Dragon For A Heron

Roger – I was thinking along the lines of ‘Mosquito Aircraft Museum’ but I am being terribly old school ! I should have said ‘de Havilland Aircraft Museum Trust’ !

….. Similarily the MAM already have a Heron……

NAM 🙂

Roger Smith

Doughnut – The reason of thought of the Dragon specifically is that it’s a former RAAF aircraft – only came to the U.K in the 1970’s and has never done any flying here at all. So apart from being a British design she has little relevance to the U.K in terms of her direct history.
The Science Museum is just that – the Heron doesn’t represent a massive design step forward from what they already have. Similarily the MAM already have a Heron. The Dover certainly would be interesting back in Australia – however it would be ‘coals to Newcastle’ and possibly more interesting in the U.K as an example of the far flung D.H empire as was.

Whilst in favour of this kind of ‘Swap Shop’ approach it should be a win-win deal. Not sure I like this one though. Totally agree that the Heron prototype would be great back in the UK, two locations spring to mind. The Science Museum collection at Wroughton, although nobody would ever see it as it would most likely be stored in bits, and the Mosquito Museum, home of all things De Haviland. As for exchanging the Dragon I would say no. I can only think of four Dragon’s which can be seen in UK EI-ABI, G-ECAN and G-ACIT at the Science Museum and the afore mentioned VH-SNB. Although rarer (in the UK) the DH Drover at Lasham would seem a better swap, it has little significance to the UK and, although there are several in Oz I am sure many more people will appreicate it there.

DOUGHNUT
p.s. I dont not mean to upset anybody by playing ‘swap shop’ with other people’s toys, but with a litle sideways thinking a deal might be struck to everybodys satification.

Looking at this from the Scottish end, both types had long and interesting service to the highland and islands.

I have always felt that a Heron would be appropriate for display at East Fortune, but as a type, it was the Dragon, and later Rapide, that established the services to the islands. So an example of each is needed to help tell the story of flight in Scotland.

Now, if Newark could be persuaded to lend G-ANXB, one of the 2 Herons that worked the islands routes …

sounds like a good (expensive) swap in theory. What is the Australian connection with the Heron prototype (otherthan the fact that its there) ?

Are the Conditions of both airframes equivalent?

How many Aussie Dragons are in oz?…. I think the question is : would it be in the Australian’s interest to swap?….

We have one Dragon (owned by Des Porter and there is a photo of it flying at Watts Bridge on this forum) that is very familar to people attending airshows and vintage aeroplane fly-ins in S.E Queensland, Australia.

One of my mates – John Sinclair has a Dragon Project that is well advanced and progressing well. I think there may be others flying as well. Hopefully within a few years will have 2 in the area.

Australia built quite a number of DH84 Dragons during WW2 and they were used by the RAAF. Most of the restored examples here are English examples that had significient Australian civil aviation history.

I can’t think of any others flying at the moment (there are three on the CASA database; the RAAF Museum machine, VH-AML, as well as -AON and -UXG) but in addition to those listed above, by Ross, the RAAF Museum also has an Australian built and operated DH Dragon, A34-92, which was airworthy on delivery, but not flown as per museum policy with single types in the museum collection. Therefore there is a Dragon in national ownership.

Of course Perth is a long way from the rest of Australia (as they keep telling us 😀 ) so a Dragon over there may be preferable to them to a Heron. It sounds an attractive idea, if both museums liked it!

Regards,

From what I have read, the Aviation Heritage Museum at Bull Creek (a suburb of Perth, Western Australia) has a policy of preserving aircraft with a Western Australian connection, as well as ex-RAAF or historically significant types.

The prototype Heron arrived in Australia in July 1973, was registered VH-CJS, and operated in WA for the next three years, until being withdrawn from use in 1976 at Jandakot. It stayed there exposed to the weather for another 31 years, until moved to the Aviation Heritage Museum at Bull Creek.

The aircraft does have a WA connection and it is historically significant, (being the prototype Heron), so it does fit with the museum’s preservation policy.

When I last saw VH-CJS (2005), it was still sitting outside the museum’s display buildings exposed to the weather, awaiting restoration. I am going to visit the museum again soon, so will advise whether any progress has been made.

Here’s a link to the museum’s website (which needs updating) with details of VH-CJS:
http://www.raafawa.org.au/wa/museum/heron/default.htm

The museum has a severe shortage of space as they have so many aircraft. They have recently taken delivery of a Catalina, which has taken a large amount of space in one of their two buildings. There was talk of relocating the museum to bigger premises, but nothing has happened so far.

I almost said A34-13 was written off at my home airfield of Watts Bridge, but it was A34-19 that crashed there.

regards
Ross

She was A34-13 with the RAAF.

sounds like a good (expensive) swap in theory. What is the Australian connection with the Heron prototype (otherthan the fact that its there) ?

Are the Conditions of both airframes equivalent?

How many Aussie Dragons are in oz?…. I think the question is : would it be in the Australian’s interest to swap?….

We have one Dragon (owned by Des Porter and there is a photo of it flying at Watts Bridge on this forum) that is very familar to people attending airshows and vintage aeroplane fly-ins in S.E Queensland, Australia.

One of my mates – John Sinclair has a Dragon Project that is well advanced and progressing well. I think there may be others flying as well. Hopefully within a few years will have 2 in the area.

Australia built quite a number of DH84 Dragons during WW2 and they were used by the RAAF. Most of the restored examples here are English examples that had significient Australian civil aviation history.

regards
Ross

The Heron prototype arrved in Australia in the early 1970’s and did hardly any flying (mainly due to unserviceablilities) . She languished for a long time unloved before being moved to Bull Creek and the start of her restoration.
She needs a fair amount of work to make her displayable.

The Dragon is complete and on display . The type was operated in Scotland
– this particular machine was built in Australia and used by the RAAF and civil
operators before being bought by Strathallan.

The real cost would be a container to go out with the Dragon and return with the Heron.
The Heron doesn’t appear to be directly relevant to the collecting policy at Bull Creek – there are other Herons on display in Australia which feature various Australian modifications in terms of engines. I think these are more representative of the type’s use out there. The Dragon as a type is around in Australia but not in large numbers.
.

sounds like a good (expensive) swap in theory. What is the Australian connection with the Heron prototype (otherthan the fact that its there) ?

Are the Conditions of both airframes equivalent?

How many Aussie Dragons are in oz?…. I think the question is : would it be in the Australian’s interest to swap?….