The most colourful of all Fairey Fireflies were the target drones. Operated by the Royal Navy out of Malta, they were used for various missile trials. For more, see this editions feature article; “Droning On”.

Contents: Presidents Message

Droning On

Heard at the Hangar Door

From the Editorial Desk

I have always believed that aviation is an international pursuit. Aviation has brought Our Committee the world together and allowed people access to the four corners of the globe. So Dave Prossor President why is it, that when we start looking at aviation history we go all tribal?. We TBA Vice President immediately form into camps, specializing in one‟s own national history or particular Joe Vella Secretary aircraft types or aviation events. That‟s all well and good, but it tends to be a little Robert Van Woerkom Treasurer limiting. How many times can we eulogize Bert Hinkler or Charles Ulm ?. David Knight Membership Secretary We are the Aviation Historical Society of , not the Australian Aviation Peter Fitton Committee Historical Society. Such parochialism is out Member of place in the modern world where the world is accessible at the touch of a keyboard.

This is the harsh reality of the modern Australian Aviation Historical Society Inc. world. Younger enthusiasts don‟t look to P.O. Box 461 the AHSA for inspiration and information. Lilydale, Victoria, Australia 3140 Likely the society is seen as a bunch of A.B.N. 60 092 671 773 septaugenarians, utterly immersed in the minutiae of Australian aviation history. The Website: www.ahsa.org.au younger enthusiast doesn‟t know about the Email: [email protected] history of the Avian in Australia and Editorial email: [email protected] doesn‟t care.

To survive in this environment one must cast a much wider net which is why you see the content which appears in Outlook. This is the start of appealing to a new audience and it‟s a long term process which will take time to show results. I know that this view The views expressed in this publication are will not be well received in certain quarters; those of the authors and do not, necessarily, but, as I have written before: this is a brave represent the views of the Aviation Historical new world and be under no illusion; fail to Society of Australia Inc. adapt to the changing circumstances and this world will pass you by, without so much as a second thought.

Keith Gaff Dip. Mktg; Dip. Bus. Mgt; Dip. eComm; Cert 4 TAE 40110

EDITOR

Dave Prossor

The election is over and we are into a new AHSA year. We welcome Joe Vella as our new Secretary and Peter Fitton as a committee member. New faces and new ideas. We have had some great speakers at the past monthly meetings, Mike Falls, Adrianne Fleming and Michael Veitch. Overall they have presented an interesting cross section of what is happening in the Australian Aviation system and of aviation history. Adrianne gave an interesting insight to the flight training movement. There may be a pilot shortage but that really should read a shortage of experienced employable pilots. Not all make the cut. The latest issue of our Journal, Aviation Heritage, is out and has some very interesting articles. Neil our editor has done good as some would say. As per my note below Neil always welcomes more contributions for AH. I am looking at getting together with the Presidents of the Qld and NSW AHSA bodies later this year to exchange ideas and see what we can do to improve our organisations and promote the AHSA at large. I guess at the end of the day I am keen to see an increase in members, new members and of course contributing members to AH. It has been pleasing to see a number of new aviation book titles appearing in the last few months. In particular Australian related aviation titles. A number of those books are on some part of Australian aviation history, both military and civil. We can only welcome them. I managed to fly to the Birdsville races in early September. 1700 nm round trip. Of my two companions was a 160 hour PPL holder. He learnt a lot on the trip. At the races there were some 65 visiting aircraft plus the corporate charter aircraft. The number of aircraft present compared with some 350 a few years ago. While the overall number of aircraft is increasing the decrease in aircraft numbers at the races can only be a reflection of the times. Oh, you asked about the race? I lost my bet! We are keen for all members to have access to a PC in order to receive the newsletter and the other material that we send out. It costs big time in man hours and costs to have to print, fold, bag, apply a stamp and post out printed material. Indeed it has been suggested that in future new members should tell us what their email address is in order to receive E material. And a last minute reminder that the annual AHSA BBQ is to be held at the Australian National Aviation Museum at Moorabbin airport on Saturday 14th December. High Noon as Gary Cooper would say. A good event for all members to attend and enjoy a chat over a sizzling sausage. Food and soft drink supplied but for catering purposes please do let the Secretary or I know is you are attending. RSVP. Free entry for AHSA members. Do not forget to check the book sales area of the museum.

NEW BOOKS New aviation book releases in Sept/Oct: „Anzac Aviator‟ ... biography of Ross Smith, by Michael Molkentin. „On A Wing And A Prayer‟..the 1934 Melb Centenary Air Race, by Di Websdale-Morrissey. „Turning Point‟…Milne Bay 1942 RAAF campaign, by Michael Veitch. „RAAF Black Cats‟… RAAF Catalinas in WW2, by Robert Cleworth. „Ken‟s Men Against the Empire‟, Vol. II is now available for preorder, by Lawrence J. Hickey and Col. James T. Pettus, USAF (Ret).

COMING EVENTS „Heritage of the Air‟- Modernism, Machines, Migration & Memories. A conference to be held on 14-17 Nov in Canberra reflecting on 100 yrs of aviation culture, history, heritage & design in Aust & the region. Comprising of: 4 Keynote speakers  33 Conference program items  Workshops & program linked tours at a price of $25 to $60 each 8 Registration categories at a price from $95 to $460 each Search on: www.aicomos.com/ program or Heritage. NHILL SHOW Saturday November 2nd. Air displays and ground action for all ages. NARROMINE. AusFly 17-20 Oct. Aircraft of all sorts. Latrobe Valley Aero Club 70th Anniversary Air Display. Sat. 26th Oct. TEMORA AIR MUSEUM. Showcase Weekend. Oct. 12 & 13. HARS Tarmac Day. Albion Park, NSW. Oct. 11-13. CONTRIBUTIONS Both our journal, Aviation Heritage, and the newsletter, Outlook, need contributions to keep them alive and to record the passing parade of aviation history that involves Australian aviation, both civil and military. Indeed one can think of the AHSA publications as a co-op whereby members contribute for the benefit of members and others. Given that members are encouraged to contribute to our two publications think of it as just a little goes a long way. Member contributions for both publications are always welcome. NOTEBOOK The Friends of the RAAF Museum want it known that this year‟s George Merz Memorial lecture is to be held over until April/May 2010.

REPORTS David Knight, our membership secretary reports that for the last year we have tallied up a membership of 277 members compared to 287 for the previous year. Some members are still trickling in. David reports that there is always some attrition due to deaths and other priorities which is usually accounted for by new members but as David reports we are not growing. A good reason for all members to sign up a new member. Our treasurer, Robert Van Woerkom, reports that overall we ended up with a modest profit of $3038 compared with a prior year profit of $7382. Our funds at 30th June 2019 have increased accordingly. Last year we also made an effort to explore synergies with our interstate affiliates and attended two meetings in Sydney, incurring an increase in meeting expenses. We also continued our investment in equipment last year with the purchase of a projector for our monthly meetings (a computer was purchased in the previous year). We are well placed to continue funding the next phase of digitising „Aviation Heritage‟ to create a searchable data base on the internet. The committee is also considering another project, but our volunteer manpower resources remain extremely stretched and we would welcome any volunteer assistance.

PRESIDENTS CHAT In July my manager and I took a holiday to Ireland. It was billed as a rail and town tour. We enjoyed the rail travelling part and visiting various seaside towns around the Irish coast. I managed to get a flight in an elderly 1977 Cessna 172N at the National Flight Centre at Weston outside of Dublin. An interesting flight on how not to conduct a flight. At an antique shop I bought an antique wooden propeller that fits a „Lucas Aero Dynamo Mk.II‟. Now if someone has one of those I would be pleased to hear from them. At Belfast I visited the Titanic museum. Now the Titanic is a bit hard to bring to the surface but the museum is a new-build museum describing the life and times of the construction of the Titanic. Outside the slipway where the Titanic was built has been filled in but is where one can walk on the area where the ship was built. The museum is worth a visit. Allow a few hours at least. On the return run to Australia we flew by BA to London and from there caught the # 113 bus to the RAF Museum at Hendon. Now the museum occupies a very small portion of what was the Hendon aerodrome in years gone by. Now it is mostly housing. At the museum it is broken down into theatres of RAF involvement. A overshadows the indoor cafeteria. There is the early aircraft section and next to it the aircraft of WW1, from both sides. There is a section, still being finalised, that covers the aircraft of WWII. There is a that came from Australia. The Walrus was in storage at the time of my visit. I saw that many years ago at Moorabbin, now it is on the other side of the world. There was a Bf109 on display, a composite. Standing next to it it appears smaller than photos appear to show. Except for the engine it is about Piper Warrior size. And of course there were several Spitfires on display. Other sections include the 1930‟s and post war aircraft. Again one could spend many hours taking in all that is to be seen at the museum. Well worth while planning to visit.

PUBLICATIONS The AHSA presently receives four related aviation journals each year in exchange for our Aviation heritage. These are Canadian Aviation Historical Society Journal Aviation Historical Society Journal Rag & Tube. Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia Aerogram. RAAF Point Cook These are meant to be circulated, read and collated after one month‟s loan. If members have any examples can they please return them to the committee at the next monthly meeting or next opportunity?

NEXT MEETINGS The October meeting, Oct. 23, will be a members meeting. A time to tell all what new things you have become aware of, time to run a few slides, give a chat on some knowledge that you are aware of, do a show and tell like President Dave Prossor did at the last members meeting. The November 27th meeting will be the Annual Duigan Memorial lecture. This year it will feature Noel Jackling who is best know for his involvement with the preservation of the DC-2 at Albury and his knowledge of the 1934 England to Australia Air race. There will not be a meeting in December but we will be holding the BBQ noted above on December 14, a Saturday, noon onwards. All welcome. RSVP please.

Keith Gaff

As I have noted in the past, I have a penchant for the esoteric in aviation and target drones have always fascinated me. There is a whimsical air surrounding these sacrificial lambs. I thought it high time that we took a closer look at this aspect of military aviation that is, so often, forgotten.

A classic photo of a U. 15 taken at Woomera by Clive Lynch. The boomerangs on the nose denote missions survived. The wing tip pods contain cameras that recorded the last few seconds of the missiles flight before impact. The pods were jettisoned to allow the film to be retrieved. The engine intake covers are called “anti Daunts” after Michael Daunt who was the first man to discover that it‟s not a bright idea to walk in front of a running jet engine. An unusual Sabre drone was this QF 86H operated by the U.S. Navy at the ordnance test range at China Lake. The missile images on the nose signify missions survived, Just what the significance of the Polish Air Force insignia on the nose is, is unknown. I believe this aircraft survives in the United States.

An aircraft used into the late 1950‟s as a was the Grumman F6F Hellcat. Often brightly painted these aircraft were used in early Sidewinder missile trials fitted with flares on the wings as a heat source for the infra red seeking Sidewinder. The Russians didn‟t apply colourful schemes to their target drones, This M17 drone scarcely differed from the standard MiG-17 fighter. M-17 'Red 22' at the Russian State Flight Test Centre at Akhtubinsk in 1992.

This DeHavilland Sea Vixen D.3 was convered to drone configuration by Flight Refuelling Ltd. in England. The project did not proceed and the aircraft was sold to the civilian market where it was flown on the airshow circuit. It was severely damaged in a belly landing in 2017. The Grumman Hellcat drones of the U.S. Navy were painted in a variety of garish colour schems. My personal favourite is this pink example. As this Hellcat was being flown by a pilot it was, obviously not being shot at during this flight. The number on the tail, I believe, was an indicator of the radio frequency used to control the drone in unmanned flight.

A much larger target drone was this Boeing QB 17 that was used in one of the early Nike ground to air missile trials There is some very spectacular film on U Tube of this aircraft being blown to bits. Personally I rather enjoy a good explosion: very cathartic. The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter didn‟t enjoy the best reputation while in service. While the Starfighter was sold to many countries a number of early models were converted to target drones. While this is not a very good photo of a QF-104 it‟s the only one I could find and information on the Starfighters use as a drone is limited to say the least.

The entered service in 1951 with U.S. forces and remains in service today. It also served with the Canadian and Japanese militaries and was built under licence in Japan by Fuji. Along with the Australian Jindivik it is the most successful of all the purpose built target drones. This is the iconic image of a tartget drone: the red and yellow Gloster Meteor U.16 of the . These aircraft operated from several bases in England, most notably RAF Llanbedr in where they were used for a variety of missile trials. One aircraft survived and is now preserved and on display at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust at the Royal Aerospace Establishment.

Reminiscent of the colourful Grumman Hellcat drones is the McDonnell QF-4 Phantom finished in this spectacular red scheme. Most of the RAAF‟s Phantoms were converted to target drones and were destroyed in missile trials. One has survived in storage and I believe the were attempting to acquire it. The first of the radio controlled target drones was the DeHavilland Queen Bee, a version of the classic Tiger Moth. They were used to train naval gunners and pity help the poor soul who actually shot one down.

Probably due to the costs involved; American target drones of recent years are not painted in overall hi viz colours. Aircraft such as this Phantom drone retain their last service paint scheme and only the tail surfaces and wings tips are painted red. The RAAF‟s Gloster Meteor U.21‟s were a little bit different to their British counterparts. The most obvious difference was the elongated nose. Meteor U.21‟s were sometimes seen at RAAF Base, Edinburgh in South Australia but most were blown out of the sky at Woomera. An scrap metal merchant had the job of removing the wreckage from the desert, lest it offend the sensibilities of a passing goanna.

Tucking up it‟s gear as it gets airborne, this beast is a Convair QF-106 Delta Dart target drone. Because the Delta Dart was not flown by foreign air forces, when it was retired from the U.S.A.F. many were converted to target aircraft. In many ways a sad end to a magnificent aeroplane. Probably the best known target drone of them all: the Australian GAF Jindivik, this country‟s only indigenous pure jet aircraft to see mass production. The aircraft was an export success with Jindiviks being sold to Britain, America and . The aircraft served both the RAAF and the RAN for many years. Jindivik is Aboriginal and means “ the hunted one”.

The Canberra U.10 drone was used at Woomera in conjunction with the and missile trials. Unlike the Gloster Meteors they weren‟t gaudily painted. This particular Canberra was destroyed in a missile trial in October 1959. Seen still sporting it‟s South East Asia camouflage scheme this Convair QF-102 Delta Dagger was one of many that were converted to target drones. The Delta Dagger was one of a number of high speed types which assisted in the development of the latest generation of guided missiles.

Another American aircraft that saw extensive service as a target drone was the North American QF-100 Super Sabre. With the winding down of the Vietnam War the F-100 became available in substantial numbers as later designs came into service and a lot of Super Sabres were blown to bits. For some years the mainstay of the U.S. target drone fleet was the North American QF 86E Sabre. So many were shot down; it resulted in the American military scouring the world looking for more examples. They hit the jackpot in South Korea where a large number of surplus Sabres, in very good condition, were located and acquired.

The latest sacrificial lamb in the American arsenal in the General Dynamics QF 16. As these aircraft are retired; those not slated for retention as spares for foreign users of the type, will becime available for drone conversion. These will, most likely, be high time airframes. First of the jet powered American target drones was the Lockheed QF-80 Shooting Star. These aircraft succeeded the Grumman Hellcats when the Americans realized that shooting down propeller driven aircraft with missiles intended to destroy jet powered aircraft didn‟t prove much at all.

Most purpose built target drones have no undercarriage and have to be dolly launched or air launched, as was the case with these early Ryan Firebees that were mounted under the wings of a .

A close up of the mounting system under the Lancasters wing. I thought I was being fairly lenient with this one; but not one member had a go at it. The aircraft is a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter photographed at the Musee de l‟Áir in Paris during 1974.

Maybe I was a little too hard with the last What Is It. This unusual beastie shouldn‟t present too much of a problem to identify. If you think you know please email me at [email protected]. The Australian National Aviation Museum has acquired the AAC A.10 Wamira prototype in a deal with Air Force Heritage for the museums . As the last military aircraft designed in Australia, the Wamira has long been on the museums want list.

Recently the ex ARDU GAF Mirage A3-115 was acquired by the South Australian Aviation Museum: a spectacular and colourful addition to their collection. The oDD sPOT this edition comes from Neville Parnell who spotted this Cessna in a paddock on the Princes Highway at Coila, 15km south of Moruya. The aircraft carries no identity and the paint job leaves a lot to be desired. Neville was unable to determine why this aircraft is there. It shows evidence of rudimentary repairs. If anyone knows which aircraft it is and the circumstances under which it ended up on the paddock contact the Editor and the details will be published in a future Outlook.

At the Annual General Meeting several AHSA Committee Members retired including Al Trower, our long serving (some would say suffering) Secretary, Neil Follett and Roland Jahne. I‟m sure all members would join me in sincerely thanking them for their service to the Society. Our new Secretary is long time member, Joe Vella; what a brave man. The other brave soul is Peter Fitton. Welcome aboard gentlemen. Roland Jahne sent in these photos taken on the occasion of the Roulettes first appearance at Point Cook in their new Pilatus PC 21‟s. I have to admit that the paint job looks rather spiffy.

The aircraft are fitted with underwing smoke generators, rather than the usual system which injects oil into the engine exhaust to create smoke.

The end result of this new system is that, during displays the trailing smoke is not disturbed or dispersed by the prop wash. It is with regret that we advise the passing of Trevor Boughton. Trevor was one of the founders of the AHSA and also later the Australian Aircraft Restoration Group, the Australian National Aviation Museum. Trevor passed away in Newcastle, NSW, on Sunday October 6 as a result of an illness. He was aged 82. Along with Jack Prior and John Hopton Trevor assisted in the formation of the AHSA in 1959. Trevor contributed to the AHSA journal and to the research of others as they recorded the history of aviation in Australia, both civil and military. In 1988 Trevor collaborated with Neville Parnell to produce the outstanding book „Flypast‟ a record of the history of aviation in Australia. Over the years Trevor assisted many aviation history researchers with their work. Often a critic of sub- standard research he brought to light details of our aviation history that had been overlooked by others. He leaves behind his wife Jill and daughter Clare. We will miss him. Dave Prossor

I have to thank Phil Vabre for this correction to the last edition of Outlook. “Interesting photos in your story on aircraft being burned in the current Outlook. I thought you might appreciate a small correction to the caption of the top photo on p.7 - Lincoln A73-27 at Mascot. Although captioned as the „fire dump‟, more correctly this is the training ground for the DCA (or DoT by then) Fire Service Training School. Attached is another view of the aircraft being used for a drill c.1972 from the CAHS/Geoff Edwards collection”. I know I‟m a little premature, but I don‟t get another chance to wish the readership a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. This does, however, afford me the opportunity to remind you of the Society‟s Christmas B.B.Q. which will be held at the Australian National Aviation Museum at Moorabbin Airport on Saturday, December 14 commencing at 12 noon. If you are attending please notify President Dave Prossor for catering purposes.