Ok heres the list and a little background on them each
Peter Hookway bought 12 Canberras from the RAAF, most being struck off charge on the day of sale 12/04/1972, although some had been in storage for up to 4 years prior to the sale, he returned 5 aircraft to flight status at Amberley and had them flown down to Essendon by former ARDU test pilot and Canberra veteran Barry Wilson, two examples were donated to Amberley for display and the remaining 5 non-flyers broken down for road transport to Essendon, where at least two were re-assembled, the rest being cannibalised for spares.
Peter Hookway apparently intended originally to onsell the flyable aurcraft and spares to the Bolivian AF but for unknown reasons this never came to fruition and the aircraft languished at Essendon with the first being scrapped in the early 1980’s and the last gone by 1989.
Flying examples were all B.Mk20’s:
A84-209, First Flight 21/09/54, Delivered 11/54, Storage from 12/68, Struck Off Charge 12/04/1972,
This was apparently the 1st to fly to Essendon sometime between 1972 and 1975, all Canberras that flew to Essendon used call sign VH-PTQ, Scrapped but cockpit still extant at Camden Aviation Museum.
A84-212, FF 22/11/54, Delivered 08/12/54, SOC 19/11/71, Sold 12/04/72,
Flew in sometime between 1972 an 1975, this was the one that had the Hookway Aviation logo on the tail and “Hookway Aviation” on the nose in blue, Scrapped but components reported to have ended up in the UK.
A84-217, FF 04/04/55, Delivered 27/04/55, SOC 19/11/71, Sold 12/04/72, Flew in sometime between 1972 and 1975, Scrapped 11/1981.
A84-218, FF 25/05/55, Delivered 21/06/55, SOC 19/11/71. Sold 12/04/72, Scrapped.
A84-227, FF 23/03/56 after extensive rework to repair faulty mainplane, Delivered 27/04/56, Storage 18/12/68, SOC 19/11/71, This was the last Canberra to be built with Avon Mk.1’s prior to the upgrade to RA.7/Mk.109’s, it was part of the 5 Canberra goodwill trip to the USA in May/June 1956, where it suffered an engine failure on takeoff from Hickman AFB resulting in a wheels-up landing shortly afterward, was dismantled in situ and shipped back to Australia for major repairs and did not flay again until 1959, it had corrosion work in late 1965 before going into storage, flew into Essendon between 1972 and 1975, Scrapped.
Others known to have been bought by Hookway and trucked to Essendon were:
A84-216, FF 15/03/55, Delivered 04/04/55, SOC 19/11/71, Sold 12/04/72,
trucked to Morwell and scrapped in 1989.
A84-221, FF 12/08/55, Delivered 30/08/55, SOC 19/11/71, Sold 12/04/72, another of the “Goodwill 5”, trucked to Morwell and scrapped in 1989.
A84-222, FF 16/08/55, Delivered 01/09/55, SOC 19/11/71, Sold 12/04/72,
trucked to Morwell and scrapped in 1989, Cockpit section bought by Moorabbin Air Museum.
A84-224, FF 19/10/55, Delivered 24/04/56, SOC 19/11/71, Sold 12/04/72,
Another of the “Goodwill 5”, this one had an orange band painted around the rear fuselage and a placard next to the crew door to signify a +2G limitation during its final months of service due to fatigue, trucked to Morwell and scrapped in 1989, cockpit still extant in Dennison.
Enjoy!
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