Beaufighter – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB30/09/202319/11/2023

Aviation Heritage Vol. 54 No. 3 (September 2023) Contents Listing

The latest quarterly AHSA journal – Aviation Heritage – has recently been posted to members. The contents of all articles are listed below: Aviation...

1948 First flight of the de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover prototype VH-DHA at Bankstown, NSW, by Chief Test Pilot Brian "Black Jack" Walker. Design work on the DHA-3 began in 1946 after DHA identified a need to replace the de Havilland Dragon biplane then in widespread use in Australia. Using the de Havilland Dove as a starting point, DHA designed an aircraft with three four-cylinder Gipsy Major engines instead of the Dove's two Gipsy Queen six-cylinder engines and a fixed tailwheel undercarriage instead of the Dove's retractable tricycle undercarriage. Like the Dove the DHA-3 was sized to carry 8 to 9 passengers with a single pilot. The result was an aircraft with the same wingspan as the Dove and a slightly shorter fuselage. The name 'Drover' was selected by Sir Geoffrey de Havilland after suggestions for a name were invited from DHA employees. Source: Geoff Goodall, de Havilland Drover: Australia's Outback Workhorse, Air Britain, 2016

2008 The first Australian-modified Boeing E-7A Wedgetail (A30-003) made its first flight at Boeing Australia’s Amberley facility on 23 January 2008. Source: Aircraft of the RAAF.

2020 Lockheed EC130Q Hercules Large Air Tanker, registration N134CG, of Coulson Aviation collided with the ground near Peak View, New South Wales, on 23 January 2020. While conducting fire control operations, the aircraft collided with terrain after completing a fire retardant drop. The three flight crew on board were fatally injured, and the aircraft was destroyed. Souce: ATSB