DH.50 – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB30/12/202431/12/2024

Outlook AHSA Newsletter December 2024

The December 2024 edition of Outlook / AHSA News was distributed to members recently. This edition can be read online in the viewer below....

1934 Fifth place in the Speed category of the MacRobertson International Air Races from London to Melbourne was won by Squadron Leader J. D. Hewitt, Flying Officer C. E .Kay, and Mr. Frank Stewart, representing New Zealand, when their de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide ZK-ACO "Tainui", race number 60, crossed the finish line above Flemington Racecourse at 1:35am (Melbourne time) on 3 November 1934. The aircraft was also awarded sixth place in the Handicap category of the races. The aircraft performed perfectly and they made steady progress all along the route until they reached Cloncurry, Queensland. After refuelling they were taxying out to the runway after dark and the tail struck and became entangled in a post and wire fence running along the airfield. They had arrived in Darwin a day before Jimmy Melrose and two days ahead of Hansen and Jensen in the Desoutter II. The repairs took several days and instead of being the sixth aircraft to reach Melbourne they were the ninth. Source: Aviation Heritage Vol 24 Nos 1 & 2, 1984

1967 Having established their camp, and with a full complement which included Iriquois helicopters of the RAN, the 135th Assault Helicopter Company (AHC) become fully operational and flew its first mission in Vietnam on 3 November 1967. By the end of November the company had flown 3182 hours in support of the US Army 9th Infantry and the 1st Australian Task Force based at Nui Dat, Phuoc Tuy province. The usual daily commitment was one UH1H command and control helicopter, four UH1C gunships and ten slicks. The company's first major operation, Operation SANTA FE, was a lift of 9th Infantry Division troops into northeast Phuoc Tuy in early November 1967. This operation involved more than 80 helicopters from a number of helicopter companies flying in support of a combined allied sweep against the 5th Viet Cong Division. It was also one of the largest operations any RAN Helicopter Flight Vietnam (RANHFV) contingent participated in. Source: www.navy.gov.au/ran-helicopter-flight-vietnam-history website

2012 Kronk-Wolffe P-51 Mustang replica VH-FWZ crashed near the Emu Gully airstrip near Helidon, east of Toowoomba, Queensland on 3 November 2012. The pilot had just taken off from the Emu Gully airstrip when mechanical failure sent his plane back to the earth about 9.35am on Saturday 3 November 2012. He was on his way to the 100th birthday celebrations of the Toowoomba Aerodrome, where his well-known Mustang replica was to be on show. Sadly the pilot did not survive the accident. The ATSB have declined to investigate the accident, but have delegated the investigation into the death of the pilot to the local Coroner's Court in Toowoomba. The aircraft was an 80 percent scale custom-built replica of a North American P-51K Mustang and was designed and built by Mr Terrence Kronk in Queensland, although the wingspan was built to 72 per cent scale. It was described as a P-51 Scale Mustang and was registered to the builder on 1 December 2009 at Toowoomba, QLD becoming VH-FWZ (c/n P-51D-TTK). Of all metal construction, it was fitted with a General Motors eight-cylinder VEE liquid-cooled engine of alloy construction, fitted with a supercharger, and driving a four-blade propeller. Mr Kronk was well known for building one-off high performance aircraft. He was the first builder to fit a V-8 car engine in a Supermarine Aircraft Works Spitfire 26. He built a scratch-built Focke Wulf FW 190 (VH-FWB), the subject Mustang, and at the time of the fatal crash of his Mustang was working on a scale radial engined Grumman Bearcat and a scale de Havilland Mosquito replica, the latter to be powered by two Ranger V-12 engines. Sources: News reports via aviation-safety.net website; Aeropedia