Here, Here Beermat…………… Wirraway with no wash-out is not a friendly aircraft. Totally different handling to the BC.2/ T.6/Later Harvards. Nasty stall characteristics that resulted in many accidents/losses when low and slow. My friend Ed Field, whose company rebuilt two Wirraways and a Mustang, said to me that the best way to learn to fly a Wirraway was to start on the Tiger Moth, graduate straight to the P.51 then go to the Wirraway………

Who was the commentator at Abingdon….did a great job.

Yes

Such a pity that Guido’s Fury did not stay in Oz………

When much younger and working as a volunteer at the Camden Museum of Aviation here in Oz, I learned about the production of Beauforts and Beaufighter’s at railway yards before the assembly of the final product. I also learned fom my mother that my uncle was a driver who transported these parts to the assembly facility. In my youthful enthusiasm I suggested then pushed the idea of going to the yards at Chullora in Sydney to see “what was there…”. Obviously this was met with a flurry of “Don’t be stupid” remarks but I persisted. Eventually Harold Thomas and my mum were granted permission to have a look and to my disgust I was not allowed to have the day off senior high school to see for myself. Wandering around they were shown a very large wooden crate – very large – that was reinforced with steel strapping and lifting lugs. It had DAP (Department of Aircraft Production) painted on the sides. On opening there was a brand spanking new DAP Beaufort cockpit with a data plate serial after the last Beaufort accepted by the RAAF together with a Beaufighter cockpit and a Beaufighter rear fuselage. All were subsequently donated to the Museum and the crate now acts as a storage shed on a property owned by the museum.

Lesson………… not all rumours are fanciful imaginings……..

Original wood…………………

How are you travelling in between. Thinking flying as most British visitors would be put off by the distances but if not……Australian War Memorial in Canberra and Temora Aviation Museum in Temora, rural NSW

Yes, my understanding they arrive about 14th. Possibly all the test flying hours after the initial flights by Kiwi pilot/s