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Here is our very own Australian Bug, based at Rollo’s Airfield near Murray Bridge, SA. It is Jabiru 3300 powered and tops out at close to 200ktas.

Some pics from my visit to the CallAir Museum in 2013. Glen Call was my guide.

I built a 1/4 scale R/C Jungmeister from plans. It spun to the ground on about the fourth flight, moved onto ultralights after that heart break.

It was disappointing that Garry was much maligned by some. He produced a design that is exceptionally strong and with a performance envelope as good as and often better than many plastic fantastics even today and that was 11 years ago. I was at his factory a number of times when people would call in & he would stop and show them around and discuss anything they asked about. When things got very busy he had some young people come in for work experience and in the case of the Sierra that hit the Ferris Wheel there were a few issues of holes being drilled in the wrong place etc. That may have been from inexperienced staff and the bits were not replaced so got picked up by ATSB and blown out of all proportion even though they had nothing to do with the incident. Scapegoats are always needed in public situations and they found one. So Garry lost his Factory licence, his Instructor rating and what was left of his faith in the system. The Ferris wheel aircraft was rebuilt and flew again well. It was eventually sold at a significant discounted price due to the history, nothing else. That incident cost Australia one of its most innovative aircraft designers and manufacturers. Garrys first love was Gliding and he is now in one of the best parts of the world to continue this. I am not sure how the structural failure event has changed anything as I have heard nothing since.

Gary's probably gone into hiding, to avoid this God-bothering idiot, below. I've never seen so much religious rubbish posted on one website. http://www.the-testament-of-truth.com/truth/web/gary1.htm

FIDO Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (which was sometimes referred to as "Fog Intense Dispersal Operation" or "Fog, Intense Dispersal Of") was a system used for dispersing fog and pea soup fog (dense smog) from an airfield so that aircraft could land safely. The device was developed for British RAF bomber stations, allowing the landing of aircraft returning from raids over Germany in poor visibility by burning fuel in rows on either side of the runway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_Investigation_and_Dispersal_Operation If you watch the film towards the end when the use of FIDO is shown, you see someone put a tag with the drawing of a dog on it beside the name of an airfield where FIDO was available.

Unless it's an optical illusion, there seems to be a small hinged door on the port side of the front cockpit visible in the yellow one.

And our very own one at Goolwa, albeit stretched.

As a slight thread drift, I have a huge (6ft long) photo adorning my lounge room wall of Sunderland VH-BRF coming into land on the lagoon at Lord Howe Island back in 1974. These old aircraft had quite interesting history's, and VH-BRF was no exception if anyone is interested reading about it in the attached link. https://aussieairliners.org/shortfb/vh-brf/vhbrf.html

That's terrifying!........deep respect for the test pilot/s........

That's a pretty awesome plane. Van's Aircraft is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. More than 13,000 flying now. Van's total performance is a real thing.

Many years ago I saw 3676 at (I think) Goolwa, SA. It took me a while for the blue painted script name to register:- "Proctalgia" When looking for a plane to build I considered the Rebel, but thought it a tad heavy for RaAus rego.

Nev, Wood and fabric may be old fashioned skills BUT they are materials that are better suited to repair than composites and easier than metal... and potentially more 'green' than the fashionable composites. This coming from a middle aged fart who has built and played in all construction methods and I am trending back towards wood and fabric for my last two aircraft and looking at replacing the composite wing on one of mine with replacement in wood n fabric.

Back to the Sierra: years ago I dropped in to Garry’s Taree factory for some industrial espionage- I was looking for design ideas for my wing flaps. Garry is the sort of energetic, Can-Do bloke this country is running short of. He insisted I go for a fly. His son took me up in a Sierra and impressed me with its stability and speed.

Garry was (is?) a member of this forum, and his profile spells his name with 2 R's - Garry.

The A-12 Oxcart was built for the CIA as a single seater and could fly 10,000 feet higher than the SR-71, had a top speed of Mach 3.35 (SR-71 3.2), but a shorter range. Its first flight was April 26 1962 and it was retired 1968 following a catfight with USAF who wanted the glory (the SR-71 flew from 1966 - 1999). The CIA flew the Oxcarts out of Area 51 on Groom Lake. The book Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen describes the early days of the Oxcart reconnaisance of Russia. The aircraft skins were made of Titanium and after a flight remained so hot that several mechanics were badly burned when they started working on them too soon. The Russians used to overfly Area 51 and the mechanics would sit an Oxcart out on the apron and use gas heaters to heat the skin so it would be giving an infra red heat signal when the Russians arrived. The aircraft were retired when the CIA were able to put photographic equipment into satellites and take the same pictures from orbit in the comfort of their offices. This photo of Groome Lake, Nevada shows the long runways across the lake. To the right of the solid line is another, longer runway which curves around to the right giving the pilot a lot more length. Groom Lake is a satellite field of Nellis Air Force Base. I flew a Cherokee over Nellis AFB in 1979 on the way to the Grand Canyon. Groom Lake is not far away, but I didn't know about it then. Will have to go back some time.

The best looking military jet of its time.

The Bantam was designed and built by Max Clear who had his own airfield at Te Kowhai near Hamiltion in NZ. Max was an amazing aviator and I lived not far away and used to watch him doing very good aerobatics in the Pitts he built in the 70s from my veranda on warm Summer evenings. At the peak of production his company Micro Aviation was shipping quite a few to South Africa each month & he had various people helping to build them. I got to fly a few and they were delightful. All of the Bantams I flew were 2 stroke Rotax powered. Sadly Max died of cancer in 2011 and his family were not interested in the business or aviation. The business sold but at the time in 2012 the airfield did not. There were 6 hangars there at the time. Total production before Max's death was 354 Bantams. The airfield was eventually sold to a private consortium and they hold flying events and country fairs etc there. I flew the C172 and Archer in many times & there was always a great welcome, cup of tea & a yarn.

But Nev that was in the days when an air ticket cost a year’s pay.

There is a photo of the fuselage of the first one received in 2004 on the Avspecs website & it is almost unrecognisable. I imagine they just removed all the fittings & completely built a brand new airframe & wings. The photos they have of the new wings and fuselage show impeccable workmanship which is reflected in the videos of the finished product. There is another Mossie that has recently been found in a shed in Mapua near Nelson. The old bloke, John Smith died 6 months ago and he was an avid collector of old military aircraft. He had a P51, Tiger Moth, Vampire, 2 x P40s as well as multiple bits of many different aircraft. The Mossie looks in pretty good nick & is going to be restored and displayed at Omaka as far as I know. It looks like it would easily be able to be restored to flying condition though. Details are HERE

Most of the Coachwood was sourced in North Queensland by forester Ian Gillison, who worked for the Commonwealth Foresty Bureau in Mackay. His sons now live in Yungaburra and near Albury. Many wooden propellors used in WW2 planes were made of North Queensland rainforest timbers. The Venables sawmill in Cairns handled a lot of the timber. My father flew Mosquitoes in 85 Squadron and mostly in night fighters. Also late in the war dropped propaganda pamphlets over France and Italy to demoralise German troops. Very high casualty rate, of the 70 guys he started with only six were left at the end of the war.

Ceratopetalum apetalum, the coachwood, scented satinwood or tarwood, is a medium-sized hardwood tree, straight-growing with smooth, fragrant, greyish bark. It is native to eastern Australia in the central and northern coastal rainforests of New South Wales and southern Queensland, where is often found on poorer quality soils in gullies and creeks and often occurs in almost pure stands. Its timber is light and easily worked. It is used for flooring, furniture and cabinetwork, interior fittings, turnery, gun stocks, wood carving, veneers as well as spars and masts for boats. Courtroom number three of The High Court of Australia is beautifully and completely furnished with coachwood timber. The Genus Ceratopetalum includes C. gummiferum, the New South Wales Christmas bush. (I love that bloody tree.)

The Provider was quite different, a conventional tail setup, not twin boom.

Probably not the best name for a warplane!

The Curtiss looks good for married couples. Passenger is too far away to be a backseat driver.

I finally found the ATSB report on the crash of VH-RMQ. https://www.atsb.gov.au/sites/default/files/media/24427/196800001.pdf

Nev, Wikipedia has a basic level of info on MMA, but Geoff Goodall has the comprehensive story. He split the MMA story into two parts, the S.A. part and the W.A. part. Geoffs story is interesting, informative and well written, as is his competent style. https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/mma-1/mma.html https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/mma-2/mma2.html https://www.goodall.com.au/photographs/mma-70/70smma.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacRobertson_Miller_Airlines MMA had the 3rd worst airline crash in Australia, when one of their Vickers Viscounts (VH-RMQ) lost a wing just out of Port Hedland on descent, on NYE 1968. All 26 on board were killed - a good mate was supposed to be on the flight, but picked up a bug and couldn't fly, and another bloke in his company took his place. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacRobertson_Miller_Airlines_Flight_1750

The Junkers Jumo 205D opposed-piston engines were a work of art. The lower crankshaft ran 11° behind the upper crankshaft, so the exhaust ports opened and closed first, allowing proper exhaust scavenging and therefore good fuel economy, along with a clean exhaust. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Jumo_205

There is still one of these remaining on the Darling Downs. Built in 1931 (?) And flown by several generations of the same family.

Harold the Helicopter....as featured in the Thomas the Tank Engine books....) Westland Harold???

During the pandemic I participated in a global roll rate challenge where we discovered the lies told about aircraft roll rates. Videos of multiple rolls were independently analysed for the steady, maximum roll rate at Va. Often multiple examples of the same type flown by different people. Cessna 152 about 60 deg/sec. Super Decathlon is around 100 deg/sec. Pitts S-2B at 140 deg/sec compared to a figure of 240 deg/sec quoted in a magazine (by myself). Pitts S-2C at 210. The Yak 55 at 110 deg/sec rolls faster than a Yak 52 - nice to roll but whoever claimed "...rolls (to the right) at well more than 180 degrees/second (measured up to 352 degrees/second to the right) ...." is a far worse liar than I was. "It has been used in international aerobatic competition up to the Advanced level .... is capable of every manoeuvre in the Aresti catalog." Advanced category (and others) has changed dramatically over the years. These days it is extremely hard work to get it through an Intermediate sequence - it is nearly as good as a Pitts S-2A. I nearly bought one but went for a Decathlon instead.

Jeez, you could grow tomatoes in that greenhouse.

My sincere apologies, gentlemen. No idea how that happened (wearing the wrong glasses probably). Over 1300 profiles and never had a screw-up like that before. All corrected now.

Thinks: I could overtake one of those........)

From memory most of it is fabric over an aluminium tube frame

There's a great story below, on the F.13 Junker replica built by Rimowa, the luxury luggage manufacturer. The Rimowa company CEO is a dedicated aviator, and the company aircraft is a Embraer Phenom jet, which the CEO flies himself. The replica aircraft was built from photographic scans of a museum example, and as many of the few original plans they could find. It has been repowered with a 450HP P&W radial, a serious power upgrade over the original 310HP engine. The cockpit is spartan, to say the least, but modern instrumentation brings it up to speed. https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/rimowa-f13

It's amazing how Junkers produced such a forward-looking, modern design for the main design areas of the aircraft - but left the drivers with an open cockpit! How little more would it have taken, for Junkers to simply enclose that cockpit! Not much, in my estimation!

There’s a Bucker Jungmann at Serpentine in WA that is flown regularly.

I look at the wheel spats on that thing and wonder.... why?

Oh, and my Jet Bug variant…

Prop tip speed and an open exhaust and probably no soundproofing. An Otter or Beaver would be able to be quieter if it's fully lined. Nev

One of the first projects that Henry Millicer worked on after his arrival in Australia. 1952 saw his submission of the Airtourer design to the competition run by the UK Royal Aero Club to promote a replacement for the Tiger Moth. Quite a contrast, work on the Jindivik by day and design the Airtourer in his spare time!!

De Havilland obviously took Ettore Bugatti's famous comment to heart. When Bugatti's race drivers complained the heat from the Bugatti front brakes was transferring to the alloy wheels and melting the tyre beads, Ettore raged in response, "My cars are made to GO! - not STOP!" He never did anything to fix the problem, just told his drivers not to brake so much. The DH.88 Comet was obviously made to go fast, everything else was secondary.

They were a little more efficient than that - 1170L of fuel in three tanks in the fuselage. Also they were race engines - required high octane fuel and when given crap fuel blew pistons very easily. And even when not blowing pistons the engines were regularly blowing oil pipes and having other issues ... and then there were the two position variable props and the issues with them ... and the undercarriage that regularly refused to retract. At least the under carriage problem was better than refusing to extend 😉 I have always been fond of the last of the DH88's - named Boomerang - that had a nice silver and blue paint scheme - the original 3 whilst stunning in their all over green/red/black with silver/while/gold stripe were not to my eye as nice as the overall silver with tapering blue on nose/engines. I've seen Grovenors House fly at old warden and from a pilots perspective it looks is scary at takeoff and touchdown - there is no visibility directly ahead, the three point attitude is at the stall (15deg), the highly tapered wings are happy to drop at the stall and it all happens at over 85nts minimum.

You might also say an aluminium plane is made from white clay or a locomotive out of red brown rocks.. Nev

A few years ago I had a tour of the amazing aviation workshop in Mandeville, South Island. Several historic aeroplanes were being restored by a dedicated team including several young people. One part-repaired wooden aircraft had the lines of modern jet; it was a comet. https://www.experiencemandeville.nz

Likewise saw it at Old Warden in 1976 when they were putting enough of the pieces together to make a static display of it. During the weekdays you could walk through the hangars and talk freely to the volunteer workers. Whilst reassembling the Comet the discussion was to whether it would ever be airworthy again, given the issues that arose to ground so many wooden construction aircraft in the 1960's. It is fantastic to see it in the sky again. Once we overcome the COVID issues and we can travel again, I look forward to another Biggleswade visit, and particularly to see Alex Henshaw's Mew Gull XF and his Tomtit.

All of this and it can only lift 10 tons and do 80 kn ? I saw the good year blimp at Oshkosh trying to land just before a storm front. It was one of the most dangerous things I have ever seen. As it happens they were actually doing a live cross at the time for the Chicago news which got replayed just about everywhere and the reporter was getting violently thrown around, one minute she was on the floor, the next minute she was on the roof and she was screaming "we are going to die" they cut away from the story after that but said afterward she survived without a scratch. She did a follow-up later in the evening bulletin saying they hit some minor turbulence and she apologized for swearing etc. in calm winds, these things must be fantastic but if you get anywhere near a storm front I think you are lucky to live because not only does it go up and down it also goes left to right, sideways and every other direction at the same time. After the storm it passed through we went over and spoke to some of the guys who are looking after the mooring mast and they said it was the closest to disaster they had ever seen. This blimp pictured above is about 4 times bigger which probably makes it 10 times less maneuverable

DG is an RAF serial prefix, and VT registrations are from India.