Australian War Memorial

Thought it was hanging from the rafters like the Spit?

Crikey , it really should be back in view to the public by now.

Thanks for the interesting read Mark.

http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ManifestJlAUCS/2001/33.pdf

Well that’s even better !!!!!
Original is better than authentic in this instance !!

🙂

TNZ

Hah – I’d heard someone had tried to sneak it out of Oz. Didn’t know about the customs warbird fan – that’s a trap for young players.
As a related aside, re the paint finish on this, the 262 and maybe the 163? While all the redevelopment was going on 2 or 3 years back, those aircraft were at the Mitchell annex and it was possible to get up close. Which I did. They looked great … as ‘aj’ notes, not authentic, authentic!

In a nutshell, an naughty character tried to smuggle the Bf 109 (after buying it from the RAAF) out of Australia in the late 60’s early 70’s by painting it silver and putting RAAF roundels on it. To hide its worthy significance he put on the manifest 1x P-51 Mustang (which where in ready supply at this time).

A customs dude who was into aircraft thought “I like Mustangs I might have a look…..what a minute that’s not a Mustang…..It’s a Bf 109!” He did some checking and the BF 109 was sold on the proviso that as a article of some importance historically it was not allowed to be exported under the terms of the sale by the RAAF. The aircraft was then seized and then donated to the AWM who had to strip all the silver paint off.

That’s my understanding of basically what happened. Can anyone expand or correct?

Any trace of the original Halifax instrument panel that should be present there (somewhere)?

Cheers

Cees

Nice close-up pics.
I like the fact that the Me-109 and 262 are not pristine. Looks very authentic.

Cheers
Chris

TNZ 🙂

Hi Spiteful21

Greatphotos as you say a great place.

I have taliked on this before but I don’t necessarily agree about the light levels being in keeping with the memorial setting as most of the rest of the memorial has full lighting eg where the Spitfire is strung up or the Bell helo etc – I think it is just a trend in Memorials/Museums (All museums are memorials in my book and vica versa) like this and Hendon and one day they will turn up the lights and discover all of these aircraft !!!. You can’t even see the Oscar parts or the Wirraway let alone photograph them.

Another bone of contention is why can people touch something as fragile as the Mossie which regularly has to have dirty finger marks cleaned off it- I am all for close access but this is a little too close. Touching is not alright.

And while I am having a whinge why are the aircraft stored in the Mitchell annex no longer on display – this used to be a real highlight of a trip to Canberra and they currently have most of their WW1 aircraft stored there plus the Beaufort and a few other treasures.

This is not meant to be a bash the AWM – I think they are excellent in most aspects and have certainly come on considerably over the years.

Regards
John P

The new display building is amazing with the use of light.

On the hour they have a bombing the Ruhr show on which they have to sound of a starting Lanc with a spinning prop projected onto the G-George’s Porps. You then go through the whole mission AA Flashes, Radio chatter bomb run etc until landing back at base. Really hard to describe but it gave me goose bumps I’ll tell you.

Great photos – and a great museum/memorial.
I went to the AWM a few years ago, prior to the redevelopment and new layout that features in these photos. Am I right in remembering there was much controversy over the new display? All set in semi-darkness like a night raid (there’s a Lanc in there) but with the 109, 262 and 163 all present in the same setting! Incongruous but apparently makes for good viewing. I’m looking forward to another visit.

Australian War Memorial

Here are some more

Wirraway (with 1 Zero victory marking)
Bf 109G-6(late)
Se 5a (original)
Bell 47G
Spitfire MK IIa P7973