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I just returned from a 5 day holiday at Cairns in far north Queensland.
While most of my holiday was touring the tropical rainforest or snorkling on the Great Barrier Reef I managed to squeeze in one aviation related sight-see which was to Syd Beck’s War Museum at Mareeba, @ 60km inland from Cairns.
Syd’s collection covers both military vehicles and aircraft, and is located in a rare WW2 wooden igloo hangar he relocated from Townsville.
The aircraft collection is centred around his prize possession, a USAF P-39D 41-6951 which forced landed on Cape York during a ferry flight to PNG of 6 P-39’s in 1942, and is one of two that survived to be recovered in 1972 and be subsequently restored.
http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/1may42.htm
Both were found largely intact, with cannon amunition still in place in the nose, unfortunately resulting in the Australian Army detonating the shells in situ to make the aircraft safe, causing significant and serious damage to the airframes in that area.
Its twin is now with Murray Griffith at Wangaratta undergoing restoration to fly.
The aircraft collection also includes a Sea Venom, Canberra, RAN Bristol Sycamore, Neptune and C-47, along with V1 and Wildcat replicas, wreckage from a B-26, B-25 and damaged Wackett Trainer fuselage, along with an extensive engine collection.
The vehicle collection includes WW2 Blitz and dodge trucks, matilda, grant and centurian tanks.
I will post a few more photos in subequent posts – enjoy
regards
Mark Pilkington
By: slipperysam - 25th April 2009 at 10:44
I visited Syds collection in Mareeba back around 1998.
His “little” private collection is impressive.
While wandering around the hangar i came across a large wooden toolbox on wheels.
It was stencilled with RAAF (cant remember what SQN, but it was whoever had Canberras). It also had stenciled a particluar Flight Sergents names on it.
The name was very familier and later approached said person (who had long retired from the RAAF) and told him i saw an old tool box with his name on it!
He said that it was his from his glory days back in the early 1970s!
A friend of his has visited just weeks before i did and also spotted it.
He had told Rod about his old toolbox. Next weekend Rod drove up to Mareeba and was reunited!
Its hard to think that a wooden toolbox (built by the engineers themselves) wouldve lasted 35yrs still with the owners name on it.
The Wildcat Replicas were movie props…. made for the Thin Red Line? (that movie was also filmed in and around Mareeba)
Mareeba also used to hold a pretty good airshow every two yrs with lots of warbirds flying in. They did have one last year, but i dont know if they are having any more.
By: mark_pilkington - 25th April 2009 at 10:42
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Some further photos showing some of the aero engine and military vehicle collections.
Interesting and rare items include the Seagull V Pegasus engine and the Seagull III mainwheel, as well as some wartime wreckage from a B-26, B-25 and Zero.
Its an impressive effort just to have preserved one of these rare timber igloo Hangars from WW2 in the Pacific.
Regards
Mark Pilkington
By: mark_pilkington - 25th April 2009 at 10:33
wow, had no idea of that lovely little collection. Must be a little tempting to sell the P-39 to a rich American collector, it looks so original, more pics please
The P-39 is Syd’s pride and joy and I dont think he or the family would ever part with it, and beyond that as one of only two original Australian service USAF aircraft surviving from WW2 I suspect Australian heritage laws would not permit it to be exported in anycase (I would lodge an objection myself).
Its an impressive collection representing one man’s preservation efforts over a lifetime.
The following photos gives an overview of the rest of the collection, including the rest of the aircraft including two Sea Venoms, the Canberra, the Neptune, the Sycamore, the C47 and the burnt out Wackett Trainer fuselage.
Regards
Mark Pilkington
By: patb - 25th April 2009 at 09:37
wow, had no idea of that lovely little collection. Must be a little tempting to sell the P-39 to a rich American collector, it looks so original, more pics please
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April 25, 2009 at 4:58 am