Hi Danny
Let's have your story ASAP, please
I have been involved in military aviation maintenance & management for 36 years. Mainly Caribou and assorted Fast-Jets. My experience on big radials led to the request from Harold Thomas to see if I get the VV up and running again. I also co-own and fly a 75yr old former RAAF DH82A for stress relief.
As it escaped scrapping, it would seem that you Australians took a more cavalier view of your contractual obligations under Lend Lease
I believe that the attitude in Australia was much the same as the UK and the goverment was quite fastidious when it came to meeting their Lend-lease obligations. Remember that the actual nominated fate of EZ999 was as a fire fighting training aid for the RAN FAA at Nowra. All the VV that went to Nowra were destroyed on-site reletively quickly (all gone by 1951). I'm unsure what led to the decision of it being gifted to the Tech College, but I'm glad it was and that Harold had the vision to rescue it when the college had finished with it.
There is an interesting old thread over at adf.serials regarding RAAF Lend-Lease aircraft which is worth a read:
ADF Serials Message Board -> Lend Lease aircraft
And yes Danny, those electric fuel pumps were hopeless. It was the only item which wouldnt work correctly during the ground runs we performed in the mid-80's on the aircraft.
Cheers SF