Aviation Historical Society OF Australia VOL.X NUMBER 2 MARCH - APRIL 1969. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION $5.00 (AUST). — ^ 4.... ^ ■II ■ . AoHoS.Ao Journal -■E7- March-April 1969 EEC07EEY AND RESTORATION ACTIVITIES IN PAPUA-NEW GUINEA. Travor Wo Boughton. To Find a Vengeance. ■ i; At the end of January 1969 a party of four began an aerial search for a Vult@¥ Vengeance of Noo 24 Squadron, RAAF, that crash landed in the Markham Valley on January 29th 1944o The aircraft was stated as being flown by Guy Main (now a sales represent­ ative for Hawker D© Havilland Australia) with Lou Stevens as the radio operator/air gunner but Stevens, in a letter published in the **South Pacific Post” on February 14th, 1969 pointed out that he was the pilot and cited "Air War Against Japan 1943-45” page' 190 to support this,, The other three with Main were ”Sonny”Rankin of West Wyalong, NSW 3 Brian Dodd (Hawker De Havilland PNG Manager) and Margaret Hay. "Althbugh'the search'was 'fruitless" the party did locate several other wrecks. Other- 'information reported included, that the " aircraft" cohce’rhe'd was' bn loan to Stevens /Main and was'named’"Lett'We.Forget". Main stated that he would return in the next few months to continue the search. Air Museum of Papua and New GuineA. Since the notes published in the September-October 1968 issue of the Journal, the Museum has achieved the following After being cut up into smaller components under the guidance of Robert Diemert, the Republic Thunderbolt 42-8066 was transported into Port'Moresby op November 25th.' The wing and fuselage centre section of the Bell PL'SUD Aifacobra '41-6970, from Gaile, was brought in together with the Republic'P-47 from Hula, on December 7/8th. A number of Bell P-39’s have been investigated, including the crashed P-39D 41-6802, number on Woodlark Island and three in the Port Moresby area. A Curtiss P-40 and a Supermarine Spitfire have been acquired from the South Papuan coast area. The C.AoCo Wirraway A20-13 at Port Moresby has been stripped for fi'stora'tio’n and the work'is proceeding slowly. In a letter to "Pacific Islands Monthly", January 1969 issue. Bill Chapman, the Museum* s chairman, indicated that a replica Curtiss Seagull would be added to the Museum - this machine would use the engine and nacelle of the first aircraft (a Seagull) to fly in the Territory, Robert, Diemert of Canada. Three Zeros and a Val were recovered from the Solomon, Islands area and arrived at Port Moresby on September 29th, 1968, Lack of facilities caused the aircraft to be broken up with an axe, into easily managed components for shipping, and although the result was startling/Diemert was most confident of his ability to rebuild the aircraft into flying condition without any trouble. The engines were left behind as they would not be useable and will be replaced with Wright Cyclones from North American B-25*So On January 14th. a Canadian Armed Forces G-130, 10324, arrived at Port Moresby to pick up the aircraft but despite strenuous efforts by all concerned it was necessary to leave one Zero centr© section and two tail cones behind, These will be picked up during a '■■future training flight when it passes through Port Moresby, One of the rebuilt Zeros will be.presented to the.Cahadiah Governmentfor the Canadian Air Museum, The Zeros were numberes 5355, ' 5451 Cpresent'atio'n number 1045) ' and (presentation number 1053) whilethe Val serial number appeared to be 3179, " SOTeral interesting points were noted during an inspection of the components. Most striking was the■lack of corrosion - apart from the obvious areas such as the arrester hook and some of the components around the tail unit which would normally be close to the ground - the only area consistently damaged was the wing spar caps. The Zero is not the only aircraft to suffer this form of damage, it appears on Bell Airacobras which have been located, and is obviously an unsuitable metal. The construction methods used in the Zero are very light when compared to American aircraft, the light­ ness being' in the form of thin skin and frames together with built up ribs and brackets and formed sheets with numerous lightening holes and stiffening flanges. The paintwork on the upper sufaces had suffered greatly from the tropical sun while under the wings and tail units the Japanese letters appeared as new. The markings were ^ f AoHoSoAo Journal March-lpril 1969 particularly noted on th© lowert surfaces of th® Yal wingso Papua^^Maw Guinea Museum/Goroka Brancho Work on the Bell which was recoTered from Tadji Air^strip^ has almost finished and the airoraft' xs now" painted a mustard yelloia/dark green camoflag© with a red spinnere Th©""standard of workmanship is very rough and over-^^all the project does not reflect veiy favourably on those who' undertook the worko Th© Muse-om was originally a Hotary project and was later accepted as a Branch of th© Territory Musamiio Most of the equipment in the 'Museum is in th© form of native artifacts from, the New Guinea Highlands and at on© stage proposals' existed to build an aeronautical museum which would have rivalled the Port 'Moresby bas'ed Air Museumo The leader of this part was RoHo(Bobby) Gibbet but it ii understood that he does not now have anything to do with the organisationo Malmaluan Lookout^ Rabaulo The Rabmul Lions Club ii developing the former wartime lookout and rada^r station into a Coaitwatchar^ s reserve which will be opened at Saster 1969« One of th© items on display is the Zero recovered from lobera Plantation, near KoKopo (July^^AugustlQSS Journal)o Sine©'being transported to the lookout the aircraft has been badly damaged by vandalsj despite a barbed wire fence, and will require extensive rebuildingo Two firms, Obmaioo of Australia, and Australian Steel PrefabrioationsCNew Guinea) have each donated' llE5 worth of aluminium sheeting to re^-’Skin the aircrafto When the aircraft is" rebuilt"more" extensive"security provisions will be necessaiy to protect it from visiting European vandalso MLITAHI AYIATION « 1968 John Bennettc Royal Australian Air F©ro©e After the acceptance in September of the first F-lllC it was expected that th© ■RMF^s tw©nty«four strike reconnaissance aircraft (A8«125 to 148) would be delivered by th© end of the yearo But cam© December and all aircraft were still in the UoSo, painted in greerj/^brown oamoflag© and Australian markings, awaiting modification to overcome their latest problem -"that of fatigue in the carry-through box of th© aircraft^s variable geometry wingso It is now anticipated that Noo 82 (SR) Wing will receive these airexaft inmid-1969. Meanwhile nearly all Mirage IIIO aircraft have been delivered to th© PiAAF, the last, Ao-lOO, ii expected to be received in February X969o The ten Mirage HID dual- trainers (A3-101 to no) are now in serviceo Noo 3 Squadron, at Williamtown, equipped with twenty Mirage IIIOCA) ground attack fighters, is to move to Butterworth, Malaysia, early in 1969 to replace Noo 77 Squadron Sabres, th© latter unit then free to re-equip at'Williamtown« NOo 79 Squadron was withdrawn from Thailand during th© year and re-grouped with 77 Squadrohi "The first RAAF P-3B Orion was" received in January and the first three were ferried to''N6c 11 "Squadron^ s new base at Edinburgh, SoAo in Mayo Details of the aircraft are A9-.B91 o/n 5401 BuAer 155291 " A9-296 c/n 5406 BuA®r 155296 A9-292 5402 155292 A9-29? 540? 155297 A9-E93 5403 155293 A9-298 5408 155298 A9-294 5404 155294 A9-E99 5409 155299 A9-295 5405 155E95 A9-300 5410 155300 With the loss of A9=E96 in the UoSo only nine aircraft are in squadron servio@o lew aircraft for the service during the year also , were more UH-1 Iroquois helicopters - Six UH-ID's (A2-505 to 510) were delivered to No, 5 Squadron at Fairbairn, and sixteen (known aerials being A2-377 and 379) were received by Noo 9 Squadron at Yung Tau, Yietnam, ^ On the training side, C,F.So at East Sal® now have twelve Macchi MB-326H trainers on strength and loo 2 F.T.S, at Pearce is in the process of re-equipping, having receivsd aircraft up to A7=030 by the end of the year. The School of Air lavigation at East Sal® » AoHeSoAc Journal March-April 1969 is ' also"’6btaining.n0w'"aircraft «= HoSi 746.Series' 228" naVi'gition"'trainars’''t^^ ripla6e"‘xts C-47 Dakotaso Three 748 aircraft (AlO-601 to 603) had arriired in 1968^ the remaining fiY© (AlO-604 to 608) will be on strength' in 1969o As for YIP aircraft the two BAG One-Eleven Series 417EA's' CA12-124 and 125) arrived early in'19'68' for Kco"’ 34' Squadron at Fairbairno Tenders were c'alled for the Metropolitans CA96-S13'" and 353) and these were sold to the IJoSo "The Yiscounts will be "the next'^rithdrawn so that th© unit wiil’haire seven'aircraft on strength^'- the two'BAG Ohe^Elevensi-'three Falcons (All-OTS^ 085 and 090) and two HoSo 748“ s Series 229 o (110^595 and'596). The Bloodhound IvIkolYs of Hco 30 (SAI'l) Squadron were withdrawn from, service lata in 1968 and the Squadron disbanded. No surface to air missiles are to be obtained by the EAAF in the near future^ leaving the air defence role to Mirage interceptors supported by Control and Deporting Units^ two new GARU“i being formed at Williamtown and Amberleyo' • ■ Futur# Equipment? Th© F-lllGYs and remaining Macchis are expected to be delivered during 1969c Apart from these^ no ther orders have been placed* New Orions could be purchased.early in the 1970^s’ to replace No, 10 Squadrons Neptune aircraft* As for'the •acquisition of an advanced''trainer^ th©' Jaguar.could be'” under consid'eration however^ as it'“'appears the'DAAF could not afford the cost of developing an aircraft like the C^AoCo proposed C1--31* Royal Australian Navjr, ....