An old but beautifully kept Wirraway at Northam

[Moneybox]

I watched the guys drag this 1943 Wirraway out of the hanger this morning.

 

 

He spent quite a bit of time preparing it fly but the big radial engine fired up instantly.

[facthunter]

It's NOT a Wirraway.  Nev

[onetrack]

And you didn't get video footage, complete with the radial song? Shame on you!  😄

 

And Nev's right, it's actually a Winjeel, built in 1955. It was originally A85-407, but is now displaying registration as A85-443.

 

http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a85.htm

 

Edited March 1 by onetrack

[Moneybox]

2 minutes ago, facthunter said:

It's NOT a Wirraway.  Nev

What have we got here Nev?

[Moneybox]

1 minute ago, onetrack said:

And you didn't get video footage, complete with the radial song? Shame on you!  😄

 

And Nev's right, it's actually a Winjeel, built in 1956.

 

http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a85.htm

Yeah, that's what he called it 😀 Sorry about the video, I was too busy chatting with another of the crew.

[spacesailor]

A friend & I friend bought one in NZ . BUT ,  AS I came to Aus it was left at the " Railway museum  " in Stokes Valley.  Lowerhutt  Wellington  NZ .

spacesailor

[onetrack]

An interesting story below about the Australian-built Cicada radial (by CAC) that came close to being fitted to the Winjeel.

The Cicada was produced using half of a P&W R-1830, with 7 cylinders on a smaller bore and stroke than the R-1830, giving 795 cu inches, and producing 450HP.

But the Cicada project was cut off by the ready availability in large numbers, of R-985 Wasp Junior engines, which ended up being the engine used in the Winjeel.

 

https://www.enginehistory.org/Piston/CAC/cac.shtml

[Moneybox]

Unfortunately our political system encourages very short term planning. There's no political advantage in long term planning to assist research and development so manufacturing is no longer viable in Australia. There'd be a serious problem if we needed to gear up in a hurry converting our machine shops to munitions factories. We don't train the engineers and we no longer have the factories. 

[facthunter]

Australia's problem is it's small Local Market.  Exports are subject to the vagaries of trade deals.  When Britain Joined the EEC they cut US off without a Prayer.  Hockey told GM to Piss Off by an announcement in the Parliament. WTF?  Nev

[Student Pilot]

CAC had plans for an AG conversion of Winjeels when they left service. They proposed PT6 power and a forward cockpit with the hopper over the wing behind the pilot. Never got passed the planning stage, I have seen a drawing, it looked workable.

[Tinkicka]

It’s a lovely Winjeel.

 

I’ve got about 20 hours in that airframe….

 

Tinkicka

[spacesailor]

That is what ' killed ' the Wirraway that I bought for the biggest  bottle of scotch I could buy.

The farmer used it for topdressing and it corroded the airframe .

It could have been repaired,   but , were to keep it for free . ( in NZ ) .

spacesailor

 

 

[Red]

A Wirraway used for top dressing? I suppose fuel must have been cheap then?

did it have some sort of hopper/chute fitted SS?

[spacesailor]

Not a proper hopper just ' everything ' out of thr rear cockpit and a trapdoor,  with a bolt & cable to let it open .

the top sheated over to keep the contents in .

We had that sheeting top off , to kneel in the rear & fast taxiing up & down the runway to run it out of fuel .

Great fun .

spacesailor

[facthunter]

The duster conversion is called a CERES. It Has all sorts of lift devices and the cockpit Raised  Nev

[johnm]

'ere tis