Thanks Sharpie yes the Wirraway was in pretty good nick. I dont recall the P-47 but the warbird thing hadnt taken off them days and hey..there was heaps of stuff laying around.
Whenever there was a search for a missing plane you could be sure that a few missing warbirds would be turned over.
My favourites were the planes "The Momet" Roy Worcester ,had dragged out of the bush near Wewak.
I wonder where they went to?
http://www.fototime.com/%7B0EE31028-...7D/picture.JPG

Engine V12 Daimler copy from Jap Kawasaki Tony ran out of gas near Wewak.
Note the machine guns being used to hold down the tin cover over the engine!

I think you're remembering the Winjeel we used to run up and taxi around Sharpie....only ever after suitable libation though:E:

From memory AC from DCA put a stop to it because we weren't endorsed..."But Al I have tailwheel, CSU etc?" ...Well you haven't got a fire exstinguisher handy...ah ok....the fact we were all standing around with bottles of SP never seemed an issue:}

Just an aside but what became of the PNGDF pilots on the DC3 and the Israeli thingy?
Did they all end up in pixie?

Well, I recall a DC3 crew that ended up in the dirt at Nadzab. But that was quite a few years ago...

Chuckles.... You are, indeed, correct. It WAS a Winjeel, and I was in attendance many a time when it was fired up according to how Spaked up we were. I seem to remember Dr. Death, aka Kerry Pataki, was the main protaginist, and I had the pleasure of helping him fire it up, with fuel donated by Talair.
I wonder what happened to it. Is it being restored somewehere.?? Is it flying again.??

Chuckles.... I never recalled seeing the beast taxied though.

Tinpis .... The "Israeli thingy" was an Arava, aka "Flying suppository" I wonder who the salesman was that sold the PNG Gavman that bloody thing. I guess that he found a way to their hearts somehow.

How is the PX 767 crewed?

Two Aeroplane drivers, three Auto Pilots.!!!!!

Absolutely correct, Chuckles and Taildragger. Definately a Winjeel that went back to RAAF wherever!

I must have been thinking of Arthur Johnson's Wirraway.

It was definately taxied a least a few times...at least twice by me...after one of our Talair Canadan Engineers serviced the brakes and filled the tyres with air. It was always amazing to me that after 15+ years stored in POM somewhere it fired up, mag checked, prop checked beautifully....taxiing was easy once you realised it had a tailwheel lock a la P51...stick forward=unlocked, stick back = locked.

There was much talk about getting it airworthy...we even had the Talair prop shop in Goroka lined up to overhaul the prop (which had started to leak from a seal) and the Canadian Senior base engineer had plenty of experience overhauling the radial engine fitted and was going to do it in his spare time. It actually only had ferry time on it since it's last overhaul many years before. The fabric covered flying controls were so rotted you could, and some dickheads did, poke the fingers through...no biggy the expertese was at hand to do those. It was in generally excellent condition. The RAAF had completely overhauled it prior to ferrying it up to PNG and presenting to the Tech College as an instructional airframe. It was dissmantled and stored away in a big box, the tech college never used it and after years someone asked the question..."WTF is in that big box?" "Ohh look...emi balus tasol". They tried to present it to the War Museum but it wasn't historically significant so they declined and we at the Aeroclub raised our hands Oh Oh..pick us!!!! We put the wings back on and connected everything back up and it then just sat there outside the club...until one day someone said "I wonder if it runs?" Beers in hand we pinched a battery cart from Yorke Mendoza's hangar, pinched fuel from somewhere else and viola...she kicked over a ran a treat.

I reckon 12 mths would have seen it flying....but then the fun police showed up and issues of actual ownership etc (ownership never passed from the Govt to the aeroclub) meant it all got to hard...people were transfered, went finish, etc, etc.

I recall that Winjeel on display at the DCA Training College at Six Mile. Maybe late 60's or early 70's??

AH, Tailie ... "I wonder who the salesman was that sold the PNG Gavman that bloody thing.." That story itself would fill a large volume - I'll tell you about it sometime. I'm not sure whether all the Court room dramas have ended (despite the passing of one of the star players, mentioned elsewhere on this page), so maybe best not to go there in this forum? :E

Woomera


Winjeel - what am I saying???

The aircraft on display at the DCA ATC training center was not a Winjeel - taildragger, possibly a Wirraway, Boomerang or similar??

Tinpis
 

The Israeli thingy "Arava" was still flying last week.
The 767 is back to standard tech crew (after a stint of heavy crewing ie Singapore return).
And on a conservative guess there are around 10 ex PNGDF guys in Pixie at the moment.

Sorry, just checked 13 deffinate ex PNGDF and 2 I'm not sure of. 8 Captains and 5 F/O's.

Thank you Far Cu.:ok:
At least they had somewhere to go.

I had a very pleasant week diving in and around Milne Bay. I've even got my 30 Anniversay T shirt with "Putim PNG I go pas" on it.

Airways hotel Balus bar is nice. Any chance the DC3 would ever fly again?

I live just up the hill from the said DC3 Sunfish. I can assure you there's no chance it'll ever fly again. You shudda seen the way it was raised into position! :eek: :uhoh: :ooh:

Can anyone remember the the Nothcoast company HF frequency? Flying over the top on the way to AKL tomorrow.... thought I'd would say G'day to Mike, Geoff or whoever is sitting next to the wireless at Nadzab.

isn't it the same as the old Talair company HF whatever that was...?



Talair company SSB HF frequency was 6.980 Mhz.

Woomera

6980 or 5980..............can't remember too clearly.

Cheers....... will give those Freq a try.

PNG Aviation
 

Wantoks,
Has anybody checked out the site at
http://www.pngair.com ?
Don't know who is running it but it could prove to be a useful repository for tall tales and true, plus some good piccies.

Unfortunately it doesnt seem to be used:(