For Beaufighter Fans

[Keith Gaff]

Below is one of the more interesting pictures to come out of the woodwork in recent times. The aircraft is Australian built Beaufighter Mk 21 A8-328 seen at the Lord mayor Childrens Camp at Portsea in Victoria Australia. The Childrens Camp received a number of items of surplus military equipment in the years after World War 2 as playthings for the kids. Beaufighter A8-328 was finished on the day the war ended and was flown straight to storage. It was later withdrawn from storage and converted to tow targets with No 30 Squadron RAAF. It was retired in 1956 and sent to the Lord Mayors Childrens Camp. The photo below was taken soon after it arrived. In 1962 the aircraft was acquired by the Australian Aircraft Restoration Group and it is still extant and on display at the AARG's museum at Moorabbin Airport in the southern suburbs of Melbourne.. This is the only known colour photo of the aircaft taken while it was at Portsea.

Keith Gaff

[Sopwith]

What sort of condition is it in now, and is it going to be rebuilt to fly?It would be fantastic to have a flyer.

[Ewan]

What sort of condition is it in now, and is it going to be rebuilt to fly?It would be fantastic to have a flyer.

It hasn't been engine run since the late 1980's AFAIK, and it's now in a hangar so doubt it will go back to flyer anytime soon. There are a few bits still missing out of the cockpit area as well (broken levers and missing dials when I last sat in it around Sept 2011)

Yes it would be great to have a flyer but sadly I think sourcing engines are going to prove to be a real issue along the way, and probably a lot of parts have been lost to scrappers, plans have been put in deep storage and inaccessible etc (and believe me I've been trying !) But even a few more statics would not go unappreciated, for memory there are only half a dozen or so complete ones around the world, no doubt someone will correct me on this, just trying to remember off the top of my head...

[k5083]

We all know there have been quite a few instances of warbirds surviving through being used as playground equipment for a period. It would be at least semi-interesting to compile a list of these. It's remarkable not just for the irony of these potent weapons being used as playthings, but for the great changes - should I call it progress? - in what we view as safe playground equipment for children. I mean, look at all the hard sharp edges, toxic materials, and hand-snagging spaces on that thing. Nowadays a playground can't even have a proper spin-n-barf turntable. Watching children play on an old warplane is like seeing an old moving with people smoking on a commercial flight.

August

[Sopwith]

Ok thanks for the update Ewan,much appreciated.

[Dan K]

Love the Beaufighter, but I am certainly no expert (nor do I play one on TV).

Amongst the current Beaufighter owners, I'm assuming discussion has occured regarding alternative power sources. Any idea if serious thought has been put into using...

Merlins?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39411748@N ... otostream/


...or perhaps even (*gasp*) R-2600s?

http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/B ... 19-2/A19_2


Or is even the thought of using anything but Hercules too abominable to consider?

In other words, how strong is the desire to get an airframe airborne?

[tom d. friedman]

i love those lines better than the mosquito's!! defineteley in my top 10 favorites!!

[Keith Gaff]

Gentlemen,

Glad you enjoyed the photo. During my thirty years at the Moorabbin Air Museum I had a great deal todo with Beaufighter A8-328. I was there for the last engine run before we put the aircraft under cover. We only ever ran one engine; not because the other engine wasn't serviceable, but because we couldn't find another serviceable propeller and we searched the world. Personally I was rather glad when we put the beast under cover and engine running stopped. I was always afraid the Beaufighter would burn to the ground one day. In view of the interest in the type below is a photo which will interest those of you in America. This is Fairey built Beaufighter IF serialed A19-43 which was recovered in the late 1960's by the Moorabbin Air Museum from a farmers property at Nhill in Victoria. This aircraft is now fully restored and displayed at the National Museum of the US Air Force.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z208 ... 71MAMC.jpg

[Steve Nelson]

..and here she is as of last August. Throughout the 90s, the museum had the restored cockpit on display while the rest of the airframe was being rebuilt.



The only other Beau I've ever seen (possibly the only other one on this side of The Pond) is this stripped out shell at the Canada Aerospace Museum in Ottawa. I took this pic in 2007..I understand she's now been disassembled and is under restoration.



SN

[The Inspector]

I always thought the Beau looked like something you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley

[cooper9411]

I mean, look at all the hard sharp edges, toxic materials, and hand-snagging spaces on that thing. Nowadays a playground can't even have a proper spin-n-barf turntable.

August[/quote]

Really, whats the worst that could happen?

[Keith Gaff]

The black Beaufighter now with the Canadian National Collection was originally part of the RAF Museum. It was swapped to Canada for a Bolingbroke if my memory serves me correctly. The engines, cowlings and props from this aircraft are now fitted to the ex=Portugese Beaufighter now at the RAF Museum. Below is a photo of the Canadian Beau as it was originally found on Malta in the 1960's.

Keith Gaff

[RobC]

1) re: first post picture: if those were my kids, the Beau would have quickly been reduced to a pile of rubble.

2) There are many Hercules engines available, but they are a different layout, with the exhaust ejecting to the rear. They were used on the Sunderland/Sandringham, et al., and since a number of those survived the war, so did the engines. My old neighbors in Nor Cal had a number of NOS Hercs (their airplane is on display in Oakland, Ca). My opinion is that using these engines is not a big compromise, and that TFC @ Duxford ought to just get on with it before we are all too old to go see it fly. When I win the big lotto.. blah, blah, you know the drill.

[David J Burke]

The wartime Hercules engines differ in a great number of ways to the later examples in terms of size and layout. I can assure you if it was as easy as you imply it would be at Duxford ground running by now!

[Keith Gaff]

Gentlemen,

Let's keep the interest going. Below is an image of Australian built Beaufighter A8-186 taken in 1964 in New South Wales. The aircraft was used as a source of spares for Moorabbins Beaufighter and it was later acquired by the Harold Thomas Collection with which it remains today.