IN FOCUS / MINI CRAWLER CRANES
SENSITIVE LIFT FOR AUSTRALIAN WAR HERO Renovations to the Aircraft Hall at the Australian War Memorial required the removal of a key object – a Second World War de Havilland Mosquito bomber aircraft. Cranes and Lifting finds out how Capital Cranes helped pull off this feat.
The Maeda crawler cranes were deployed in front and out board of the engine nacelles.
IT WAS A SENSITIVE LIFT REQUIRING meticulous planning by the Memorial’s management team. They contacted Digger Misner and his Capital Cranes team knowing he had the right cranes for the lift, two Maeda MC305C models. “We had an enquiry from the Australian War Memorial, and they said they required Maeda crawler cranes. They’d seen the Capital Cranes website and knew the cranes would fit the bill. “There were challenges with the lift, but Laura Kennedy, manager, conservation (technology, objects, preventive), collection services for the Memorial and her team, had meticulously planned every stage of the lifting process. Basically, this meant we 48 / CAL July 2020
had to focus on the cranes and do what we were told,” said Misner. There was some planning involved for Misner and his team at Capital Cranes. Due to the age of the plane, they were provided with the results of a weights and measurement exercise conducted by the Memorial. “We supplied the cranes but we had some planning to do as well. We had to provide outrigger loads which Maeda supply with the crane which makes life easier. “Because of the age of the plane the Memorial conducted a weights and measurement exercise and the results were supplied to us, and we worked well within these guidelines. To their credit the weights and measures corresponded
exactly to the weights and measures we had on the hook,” he said. The Mosquito was mounted on a mezzanine floor structure. The raised floor and curved wall cladding on this structure had to be removed. Then one Maeda removed the engines and cowling which are the metal covering that house the engines. “We assumed the maximum outrigger load of 3800kg be applied at the mid-span of the underlying steel beam, the floor should have the capacity to hold the load without propping,” said Misner. Once the cladding and structure had been removed, the steel mezzanine floor was revealed, and the plane was secured to the top of the mezzanine. Contractors www.cranesandlifting.com.au
