“ Buff s and Pig s ”

the official members newsletter of

MARCH 2015

AHSNT OFFICE BEARERS IMPORTANT DIARY DATES

PRESIDENTTony Simons0427 187 3568931 2576 (H)t.simons@darwin.nt.gov.au

VICE-PRESIDENTCraig Bellamy0403 872 2058985 4881 (H)b30.craig@gmail.com

SECRETARYJulie Mastin8946 6835 (W)julie.mastin@cdu.edu.au

TREASURERRichard SpillettRichard.Spillett@area9.com.au

WEB MASTERRon Ninnisrninnis@internode.on.net

CURATORKen Lai0401 148 672kenlms@westnet.com.au

PUBLIC OFFICERRon Ninnisrninnis@internode.on.net

ARCHIVISTCraig Bellamy0403 872 2058985 4881 (H)b30.craig@gmail.com

GENERAL MEMBERAlan Cairncross8927 3273 (H)acairnx2010@bigpond.com

MEMBERSHIP LIAISONRichard SpillettRichard.Spillett@area9.com.au

Tuesday 24/3/14Members meeting Aviation Heritage Centre 1800 hrs – note change of venue !!

Tuesday 14/4/15AHSNT Committee Meeting

Tuesday 28 th April Function at AAHC for Tourism Top End

Sunday 3/5/15AAHC Legacy Open Cockpit Day

Tuesday 2/6/1525th Anniversary of AAHC Opening

Tuesday 9/6/15AHSNT Committee Meeting

Tuesday 23/6/15Members meeting and dinner – this meeting will celebrate the 25th anniversary of opening of the AAHC

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OBSERVATIONS FROM THE EDITOR

FINANCIAL MATTERS

The Financial report ending the 28th February showed the Museum ran a small loss again. The cash position remains positive and our year to date results are still showing a surplus as compared to a loss for the same period last year.

IMPORTANT DIARY DATES

Don’t forget that there are two very important anniversaries on the horizon.June 2nd 2015 is the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre (then the Darwin Aviation Museum). Celebration of the event will coincide with the Members Meeting on the 23 rd June.Perhaps one of the longer serving members could dig out some old photographs from when the museum was built and its early days of operation ?2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of the Society. The Committee is very keen to hear from current or former members who may be able to provide more information on an appropriate date to use for the anniversary. As I reported in the last newsletter, our only clue is that the first Constitution of the Society is dated December 1976.

MEMBERS MEETING

Please note that the next Member’s meeting is on Tuesday March 24 th and will now be held at the Aviation Heritage Centre starting at 6pm. This meeting will coincide with a visit from the Air Force Cadets however they will be catering for themselves and we will conduct our meeting separately. The Cadets have a new commanding officer, so there will be the opportunity for the Committee and members to introduce ourselves after our meeting concludes.All members, especially our new members, are encouraged to come along for a bite to eat and a meet and greet and take the chance to view the display upgrades that the Workshop Crew have been working on over the past months.If any member requires transport assistance to attend the meeting, then please let me or one of the Committee know and we can make suitable arrangements.

OPEN COCKPIT DAY

The Annual Open Cockpit Day is to be held on Sunday 3rd May. This is the May long weekend and hopefully we can use that fact to our advantage. Heritage Centre Manager Angie has already started to bring our event partners on board. The Motor Vehicle Enthusiasts Club will again be running the sausage sizzle, and the MKT Flying Club have also indicated their intention to provide displays again this year.

SICK LIST

Members Alan Cairncross and Brian Thompson are on the sick list, so we send our best wishes to them both.Museum Manager Angie has also had a brush with illness and our thoughts go out to her for a speedy recovery.

MOMENTS IN HISTORY

March 1936 – the Vickers-Supermarine Type 300 prototype makes its first flight. Vickers’ chief test pilot “Mutt” Summers piloted the aircraft through an 8 minute flight and upon landing reported to the engineers “don’t change a thing”. The Type 300 would go on to become one of WW 2’s most famous fighters – the Spitfire.

March 1928 – a new world air speed record of 319 mph is set by Major Mario di Bernardi flying a Macchi M.52bis. The aircraft was modified specifically for the Schneider Trophy races.

March 1939 – the world air speed record is extended to 464 mph by Heinkel test pilot Hans Hieterle, who piloted a Heinkel Type 100, which was a contemporary of the famous Messerschmit Me109 WW2 fighter.

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HERITAGE CENTRE OPERATIONS

HERITAGE CENTRE VISITATION

The Heritage Centre hosted a special guest on March 11th.The Chief Minister, the Hon Adam Giles, chose the Centre to host a press conference releasing Territory tourism visitor numbers, and to announce some new tourism initiatives from Government.The Chief Minister announced that the focus of Government would now shift to tourism infrastructure and he had a particular interest in opportunities to improve our tourism around WW 2 heritage sites

The Chief Minister elected for a tour of the museum prior to the press conference and conveyed his admiration to the staff and the Society members on the quality of the museum and its displays.Rob from Tour Tub also joined the group and we took the opportunity to inform the CM of initiatives being taken by the AHSNT and Tour Tub to promote the heritage experiences for our visitors.On behalf of the Society, I presented the Chief Minister with a copy of Darwin’s Air Wars at the conclusion of his visit

WORKSHOP NEWS

We welcome new member John Scrutton. John is ex-RAAF and has experience as a “black-hander” for many years. John has been active in assisting with the display enhancements for the last few weeks.

Work continues on upgrades to the displays at the Heritage Centre, with painting of the panelling on the northern wall. Three panels have been painted to date with the rest to be completed before Open Cockpit Day.

Bill Allom, Alan Cairncross and Curator Ken Lai are still progressing on the Merlin rebuild project and also putting some finishing touches to the Cobra cockpit.

The Workshop Crew will hold another planning day soon to go back over items raised at last year’s planning session, tick off the completed issues, and re-prioritise those remaining matters.

Future developments around an improved Kittyhawk and Zero/Japanese display will also be discussed.

Tony Simons Editor

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*F-111 photograph Courtesy of the RAAF and Mick Raftery

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