Australian Aircraft

ANZAC Day

by David Thompson

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ANZAC Day 2007

 

Here are most of the Australian aircraft in my collection that I’ve built since getting back into the hobby about 5 years ago.  The Spitfire (Airfix), Boomerang (High Planes) and Buffalo (Tamyia) are in 1/48 scale.  The Mustang (Academy), Wackett (High Planes), Wirraway (High Planes), Kittyhawk (Heller), Vengeance (SMER) and Mitchell (Airfix) are in 1/72 scale.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

  

  

The Mustang was built for the pilots’ son who flew this aircraft during the Korean War.  A very similar version of the real aircraft resides in the Australian  War  Museum in Canberra.  The Wirraway and Wackett were both training aircraft and are built from the limited run High Planes kits, which require quite a bit of scratch building, in particular the construction of the complete cockpit tubs which in 1/72 scale is an interesting exercise.  The Boomerang was the first Aussie-made WW2 fighter aircraft, based on the Wirraway design, but it was mostly used to assist ground troops and artillery.  

The Mitchell was operated by RAAF 2 Squadron based in northern Australia in 1944.  The Buffalo operated near Perth in Western Australia with RAAF 25 Squadron in 1942.  The Spitfire was flown by 79 Squadron in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 1944.  The Kittyhawk was based in PNG with 75 Squadron in 1942.  The Vultee Vengeance was also based in PNG with 24 Squadron in 1942. The Boomerang was with 5 Squadron in Mareeba Queensland in 1945 and was written-off in a ground loop accident. The Mustang was flown by 77 Squadron, based in Japan in 1951.  I’m not sure where the Wackett or Wirraway were based, but the Wackett crashed near Hervey Bay in Queensland in Feb 1943.

David

Photos and text © by David Thompson