Major Grant to Queensland Air Museum [17.01.2011]

The John Villiers Trust approved an additional grant of $50,000 in November 2010 to Queensland Air Museum Inc for the purchase of a fully-operational Wirraway aircraft as a prized new exhibit in the Museum located at Caloundra airport on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. The grant is additional to a grant of $200,000 awarded in March 2009 for this special exhibit.

CAC_Wirraway_photo

VH-WIR near Watts Bridge photographed from Trevor Mills' RV-8 VH-YGY en route to Queenland Air Museum.

The aircraft was built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) in 1944. CAC built a total of 755 Wirraways from 1939 to 1946 at Fisherman’s Bend in Victoria. The museum’s first aircraft acquired in 1973 was a Canberra A84-225, the RAAF’s first jet bombers, built at the Government factory in Avalon, Victoria.

The Museum is dedicated to preserving Australia’s aviation heritage, and today has 42 complete aircraft and a vast collection of memorabilia.

The Wirraway, which bears the registration number VH-WIR, burst over the museum on 18 December 2010, having flown its last flight from Adelaide to Caloundra. The arrival was covered on television by ABC News and Nine News. The clips may be viewed on:–

ABC News

Nine News

Further details of the aircraft and the Museum click here or on the photo above.

2012 © The John Villiers Trust. This is a Blueprint site.