Central Australia and Northern Territory trip

Taking a scenic flight over Uluru/Ayers Rock might interest you?

Well that has given me something to go on with.

There is a replica Qantas Avro 504 with an original engine on display at Sydney airport.

I'm told that there is a Corsair restoration underway at Darwin that is said to have a NZ providence. Does anyone know what/where/who?

The Fenton museum at Katherine gets more and more fascinating. The Moth in residence is VH-UNI but he did operate others.
Fenton was apparently quite a character, will a low threshold for officialdom as per this snippet from the pprune forum:

"Katherine was home base for Dr Clyde Fenton, ca 1934-1939. He was a one man band medico/pilot in his succession of DH Moths, for Clyde had a great propensity for walking away from crashes, immediately resuming the fund raising for his next one. Clyde's "Flying Doctor" is one of the funniest books of it's kind ever published. One time on a stinking hot day he took off from DN for KT. In the front was the KT hospital matron. After an hour or so bouncing around Clyde was concerned to see her head and shoulders moving round vigorously. No voice tube and no radio needless to say.

Clyde hands her a note "You alright?"

Back comes matron's note. "Yes. I am now thank you. Now that I've got my blessed corsets off."

Hard book to come by. The Central Australian Air Museum in ASP had a few copies recently. Contact Perry Morey. (He, incidentally, is an authority on the life of the late Clyde. Has an unpublished bio.)

Clyde waged a ceaseless war of telegrams and cables to and from the Civil Aviation Branch in Melbourne. When they sent him one saying that his aeroplane was grounded forthwith and his licence suspended, he replied

THEY ARE ROUND AND THEY BOUNCE.

FENTON."

As is usually the case, the Museum and associated literature assumes that VH-UNI was his one-and-only aircraft. I have tracked down some photographs on the net:

VH-UOI:


VH-UJN:


VH-UQV:


VH-UNI:


He must have patched up his disputes with the authorities as the Fox Moth VH-UZS was apparently supplied for his use by the State Government. That's him standing beside it.



We shall see what we find.

Don't you hate it when you get back home and someone says "You went all the way there and you missed seeing ..... !"

No leads on the location of that Corsair. Maybe the guys at the Darwin museum will know.
Is this the ex-Disney one?
Dave, any ideas where it is now as your museum site just lists the fact that it was there with no further information.

Just out of Darwin on the way to the Jumping Croc cruises you pass some of the old wartime airstrips, they have display boards and you can clearly see they were once airstrips.

Forgot to mention the Kata Tjuta (ROCKS) in the background of your great rock photo - if you did not go there on the ground, then seeing them from the air is a great substitute. Thanks for the photos flyernzl.

Yes we visited Kata Tjuta (aka The Olgas) and actually trekked into some of the valleys there. In my view photographically more impressive than Uluru itself.


Moving on to Alice Springs, the old town airfield hangars are now the site of the Central Australia Aviation Museum. (The sealed runway is now a road, Memorial Avenue).
As you enter the museum site, a small building on the right is the Kookaburra Memorial.



Nothing to do with the feathered variety, the Kookaburra was a 1927 Westland Widgeon III c/n WA.1775 which was sold new into Australia and allotted the registration G-AUKA for owner Keth Anderson.
Anderson was a friend of Charles Kingsford-Smith, and when Smithy failed to arrive at Derby on a flight from Sydney on the 30th March 1929, Anderson and co-pilot Hitchcock went looking for the lost aircraft in the Widgeon which, at that time, had not been issued with a CofA.
Engine trouble forced the Widgeon to land undamaged in the desert 128km SE of Wave Hill Station about 18S 132E on 10 April 1929. The crew were able to repair the engine fault, but scrub and soft sand defeated their efforts to take off again.
Search efforts found Smithy on the 12th April (the Southern Cross was able to take off again once the landing area dried out) and the Kookaburra on the 21st April, but by then both Anderson and Hitchcock had died at the site.
Later ground parties removed the bodies but the Widgeon remained in the desert. Scrub fires destroyed the wood and fabric from the airframe, and after considerable effort the wreck was rediscovered by John Haslett and Dick Smith who arranged for the retrieval of the wreckage to be displayed 'as found' in this small and poignant display.





As found in the desert 1929:


Northern Territory Library.

Model of the Kookaburra on display at the museum:



More to come.

Alongside the Kookaburra Memorial, at what was the Alice Springs town aerodrome, is the Central Australian Aviation Museum. This is housed in two hangars, the original Connellan Airways structure and a newer one.



Inside the Connellan hangar are two aircraft, Beech D.18S VH-CLI and CAC Wackett Trainer VH-BEC:





The Beech actually has a NZ history, arriving in New Zealand in 1957 to serve with the short-lived Trans-Island Airways Ltd., Oamaru as ZK-BQE 'Spirit of North Otago'. It left the USA as N3010V to fly to NZ via Europe, Asia and Australia. A take-off accident at Brisbane on 9Nov56 during delivery flight damaged the undercarriage. This was repaired, and the Beech arrived in April 1957. However, later that same year spar damage from that incident grounded the aircraft for some time, and after repairs were completed it went to Australia in January 1960.



The Wackett was lost after a compass error during a cross-country flight in 1962. The aircraft was recovered in 1977 and restored for museum display.
This hangar also contains a number of engines and other aviation memorabilia.

The second hangar is dominated by a DC-3 painted up in Connair colours as VH-EWE. The original EWE served with Connellan from 1973 to 1977 and after a period with a McDonald's Restaurant is still extant in South Australia. The Douglas on display here is actually ex VH-EAL,VH-EBH,VH-EBW,VH-BAA and VH-BBA.



Alongside the Douglas sits DH Dove VH-DHH. This aircraft spent it's entire life with the Northern Territory Aero Medical Service.


Connellan started his airline with a fleet of two Percival Gulls, VH-ACM and VH-UVA. UVA was lost in a crash and ACM is still active elsewhere in Australia. Proctor IIA G-AHAZ / VH-AVG has been repainted as VH-ACM to represent this period of local history:



Up and behind the Dakota, hanging from the rafters are to smaller aircraft - a SchneiderES-52 Kookaburra glider VH-ANM and a Kelly Sport microlight:





To one side of the hangar, Auster J-1/B Aiglet VH-ASQ sits on some high beams. This was last airworthy in the early 1980s, and was flown locally at around that time.



Outside the complex, on a post, is DHA3 Drover VH-FDC, looking a little weatherworn:



Strangely, throughout the whole visit, there was absolutely no mention of the 1977 incident where a disgruntled ex-employee of Connair flew a Beech Baron into the buildings and killed or seriously injured a number of people. See:
www.bushmag.com.au/History/The%20Silent%20Grief%20of%20Alice%20Springs.htm

more to come

flyernzl, Peter, your link take us to the story and why it is not 'public' knowledge: "He said the families of the dead hadn’t given permission for this chapter of aviation history to be included in the exhibits or for any commemoration ceremonies; they felt it was too soon. Mr. Morey had proposed a short summary of the incident for the museum but until family members gave permission, it remained classified information."

You may not be aware that Aboriginal cultural sensitivities exist about naming and seeing images of dead people. Not knowing more than is in the story at the URL I would imagine that this is another reason why the story is not told in the museum. Most programs that have aboriginal content in Australia carry a warning for aboriginal viewers about possibility of seeing dead people on screen or them being named. I would guess that the affected people, although not aboriginal probably, have taken up some of that sensitivity; or they are just sensitive to it today as explained in the story.