G’Day All,
Last week I received a package of Avro Turnbuckle parts from Air Ministry…
There are enough bits to produce 51 turnbuckles that should look like this (though not as rusty! :)).
Around 34 of these are required to brace the rear fuselage structure on the steel framed Avian alone.
Thanks for your help Air Ministry! 🙂
Best regards,
Paul
Hi All,
Having a quiet night at work, so here are a couple of replies….:)
Avion Ancien – love the photo of your “light switch”! Very cool…
Yes, I have quite a shopping list, but it looks like it may be getting a little shorter already….;)
Proctor VH-AHY – I found UVR off the end of Runway 06, a stone’s throw over the boundary fence.
And now there are two…
G’Day Boys and Girls,
A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to recover the remains of Avro 616 Genet Avian Mk IV M Sports, C/N 529, registered intially as G-ABME and after importation to Oz, VH-UVR. I had received a phone call from a fellow in Bundaberg, responding to an ad I had place looking for parts, etc for my Avian Mk III. He said “I used to have an Avian and pranged it in Cloncurry in 1959. I believe it’s still there.” After a bit of research and a few phone calls, I was able to establish that it had been sighted three years previously. I had a few days off coming up and after confirming with the locals that the area was still dry and accessible, I jumped into my car, with trailer in tow and drove 1700 Km from Brisbane to Cloncurry, dodging dead ‘roos and road trains. First thing in the morning, after an overnight rest and with the help of a local garage owner, I soon located the steel tube remains in the long grass, just off the Airport boundary.
It took about three and half hours to dig it out in the soon scorching sun.
Onto the trailer. Stopped near the original QANTAS hangar at Cloncurry for a photo…
Then drove 1500 km to Bundaberg to catch with the original owner, Ron Rooke. He nearly cried when he saw it…
He had left it in Cloncurry after this…
Ron Rooke photos.
He had pranged it at the Cloncurry Air Pageant in December 1959, after a “drunken flying” act had gone wrong. Ron was a Policeman based in Camooweal at the time and simply didn’t have the money to recover/repair the poor Avian. Consequently, it was abandoned there, eventually being shoved off the airport, where it lay for the next 51 years.
Ron has told some highly amusing stories of his adventures in the Avian, which he owned from 1954 to 1959, chasing cattle duffers and other crooks and searching for missing people.
So, I have a list of items I will be looking for to rebuild ‘UVR:
Husun Mk III Compass
Reid & Sigrist Inclinometer 6A/380
Devonport Cross Level
Smiths Mk IVA Airspeed Indicator
Smiths Mk VA Altimeter
Mk V Tachometer
Period Oil Pressure & Temp Gauges
Twinob Magneto Switches
Hand Crank Starting Magneto
Armstrong Siddeley Genet Major Mk 1A Engine and/or parts thereof.
Avro type Turnbuckles – 4 and 5mm
Tiger Moth Main Wheels and Shock Absorbers
Can anyone help?
I also believe that this aeroplane was used for air racing in the UK (the Kings Cup in 1932), when it was G-ABME. Are there any photos of this aeroplane in the UK?
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