Mustangs at Maralinga
 

Does anyone know the story behind the Mustangs that were salvaged from Maralinga ie. when, how many, what happened to them? I believe one is flying in the US in US airforce colours although it was an Australian built one.

Six aircraft were recovered from Maralinga in late 1967. From memory they were flown into the test site early in '53. A68-1, A68 -7, A68-30, A68-35 and A68-72 were CA-17 Mk 20's and A68-87 was a CA-18 Mk 22. I think A68-1 remained here in Oz (but eventually ended up stateside) and the rest were shipped to the states.

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/6...alinga2xd9.jpg

A68-1 (later VH-EMQ) being prepared for it's flight to Coober Pedy which took place on 31.10.67.

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4...alinga1ki8.jpg

A68-1 as Jeannie Too (incorrectly sporting the serial A68-1001) in the states, at Reno in the late '80's or early '90's.

A68-1

A68-7

A68-30

A68-35

A68-72

A68-87

Also here

Hope that helps.

Mustangs at Maralinga
 

The details of the Mustangs posted by "gassed budgie" are for the aircraft recovered from Emu (also called Emu Field) in South Australia. Maralinga and Emu are often refered to as one but they are about 190 km apart.
FITD

FITD is indeed correct

The young man itching to pounce into the drivers seat is Tony Schwerdt and the bloke shaking his head looking into the engine is Pearce Dunne?
There is video footage somewhere of Tony ferrying it to Parafied via Coober Pedy and landing in Coober Pedy creating one big dust storm.

When I learned to fly back in 1981, I was in the airport bar (under the control tower) and on the wall was framed story with pics of the events of these aircraft.
Tony Schwert (who i believe still flies VH-URU up to Beverly in SA) tried to persuade the Govt in letting him purchase these Mustangs, and stick them on the Oz register. Bollocks, was the reply, so he ended up purchasing them, tying them nose to tail, getting a bulldozer and dragging them down to the East-West railway line and loading them on the train, back to Parafield, crated and sent off to USA where this warbird movement was gaining momentum. He did however, fly one with gear down to Parafield, and that was the main photo on the wall.

That's the story as I remember it, and it may be missign bits and pieces, but I am sure there are a load of guys around in SA who know Tony, or maybe you could even contact the guy himself.

Not permitted
 

In those days civilians were not permitted to have access to anything much, except the usual GA aircraft
, and the airlines had a duopoly (a disguised monopoly).
Around about this time there were about half a dozen DC3's (Dakota's) for sale by tender and a condition of the tender was that they were to be exported or scrapped.
Tony was one of the few "free thinkers" around at the time, and I think he did eventually manage to get one of the mustangs registered in Australia.
And before we get a flood of disagreements sure there were Wirraways turned into the "Ceres" agricultural aircraft, and maybe a few others. We have rubbery rules.

Only DCA and military pilots had the knowledge and skill required to fly them Bushy :rolleyes:
Civvy pilots would have been overcome by the complexity and probably black out from the speed.

I have a vague recollection that around the time I learned to fly (1973) there were one or (maybe) two spectacular Mustang crashes at airshows around the country.

I don't know the origins of the aircraft concerned but my recollection is that it was a case of these aircraft being owned and flown by individuals whose wallets were bigger than their flying abilities.

At least one of those prangs is written up in the old "crash comics".

After these events I think DCA made it virtually impossible for the public to own and(or) fly ex-military aircraft.

I think Col Pay eventually broke that mindset and brought his Mustang onto the civilian register.

If my memory serves me correctly, the Col Pay Mustang came off a property in western Queensland somewhere, where it had been kept in reasonable condition. Story goes that the cow (or sheep) cocky that owned used to start it up every so often and taxy it up and down his airstrip.

Dr :8

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8...mustangbd1.jpg

VH-DBB (ex A68-193) crashed at an airshow at Bendigo on the 15th of Feb 1970. I was at the airshow and witnessed the accident and was the first (along with the old man) to arrive at the accident site. No-one else turned up for around another 15 minutes. The emergency crews couldn't find their way to the crash site through the Welsford's forest. One thing I do remember upon turning up at the accident scene was the engine still smoking and laying on it's side around 20to 25 metres from the main wreckage which was burning furiously. If anyone out there still has a copy of the accident report from the old Air Safety Digest I would appreciate it if it was posted here.

No, he's graduated to a flasher machine now. A Citation 550, VH-HVM.

DF.

What were the Mustangs actually used for at Maralinga? To see how they would stand up to the effects of a nuclear explosion? How far from the source of the explosion were they if this was the case?

Not the Mustangs fault at all Dr ,yer can get this with anything,even a Bonanza :rolleyes:

"Not the Mustangs fault at all Dr"

Aww Tin! I thought I had carefully worded my post to indicate that it was NOT the fault of the Stang!

"yer can get this with anything, even a Bonanza"

Is OK Tin, I have my affairs in order!

Dr :8

free mustang
 

I was there about a year ago and the caretaker seems to think that one was bulldozed and buried out ther somewhere.

.......brand new all carefully preserved in greased wrapping with the engine filled with inhibiting oil and silica-gel plugs......

If memory serves me the Bendigo crash pilot's name was McDonald

Think it may have been Don Busch, who was the aircraft owner.

missing myth or other
 

A former workmate Barry B. was doing National service in the mid sixties and reckons one was missing when they went to clean up after them being abandoned for over ten years. Theory was it was sitting in a cow cockied shed. Thought he was joking until I read a newspaper article some years later which clearly stated x number being left and x-1 being tendered for sale by the commonwealth. What happened I do not know however they appear to have lost one between the mid fifties and the mid sixties. :ooh:

Pinky..............

Go to the top of the class:ok:

The Bendigo accident pilot was Don Busch. I was at Moorabbin that day and saw him take-off on the fateful flight to Bendigo.

I think that the aircraft was originally owned by a cocky up at Barham who sold it to Don. Schutts did the restoration, and I can remember seeing it at various stages of the rebuild, then in it's final glory when completed.

Jack Macdonald did the test flight for it. Jack's flight ended up with a low level go-around on runway 17 at Moorabbin much to the delight of everyone watching from the bar at the RVAC!! I was one of the patrons that afternoon. :)

It was a sad ending for that Mustang...............and also its owner.