iBi ,111111 •i iiiin ■I11 iilii il 11 illill ’"'■"""Ilf m ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ a m m m. WMK i BN ■■ M ■ ■ -I-M ■ ■I ■ B m ■Kl m - ! i \ IHII The Journal of the AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY of AUSTRALIA Inc. A00336533P Volume 30 -Numbers - December 1999 EDITORIAL EDITORS, DESIGN & PRODUCTION A bonus issue, as promised, and to bring the publishing schedule in ‘synch’ with our fiscal year, A wide range of Bill and Judith Baker articles which I hope will interest you. If they don’t, drop me a Address all correspondence to; line with your suggestions or article. The Editor, AHSA, You’re probably fed up to the back teeth with all the ‘hype’ P.O. Box 2007, over the end of the century and the millennium, but what South Melbourne 3205 Victoria, Australia. fascinates me is that it is not even 100 years since men first 03 9583 4072 Phone & Fax flew and has evolved from being a novelty to a very common Subscription Rates; occurrence. Australia A$40. Which brings me to make an addition to the editors wish Rest of World A$50. Surface Mail list - that is - the first to fly in Australia. Controversy still A$65. Surface Airlifted reigns on who actually did this, with at least three schools of A$85. Air Mail thought on the subject. We have four plus years to come up Overseas payment to be in Australian with a definitive answer - won’t someone pick up this currency by International Money Order or challenge - please. Please let me know if you will give-it-a- Bank Draft. Overseas personal cheques go, and I will give as much help as I can. cannot be accepted. It is now subs renewal time again. Included with this post- out is your renewal form and a stamped addressed envelope Articles for Publication; Are to be on an to make it easy for you to slip your cheque, money order Australian theme. into. Prompt response will help us with our publishing The Editor reserves the right to edit any planning for 2000. ThanksI Although we will be hit with the article accepted for publication. GST during the latter half of 2000, we have managed to Payment is not made for articles. keep our subs at the old rate. Please include sufficient postage for the return of originals if that is required. Editors wish list; A - H and the Computer; Contributions for Priority 1; First to Fly in Australia. the Journal are most welcome in any form, Any facet of Australia’s aviation history. Compass Airlines, but if you have a computer, exported on a GAF Nomad, Korea, Vietnam, anything that interests you 3V2" disc in ASSCII format (plain text), or and can be printed. How about the history of Airbus in WIN 6, would be just great! (Include hard Australia? copy also). Cover; Disclaimer; 1. Whilst every effort is made to What a beaut shot the R.M.S. Aquitania being escorted up check the authenticity of the material and the N.S.W. coast by a Beaufort A9-238 of No. 32 Squadron advertising printed, the Publishers, Editors, in 1943. and the Aviation Historical Society of Australia and its Office Bearers cannot Next Issue; Volume 31 Number 1 will be in your letter-box in accept responsibility for any non­ the first week of March 2000. performance. 2. The views expressed in ’Aviation Contents; Heritage’ are not necessarily those of the 163 The D.A.P. Beaufort Frank Smith AHSA or its Editors. 172 KT N0.7 Beaufort Squadron RAAF Historical 175 Prospectus Brian Rawsont 177 The Sikorsky S-38 and S-39 David Eyre AVIATION HERITAGE 182 From Rabaul to Merauke Greg Banfield ISSN 0815-4392 202 Fred Fox, The Woomera etc. Keith Meggs Print Post Approved PP 320418/00017 Meetings of the AHSA; © 1999 by the Publishers; Melbourne Chapter: The fourth Wednesday in every THE AVIATION HISTORICAL month, 7:30 at the Airforce Association, 4 Cromwell Street, SOCIETY OF South Yarra. Further information - Keith Meggs 9580 0140. AUSTRALIA INC., aoo33653p NSW Chapter: The first Wednesday in every month 7:45 P.O. BOX 2007, Studio lat the Powerhouse Museum, enter from the SOUTH MELBOURNE, Macarthur Street end. Further information - Gordon Lasslett VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA 9416 7603 AHSA Aviation Heritage D.A.P. BEAUFORT IN RAAF SERVICE - 1 942-45. by FRANK SMITH The story of the Australian~bui!t Beaufort bomber could almost be sub-titled The Birth of an Industry’, for it signalled the move of construction from single-engined to multi-engined aircraft on a large scale. The development of the Aircraft Construction Branch of the Commonwealth Department of Supply and Development through the Aircraft Production Commission, Department of Aircraft Production (Beaufort Division) to the Government Aircraft Factory is a saga in its own right, and should be dealt with as a separate story, as is CAC’s building of the Pratt 8c Whitney R-1830 engines which powered a large proportion of Australian-built fighters and bombers. -Ed. First Australian built Beaufort Mk, V, T9540 later A9-1, seen flying over Melbourne. After a visit to Australia in January 1939, by a British T9639) from the British Air Ministry, as they were destined Air Mission, which was sent to investigate the possibility of for the R.A.F. Far East squadrons. During December 1941 manufacturing aircraft for the rapidly expanding RAF and the Department of Aircraft Production was to deliver to the RAAF, a decision was quickly reached, and in March of RAF six Beaufort aircraft for use in Malaya, these being;- that year it was announced that the Bristol Beaufort would T9541, T9542, T9543, T9544, T9545 and T9547. Only five be manufactured by the Aircraft Production Branch of the of the aircraft reached No. 100 Sqn RAF at Singapore as Commonwealth Department of Supply and Development in Melbourne and Mascot, for both Air Forces. Meanwhile, to assist production, the eighth Bristol built Beaufort Mk.1 (L4448, which later became A9-1001) was imported in ‘Knock-Down-Kit’ form for a series of trials. As difficulty was to be expected in the supply of Taurus VI - 1,130 hp engines which powered the British-built version, this aircraft was eventually fitted with American Pratt & Whitney 1,200 hp Twin Wasps. After further trials it was found that the aircraft had to have its fin area increased by I5V2 per cent to improve stability while in flight. The first Australian built Beaufort flew in August 1941 and being destined for the RAF bore the serial number T9540. It was the intention that half of the first contract were to have been built for the RAF, and the first 90 The 'Pattern' Beaufort L4448. aircraft were allocated serials (T9540 - 163 AHSA Aviation Heritage wmm '^r mm.....^^ Beaufort front fuselages under construction at the Railway Workshops, Chullora, N.S. W T9543 crashed and was destroyed at Batchelor, Northern The Mk.1E Turrets were manufactured by the Gun Australia, on the delivery flight; the others were Turret Factory Annexe at Fairfield, Victoria, and altogether, subsequently returned to Australia as they were unarmed, aircraft manufacture was sub-contracted to some 600 and were taken over by the RAAF and re-serialed A9-2, companies throughout Australia, the end products being -3, -5, -6, and -8. The remainder of the British contract completed as major assemblies in the railway workshops reverted to the RAAF, and with the other 90 examples of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. The originally intended for the RAAF, formed the first Beaufort authority for the entire project was in the hands of the squadrons in Australia. Department of Aircraft Production (post-war, eventually, With the various difficulties encountered in the early the Government Aircraft Factories) controlling the Beaufort production of the P&W "Twin Wasp" engines in Australia, Division, for which main assembly workshops were built at and the supply of propellers from the USA, these first 180 Fishermens Bend, Victoria, and Mascot, New South aircraft were broken up into four Marks, as noted below. Wales. The major assemblies were delivered to these two Aircraft from serial number A9-91 onwards were fitted with points, the aircraft finally assembled and test flown, and the 15V2% larger fin, and this modification was later made then delivered to the RAAF. retrospective on all earlier aircraft. At the termination of the first contract, in November 1942, production continued with the Mk.VIII version, of which a total of 520 examples were finally completed in August 1944, at the rate of 30 aircraft per month. This model of the Beaufort was fitted with Loran, radar, additional fuel tankage and modified windows on the starboard side of the fuselage nose. It appeared also that a great number of the earlier Beauforts were modified to Mk.VIII standard, although exact numbers are unknown. In 1943, a Mk.VIII machine (A9- 201) was modified by the D.A.P. Servicing Department to become a communications aircraft. The gun turret and all other armament and bombing equipment were removed: a fuselage fairing was then fitted to provide accommodation for five passengers. One of the last Beaufreighter conversions A9-743 exA9-20l delivered August 1944. The bomb bay was reworked as the 164 AHSA Aviation Heritage equipment was removed to provide a cargo hold. The did not embody the deepened lower fuselage, the radio and instrument installations were re-designed, and instrument or auto-pilot modifications made to the an automatic pilot was installed. prototype-A9-201. Cargo panniers were fitted into the The RAAF was interested in this version of the cargo hold attached to the bomb rack pick-up points.