Yes it is the same with us.Many of the parts have been through the smelter and the area is littered with such holes but tracking them all down is the trick today.A lot of area to go over.Most of the stuff found is Spit wing components,various Kittyhawk parts,mainly a few leg beam section,a few retract links,Allison valves,a few ammo feed trays,Boomerang tidbits and a few Mustang bits.Most of the stuff is well “stuffed” but about 20% of the stuff we have found could be reused as patterns or for static applications.

The metal parts, same for the mossie oil tanks was well stuffed, however the rubber seals and other similar parts were in 1st class condition. I forgot to mention, there were a few old cars and motor bikes, obviously stolen and dumped in the ‘hole’ in more recent years.

I was amazed at the mass of smaller items that were burried in the oily ooze and the good condition they were in. I think I spent about a day poking around the hole. The fellow who had paid for the big pumps to get rid of the water was doing his best to stop people from taking anything away. I think most of the ‘junk’ went back into the hole.

It did answer the old question ‘what was in the hole at Archerfield?’ but left a new one ‘what is in the ooze in the hole at Archerfield?’. By the way, did you people know that about 10,000 people worked at/around Archerfield on aircraft related matters during WW2.

As far as the Brisbane Line goes, Oakey is too far out, all the defence roads and the like are in the Great Dividing range a bit to the east. I think the nooks and crannies in that range would have held ammo, guns and the like.

I know from when I was a Kid in Townsville, Nth Queensland, during the 1960’s I found plenty of .303 ammo on the slopes of Mt Stuart, it was everywhere in the gullies. Obviously washed from higher up the slopes.

Here is a new question, ‘What is in the burried bunkers at Mt Tampa, Lowood?’ all sorts of questions are raised locally about that one. Lowood was an RAAF base (bigger than Amberley at the time). I have been in the ones that are exposed and they are empty, but as always there are surposed to be more.

Here is another one, where are the burried bunkers at the ‘back’ of Amberley. My father was a engineering officer in the RAAF during the early 1950’s and tells me that there were underground bunkers in existance then (there were 300 Liberators on the field as well, all on the way to the scrappers around the same time).

Another good speculation is what’s left of the aircraft burried at the back of Amberley, the radio active ones from the atomic tests?

cheers

The Archerfield hole is a good one and with our drought it caused the water to drop to show bits and pieces sticking out last year.But as always the elements will always beat you.

I stood in the archerfield hole when just after it had been pumped out, took plenty of photos. It was amazing what was in there. The bottom was covered with oily muddy oose and things buried in it were very well preserved. lots of tools. I picked up a spanner and it was in good condition, same for the mossie oil tanks, they were full of oil. There was a corroded tiger moth fuselage frame in there and the metal wing of a plane likely a wirriway. there were plenty of 30 and 50 CAL machine guns from aircraft all damaged. I picked up a rubber seal out of the mud, gave it a bit of a wash and you could read the stamped part number.

I took photos, have them somewhere.

cheers

Very interesting thread, and it prompts the question what is vintage, what is classic? any ideas? What are the “official” definitions?

Hmmmm, a lot of work there……

Am I wrong for thinking they should be preserved in situ as abandoned wrecks?

I know many of us don’t wander around those areas, but for those who do visit, I can think of no better war memorial.

As a person who grew up in North Queensland, Australia where a lot of the aeroplanes that flew in the battle for the Coral Sea and the americans who flew them were based/trained , I see very little value in having a memorial out in the remote place.

I prefer to see the wrecks recovered and restored where possible or used in the restoration of other aircraft. A memorial could be errected there in the form of a stone cairn with a information plate giving details of the aircraft that crashed there.

cheers

Mark

I stand corrected.

A group I belong to, the Queensland Vintage Aeroplane Group, has been very successful in helping to reverse the flow. Formed in 1975, its charter is to preserve Australia’s historic aircraft in airworthy condition. It believes that the best way to achieve that usually is via private ownership of the aircraft involved. I estimate that its members privately own over 100 historic aircraft most in flying condition and a few under rebuild.

We have managed to convert our geographic area of interest (New South Wales and Queensland) from a aeroplane black hole in the early 1970’s to the one of, if not the most active vintage aviation areas in Australia.

This model could be employed in other countries, however the basic underpinning is a committment to the private ownership of the aeroplanes. This committment seems to go against the thrust of arguement expressed earlier in this thread.

For us to gain aeroplanes to our area means that other areas are losing theirs. Thus I see a problem with laws that prevent the free flow of historic aircraft amongst owners and between countries.

To me its the aeroplane that is the important thing and having it restored and flying must be considered as paramount. I see an aeroplane as a living thing and feel so sad when I see aeroplanes hung from the roof in museums, forever never to fly again, never to have the engines run again, never to have the instruments operate.

Of course with some aircraft, that is the best fate that could befall them, however with a lot of others, with committment, they could be restored to fly.

cheers

I am in Brisbane, involved with the very active vintage aeroplane scene here (both rebuilding and flying)

It’s ‘worth’ what someone is prepared to pay.

What they’d get, in my (unqualified) opinion is an identity, metal parts and a very expensive and challenging new-woodworking project, which will cost more, excluding purchase price, than it would be ‘worth’ after rebuild.

So if there’s someone that passionate about Proctors out there…

You are right on most of what you said except for one thing, wood and ply is relatively cheap, its labour that’s expensive. If you do the rebuild yourself then the costs not too bad. The big money is alwaysin engines and overhauls. Maybe someone can give an informed guestimate of the costs of overhauling a gipsy queen 2