Boomerangs

Boomerangs and Beaufighters

Hi all

1) Boomerangs
Numbers – There are at least 3-4 advanced airworthy restorations – all of which bar one have recently changed hands so that is why some are taking time to get flying.

Despite appearances there is not all that much potential to get a lot more flying due to the excellent job that was done scrapping them after the War. A lot of fuselage frames survived but very few wing centre sections either Boomerang or Wirraway survive and most of these are now incorporated into rebuilds. There are virtually no outer wings left so new build ones have been used.

Everbody says you can use Harvard parts but this is not the case as they are not the same – just similar – and even the original modified T6 wings on Guido ‘s machine were replaced with new build items when these became available from Mathew Dennings fantastic rebuild process.

From my limited knowledge there is no recorded instance of a Boomerang engaging Japanese aircraft but I could be wrong – you are correct in saying that the type was a highly regarded ground attack and FAC type. I suggest however that if Mathew (Mr Boomerang) Denning is lurking that he may have more to add on this.

2) Beaufighters
Yes I have other shots from the “shed” and I will post them but they are very poor owing to no flash and poor light.

I had thought that both UK built sections were roughly the same proportions and as such it will be hard to work out which was which. Be very careful here as at one stage up to six fuselages were floating around including some spare unused ones which may be very hard to identify.

Kindest regards
John Parker

Hi Dave,the Boomerang in the States was rebuilt by Sanders Aviation in parallel with the one for Guido Zuccoli,I believe its now owned by someone in Florida.Dennis Sanders owned it in conjunction with Dale Clarke,it was modified with a retractable tailwheel & modified T-6 wings but used the basics of a Boomerang frame to give it an identity.Credit where credit is due,Classic Wings is a great mag,every type gets its fair share of coverage.
cheers,Pete

I am surprised that there are only two flying. Classic Wings magazine seems to feature the type so often (rebuilds, first flights, blah blah) I had assumed there must be at least 6 around flying now. I guess their Aussie correspondent Mr Justo must just like the Boomerang.

Isn’t there a flyable Boomerang replica in the USA? Or is that a Wirraway replica?

Did the Boomerang actually fly in combat as a fighter? Was it successful? The little I have read about the Boomerang is that it was employed largely with the RNZAF Corsairs, and the Aussies acted as Forward Air Controllers, marking the jungle targets for the Corsairs to divebomb. I’ve never read of Boomerangs in air-to-air combat against the Japanese fighters, did this occur?

An interesting little plane. Thanks for the photos.

Hi Steve

Yes it is a Beaufighter fuselage in the background and if you want to see it today you are probably a lot closer to it than I am. I took this photo some time in the 1980s at Schyville in NSW near Sydney and it was at that time the storage facility for a lot of the people associated with HARS – They recovered quite a lot of Beau material and at that time there were 4 Beau fuselages in this Hanger/Shed, two of which were the UK built machines recovered from North West Australia and the others were Mk21 Australian fuselages – I believe that both the UK fuselages are now in the UK – one being the Duxford example and some magazine reports sugest that the other is now part of the Skysport “package” although I don’t have any first hand knowledge.

Over the years various large sections including fuselages and centre sections have appeared on farms etc – some unused spares and these have added to the mix.

Other reports put some Beaufighter material with the Australian War Memorial and another with the RAAF museum Point Cook for restorations.

I also Believe HARS is still intending to get one flying and they probably have enough remaining material to do this.

A Beaufighter is largely restored at Moorabin Air Museum and another at Harold Thomas Museum at Narrellan near Sydney – these are both Mk21s Harold also has a restored nose/cockpit section.

Dating those pictures back to the 80’s makes a lot of sense, in which case I would suggest that particular fuselage is indeed now here in the UK. The fuselages of both A19-144 and A19-148 (the two ex-UK built examples recovered from Drysdale) have eventually ended up at The Fighter Collection and Skysport.

Despite having crawled in, under, over and around the Skysport one numerous times, I’m still not entirely sure which one is shown in the photo. The Skysport fuselage shows no evidence of the black marks running vertically over the forward part, and the roundel shown in the photo is more visible than the one on Skysport’s fuselage, but the proportions of the section shown are right for the Skysport section, as is the missing navigator’s hatch.

Nice shots though John, got any more?

Re Beaufighter fuselage in background

Hi Steve

Yes it is a Beaufighter fuselage in the background and if you want to see it today you are probably a lot closer to it than I am. I took this photo some time in the 1980s at Schyville in NSW near Sydney and it was at that time the storage facility for a lot of the people associated with HARS – They recovered quite a lot of Beau material and at that time there were 4 Beau fuselages in this Hanger/Shed, two of which were the UK built machines recovered from North West Australia and the others were Mk21 Australian fuselages – I believe that both the UK fuselages are now in the UK – one being the Duxford example and some magazine reports sugest that the other is now part of the Skysport “package” although I don’t have any first hand knowledge.

Over the years various large sections including fuselages and centre sections have appeared on farms etc – some unused spares and these have added to the mix.

Other reports put some Beaufighter material with the Australian War Memorial and another with the RAAF museum Point Cook for restorations.

I also Believe HARS is still intending to get one flying and they probably have enough remaining material to do this.

A Beaufighter is largely restored at Moorabin Air Museum and another at Harold Thomas Museum at Narrellan near Sydney – these are both Mk21s Harold also has a restored nose/cockpit section.

** Stupid joke warning **

What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?

A stick.

I’ll get me coat…

I’ve always liked the Boomerang, as I remember building a model of one when I was younger. More please! 🙂

Setter, would I be correct in identifying a large chunk of Beaufighter fuselage in the background of pictures 3 and 4 on your second posting? If so, which identity is that from?

Hi Growler

Thanks for your post.

There are more photos on my Webshots account at http://community.webshots.com/user/setter125 on the boomerang page

Yes I love the Boomerang and of course there are now 2 flying as well as the static original example at RAAF Museum Point Cook. If you search the web there are some extreamly good shots of both flying examples and I will be putting some of my own up soon to add to these although I must yeild to superior photographic ability of some of the pros around now.

I think that there is every chance of at least 3 more airworthy machines in the not to distant future in South Australia and Melbourne and perhaps one or two static machines but you never know the “doings’ for more exist and there is no reason more could not materialise soon.

Kindest Regards
John Parker

Beautiful Boomerangs

Fantastic, setter, keep ’em coming.

I do feel that the Boomerang, despite having a certain mystique in Oz, seems to be one of the forgotten fighters of the war. It was designed and produced in a short time scale, against the odds, and was bloodied in battle.

The Zuccoli machine really looked superb with the white tail (shame about the glossy paint!), and of course there are now two flying. The photos show some bits and pieces of wreckage, so how many Boomerangs, complete or largely so, survive. I don’t think there’s any here in West Australia, though there is a lovely Wirriway at Bull Creek.

and more still

And some more!!!