.921mph. Non-racing action plays a big part of the event, and this year the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels headlined the air show portion. Static displays were light on for warbirds and classic aircraft as the respected National Aviation Heritage Invitational was absent from proceedings. It is intended for this to return in 2017. A C-17 Globemaster III dominated the static display alongside other military jets, including QF-4 Phantoms, while a few warbirds, such as the Commemorative Air Force SoCal Wing’s Spitfire, Hellcat and Bearcat, were parked in the Unlimited pits. Keith Charlot, with Andy Wright
Ken Wagner’s Mustang wears the colours of the 364th FS, 357th FG. [Luis Drummond]
Dennis Buehn and ‘Midnight Miss III’ won the T-6 Gold from 2013 to 2015. Chris Rushing took out his irst Gold this year. [Roger Cain]
Race 44 was lown to third place in the Gold by Zach McNeill who also lew an L-39 Albatros to win the Bronze race. [Roger Cain]
Tanker 06, a Neptune built in 1954, is owned by Neptune Aviation Services in Montana. [Keith Charlot]
78 | F L I G H T PAT H
Airshows
Cold War Jets heat up
B
runtingthorpe Aerodrome in Leicestershire is the focus of the classic jet scene within the UK. The airfield was a Bomber Command OTU base before becoming the home of Frank Whittle's Powerjets Ltd in the immediate post-war period. The USAF took over the airfield in 1957 as home to their B-47 Stratojets and B-66 Destroyers. Today Bruntingthorpe is the base for numerous classic jet preservation groups. Two open days are held each year which enables the groups to blow the cobwebs away and power down the 3,000 metre runway. Types
that carry out fast taxi runs on these days range from the diminutive PZL TS-11 Iskra to Handley Page Victor XM715. One of the most ambitious projects at the airfield has to be Panavia Tornado GR1 ZA326 which will hopefully make its first runs next year. This 37-year old aircraft served with the Royal Aeronautical Establishment and retains its RAE colour scheme. One aspect of the site that affects most of the restoration teams is the lack of hangarage. Only the Lightning Preservation Group has a permanent structure in the
shape of its Quick Reaction Alert hangar which houses two F6 Lightnings (XR728 and XS904). The power of these twin Avonpowered aircraft is awe-inspiring and testimony to the volunteers who keep them alive. The close proximity of the runway at Bruntingthorpe offers visitors a sensory overload. The ground really does shake as the trio of Buccaneers sets off on their runs. The star of the day, however, has to be the Victor. Witnessing 'Teasing Tina' pop the drag chute was a fitting end to a tremendous day of nostalgia. Gary Brown
Two of the trio of Buccaneers unfold their wings before setting of on their runs.
Lightning XR728 pops its drag chute after a fast taxi. Bruntingthorpe is the home of the Lightning Preservation Group.
[All pictures Gary Brown]
The dedicated preservation team prepare the Victor for the open day.
F L I G H T PAT H | 79
Airshows This Cessna 195 Businessliner is operated by the Quax-Flieger enthusiast group. [Stefan Schmoll]
Hahnweide’s A
fter a year's hiatus from its usual biennial pattern, the Oldtimer Fly-in was held again in September at Hahnweide in Germany. It is always an impressive sight to see this sleepy grass glider field, nestled in the hills near Stuttgart, become a bustling event hosting more than 300 vintage aircraft and warbirds from across Europe. Among the many highlights this year, in flawless weather, was a rare appearance by the Messerschmitt Foundation's Me 262 replica, and Mikael Carlson, who this year delighted the crowds with energetic routines in his rotary-powered Blériot XI and Fokker Dr.I replica. Amid the gaggles of Jungmanns, Stampes, Stieglitzs and Klemms, were rarities such as a Praga Baby, Kinner Sportster, Curtiss Robin and a Ryan STA. Thomas Leaver brought his 1928 Travel Air 4000 from the UK. Probably the longest journey flown to attend the event was made by Sigurjón Valsson who brought his V-tail Bonanza from Iceland. California-based pilots Chris Prevost and George Perez displayed Christian Amara's P-40 and P-51 and flew a issing man formation that inclu of beautifully flown historic heavy metal warbirds and a large vintage fly-in gives Hahnweide a unique atmosphere, and all will return again in 2018. Mike Shreeve
RIGHT: Based at La Ferté-Alais, this Skyraider was delivered to the Armée de l’Air in 1960. [Stefan Schmoll] FAR RIGHT: The variety of aircraft proved a great drawcard. [Stefan Schmoll] ABOVE RIGHT: BMW Classic’s Klemm 25 is said to be the oldest airworthy original German aircraft. [Stefan Schmoll]
80 | F L I G H T PAT H
Airshows LEFT: Günther Kälberer’s Kinner Sportster B-1 is the only example of its type lying in Europe. [Stefan Schmoll] BELOW LEFT: Now based in Germany, Canadian-built Hurricane BW874 wears the markings of a Canadian machine operated by the Royal Rhodesian Air Force. [Mike Shreeve] BELOW: This Fieseler Storch was restored as an air ambulance and represents an aircraft that operated in Italy in 1941. 1941 [Mike Shreeve]
Mikael Carlson owns two examples of the Swedish licence-built Blériot, the Thulin A. [Stefan Schmoll]
F L I G H T PAT H | 81
Atlanta Warbird Weekend The Commemorative Air Force’s (CAF) Dixie Wing held its third annual Atlanta Warbird Weekend on September 24 and 25. This year’s event focused on the American Volunteer Group’s 75th Anniversary. Flightpath’s David Leininger was airborne with the ive attending P-40 Warhawks.
N
ine examples of the Curtiss fighter were confirmed to appear for the event, but unforeseen mechanical and weather issues meant only five were able to grace the flightline. The smaller number of star aircraft did not dampen the success of the event, however, as people crowded the airport grounds to catch a glimpse of the famous aircraft. Several Flying Tiger veterans, the men who lived the adventures that have become legend, were on hand to help celebrate the anniversary. Among them were Frank Losonsky, crew chief, and Chuck Baisden, armourer with the 3rd Squadron, ‘Hells Angels’. Also in attendance was Dr. Carl Brown, a flight leader with the 1st Squadron.
Other types participating in this year’s event included the Curtiss C-46 Commando and Douglas C-47 Skytrain. These aircraft were on hand to celebrate the brave airmen who flew vital supplies over the Himalayas (‘The Hump’) in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre. To help commemorate ‘The Hump’ pilots, the Atlanta Warbird Weekend was honoured to host Colonel Richard ‘Dick’ Cole (Ret), the last surviving Doolittle Raider. Cole, after flying as Doolittle’s co-pilot, remained in the CBI and became one of the original ‘Hump’ pilots. The Atlanta Warbird Weekend was a rousing success and all of those who attended the event were educated on the vital roles the veterans and their aircraft played during W.W.II.
The ive Warhawks, led by Mark Allen in the CAF’s P-40N 42-105867, formate for David’s lens. [All images David Leininger]
82 | F L I G H T PAT H
RIGHT: The stretched rear fuselage of the P-40N is evident when compared to the P-40K. BELOW: One of the most widely lown Warhawks in North America, the CAF’s P-40N, is a former RCAF Kittyhawk IV.
er Group schemed P-40E, lown by Larry Fagen Fighters WWII Museum’s 325th Fight Texas Flying Legends Museum’s P-40K. Cavanaugh, is joined by Bernie Vasquez in the
Another of the well-known Warhawks was the American Airpower Museum’s P-40M, ‘The Jacky C II’. It is also a former RCAF aircraft.
The Texas Flying Legends Museum’s P-40K (41-10256) made a forced landing in a marsh near Murmansk, Russia, in September 1943. It was recovered in 1993. F L I G H T PAT H | 83
MU FEA SEUM TUR ES g
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