Old Koreelah

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

The Czechs sure pump out lots of aeroplane designs, but this one sure looks like the one sold as a Piper.

Amazing to realize this futuristic aircraft was conceived when most of us old farts were toddlers. Some of its records may never be beaten.

Sweden can do it, with a fraction of Australia’s population.

Why can’t we?

The Provost looks almost identical to Australia’s Winjeel, but I can find nothing written about this. Even more interesting, the Provost’s designer, Henry Milicent, migrated to Oz after working on the Provost, but his Wikipedia profile contains no mention of him being involved in the design of the Winjeel.

An early experiment with a form of containerizing freight, which eventually changed our world.

Ollie has a max wind spec for operating this aircraft; its huge wing would be a handful in gusty conditions. I cannot recall the stall speed but it’s amazingly low.

Another outstanding achievement for a little country with less than half Australia’s population. 

My mum’s WWII diary mentions the people of nearby Taree raising 50,000 pounds to buy a Spitfire.

Keep up the good work, Red. Your aircraft database is becoming a valuable resource.

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

An awesome machine, but too late.
 

A small correction; perhaps 81 not 18:

 

Stall Speed:

13 mph (181 km/h, 98 kn) flaps and floats down

Years ago a group of us tried to reach the crash site of the Lincoln that was lost on a mercy dash to Brisbane. Crook weather and bad navigation led to it smacking into mountains. Our navigation was no better; we climbed the wrong damned mountain.

https://www.ozatwar.com/ozcrashes/superbus.htm

Different sources give confusing versions of the adhesive used in the Mossie. As those actually involved in designing and building these aircraft are getting thin on the ground, it’s important for history that we get the facts; was it put together with casein glue or the new Resorcinol? 
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resorcinol_glue

The Liberator would be one of the most difficult Warbirds to resurrect.

At peak production, massive factories churned out a B-24 every hour but today the cost of rebuilding a single one must be astronomical.

Like all warplanes, when originally built they were expected to last a few months at most; now, eight decades later, enthusiasts try to make them last for posterity.

Cricket, OME, that’s about when I was conceived.

I have it on good authority that a Canberra held the cross-Australia speed record- largely due to it ability to maintain high speed for hours, courtesy of a huge fuel load held in its symetric-chord wing.

Seven decades after it first flew, the Canberra is still flying special jobs over the Middle East.

Like the B-52 andTu-95, it may be one of those aeroplanes with a 100-year working life because of good, robust design.

7 minutes ago, onetrack said:

And Red forgot to add, the Hermes was powered by the same Sleeve-Valve Hercules 14 cyl radial engine, that powered the Beaufighter!

 

These engines were the quietest radials ever built, and gave the nickname of "Whispering Death" to the Beaufighters.

Anyone who has heard a Hawker Sea Fury start up would love the sleeve-valve engine.

I guess there was a lot of manufacturing capacity (and spares) left over from the war. I once happened on a BristolTwo Litre sports car with a beautiful raw aluminum body. The instrument panel was the entire width of the dash, filled with dozens of aircraft steam gauges.

Keep ‘me coming, Red,

This has been quite an education. I thought I knew a bit out aircraft of that era but you’ve posted lots I never heard of, particularly British transports.