Nestled deep in a corner of an old packing shed in Dareton, New South Wales a special RAAF aircraft restoration project is taking shape. After two years of painstaking work, volunteers at the Dareton Men's Shed have unveiled the result of their efforts; revealing a magnificent, freshly painted 1954 RAAF CA-27 Sabre Fighter Jet. The next step in the restoration of the Sabre is the wings, which require extensive repair.(ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Jennifer Douglas) Beneath dust-filled rays of sunlight, the restored metallic fuselage has been transformed by a couple of retired panel beaters who had no previous aviation experience. The Sabre, with its iconic nose cone, is the culmination of the expertise of a dedicated team of retired tradies who meet regularly at their local men's shed. Retired panel beaters Neil McDonald (left) and Greg Wood combined their efforts to restore the Sabre.(ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Jennifer Douglas) Dareton Men's Shed volunteer and replica Spitfire pilot John Waters says the restoration project is a great example of what the many skilled men's shed members can achieve. "The Sabre's new paint job looks better than it would have straight out of the factory," Mr Waters said. The tail fin and horizontal stabiliser await the final touch — a tiger to represent the squadrons that flew the Sabre.(ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Jennifer Douglas) Fighter in a sorry state Despite a few missing pieces, namely the wings and cockpit cover, volunteer Greg Wood is proud of how far the project has come. "It was in a fairly basic state when it arrived here in pieces," he said. "It had been dismantled completely. You pretty much couldn't have taken much more off it." The restoration is a collaboration between the Dareton Men's Shed, the Mildura RAAF Memorial and Museum, and the Mildura RSL. The huge undertaking began when local philanthropist and RAAF historian John McLaughlin made a winning blind bid for the warbird at an Australian National Aviation Museum aircraft auction. "I was pleased to have won the bid for the CA-27 Sabre," Mr McLaughlin said. "It was certainly a leap of faith, but my hope is that it will be part of a permanent static aircraft display at Mildura's RAAF museum." The CA-27 Sabre's restored canopy is nearly complete after being used as a rabbit hutch for many years.(Supplied: Greg Wood) Parts of several Sabres have been sourced for the restoration, including a replacement for the perspex canopy that was broken during a pilot ejection. Phil Roeszler is a retired motor mechanic who was tasked with the canopy restoration. "The original canopy had been in a wreck where the pilot had ejected, but the canopy didn't, so he actually went through the canopy and amazingly survived," he said. Mr Roeszler was able to find another canopy that had been used as a rabbit hutch. It has taken hours of polishing, but it is almost finished. Phil Roeszler and the Sabre's restoration team have dedicated hours of polishing to restore the canopy.(ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Jennifer Douglas) A piece of the Cold War The Sabre's link to Mildura's wartime service is through the World War II air force training base, the Mildura Operational Training Unit (2OTU). After the end of WWII, the unit relocated to Williamtown air base at Newcastle, NSW and in 1952 reformed to begin training fighter jet pilots. The squadron changed its name to 2OCU, or Operational Conversion Unit. The CA-27 Sabre was Australia's first fighter jet able to travel at supersonic speeds, and provided frontline single-seat fighter aircraft defence in the 1950s and 1960s. Several major parts of the restored Sabre served in Australia's Cold War efforts with the 77th and 79th Squadrons at Butterworth air base, Malaysia, and at the Ubon air base in Thailand. The planes were deployed as part of Australia's South-East Asia Treaty Organisation, mobilised to defend Thailand against attack from its Communist neighbours. Sabre's final landing The restoration team is hard at work on the final phase of the static Sabre display, drilling thousands of wing rivets to repair extensive damage to the wings and undercarriage. Repairs to the Sabre's damaged wings required thousands of rivets to be replaced.(ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Jennifer Douglas) Paul Mensch from the Mildura RSL Sub Branch said he was impressed with the progress of the restoration so far. “It’s all credit to the thousands of years of combined expertise provided by the men's shed volunteers that have made this restoration such a success," he said. "It's going to be a fantastic asset to the Mildura RAAF Memorial and Museum and a great drawcard to tell Mildura's wartime history."
