old man emu

I'd like to announce the formation of an organisation whose aim it is to preserve the history of Arthur Butler and his role in the development of civil aviation west of the Great Divide in New South Wales and Southwest Queensland. The Organisation is the "Arthur Butler Aviation Museum Inc. It's base is at Tooraweenah in New South Wales at the foot of the Warrumbungle Mountains. Apart from its aim of preserving history, it also aims to increase aircraft movements at Tooraweenah on probably the best grass strip in the country (no catheads). It aims to do that by building an amenities block with toilets, showers and washing facilities for anyone who would like to overnight at the airport and camp under the wing. In the future it is hoped that Tooraweenah airport will become an out field for training organisations. It is possible that hangarage might be built. The organisation is fortunate in that the townspeople are a go-ahead mob and would like to develop the town as a tourist centre since it has the natural beauty of the Warrumbungle Mountains and easy access to Siding Springs Observatory. Obviously the museum housing material telling Butler's story will be on the Airport.

I found an old article on how to scratch-build an engine. All I need now are the dimensions for scaling. I have also found a reproduction Operation and Maintenance manual for the engine.

Thanks for the info.

It looks like I would have to fake it if I used one of his kits, but there's an Australian supplier who might have stock.

I'm trying to build a scale model, so what I need is something that replicates the appearance of the engine. You can't 3D print anything that you don't have in a 3D digital file format. Also my 3D printer is in an packed box somewhere amongst the crockery, linen and old vinyl records.

I'm hoping to build a static 1/3 scale Comper Swift for the Artur Butler Museum. I'm hoping to get the plans, and I can make everything except the engine. I was wondering if anyone would like to donate their time to the Museum to make one.

It's for ground marshalling at Tooraweenah when we have a chez nous and lots of our neighbours fly in from all over the place. We'll need one for the 12/13 November 2022 because we are having a celebration of Arthur Butler's arrival in Tooraweenah to seek the hand in marriage of a fair damsel. He had to set an England-Australia solo flight record to do it.

Looks like the -15 has now been replaced by the -16. Thanks for the advice. I'll chase a -16.

I'm looking to buy a hand held transceiver radio for communication between ground and aircraft within about 10 nm of the ground location. The radio only needs to be able to send and receive. It doesn't need all the bells and whistles like GPS and navigation assistance. Obviously it will be used in Australia, so needs to comply with Australian telecommunications rules. Your advice on a suitable, low cost unit would be appreciated.

The lawyers have killed my idea of getting fuel supplies. Basically, if you called ahead to me and asked me to get you some fuel from town and bring it out to you, I could not guarantee the purity of the fuel. If you put it in your aircraft and later crashed as a result of fuel induced engine failure, you or your family would be after someone to blame, and guess who would be in the lawyers' sights?

The ERSA is correct, but trying to arrange anything through Council would be a waste of time. That's why the locals are working to see if they can gain some responsibility for it. That result could be a while coming, or Council could see it as a way to reduce its costs. The provision of food and accommodation are lesser problems than getting mogas. But since the airport is not being run with all eyes on the bottom line, I think that procedures will be developed to ensure that mogas would be on hand when needed.

Runway condition report - Monday 16/5/22 The runway was inspected on Monday and found to be in good operational condition. The runway was constructed to handle regular public transport aircraft. A Dragon Rapide and two de Havilland Heron Mk Is (VH-AHB and VH-ARB) took passengers from, e.g. Coonamble to Tooraweenah, where they transferred to a DC-3 for the rest of the journey to Sydney. It has been constructed so that no water courses flow across or along the surface, and rain falling on the strip itself rapidly drains away.

Tooraweenah will be an unlit airport, so 24/7 doesn't occur. More like sunrise to sunset, or 8:00 to sunset. The idea is to draw aircraft to the town to boost tourism. Since it's a private airport, any landing fee might amount to a simple reliance of pilot's good nature and appreciation for having somewhere to stop on a long trip. As for mogas, I suppose that it could be available with prior notification. If you don't ask you don't get, and a pilot would know pretty accurately how much would be required upon reaching Toora.

How attractive does an airport become if fuel is available 24/7, even if you have to do your own fuelling? The locals at Tooraweenah, NSW are looking to revitalise the privately owned grassed 3,800 foot long strip with a view to incorporating its use into tourism development in the local area, which includes the Warrumbungle Mountains. They figure that a strip without fuel is like a fish without a bicycle. The owner of the strip also wants to develop a museum to tell the story of one of Australia's commercial aviation pioneers - Arthur Butler. The hope is that the museum will be a place for aviation-minded people to visit.

Here's how to make the hub plate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqas0oyUI5U Keep in mind that this bloke is simply making something to hang on his wall as a talking point. However, every step he took would be taken by someone making a prop for an aircraft. Obviously you would trim the width of the boards to suit before gluing them up. The biggest cost would be buying all the clamps needed to ensure good adhesion between boards. I notice that he is using a PVA glue (Titebond), which is OK for his need, but if I was doing it for aircraft use I'd use an aliphatic glue like Sika Techgrip. Here's a good, detailed article on DIY props http://acversailles.free.fr/documentation/08~Documentation_Generale_M_Suire/Helice/Construction/Design_and_build_your_own_propeller.pdf

I'm not a member of the First People Gweagal clan, which inhabited the Kurnell area, I am of that country spiritually as I was conceived and grew up there. It breaks my heart to see that those massive sand hills are laid flat, and covered with tar and cement. This song expresses how I feel

And the US descends into anarchy and we lose the oil we paid for. Whose fault is it that we don't have the petroleum resources? Well, little Johnny Howard sold off our natural gas at 5 cents per litre. The international oil companies in the 1950s/60s failed to foresee the growth in the use of motor vehicles in Australia, so failed to develop refining capability. And finally, the NIMBYs then the Greenies whinged and moaned about having industrial plants within cooee of their dung heaps. I remember when the Caltex oil refinery and storage facility was built at Kurnell on Botany Bay, my father saying that if it caught fire it would be like an atomic bomb. We lived 5 kms from it across Botany Bay. That was in the 60s, and he had seen oil storage facilities blown up during WWII, and then the atomic bomb tests, so they were his points of reference for that statement.

Wait until the USA collapses into civil war due to its racist culture. Every other country will have learned from the USA's interventionist mistakes and will sit back and watch to slaughter. The only reason that the British stuck their noses into the US Civil War was because the British cotton millers wanted the South's cotton which the North was blockading. Fortunately, despite being thrown out of work through the lack of supply of raw cotton, Britain's mill workers declared themselves on the side of the North and anti-slavery. Workers condemned British “capitalists and journalists” for their support for the Southern states. The British bourgeoisie distrusted “Yankee democracy” and sought to preserve their profitable trading relationship with the South. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/01/05/linc-j05.html