Navy Heritage Flight – 3 November 2019 Update

Edited by John Sperring

Michael Hough is currently away overseas on leave, so I will be providing the weekly update briefings for several weeks from any updated information provided to me and from personal observation.

The focus over the last few weeks has been on the S2 Trackers and the staging of the “ FRIENDS OF THE GRUMMAN TRACKER” REUNION” which was held over 23/24 October.  With that activity completed some attention will be diverted to other aircraft in the NHF collection.

Here is a summary of each current NHF project-

Both Tracker 844 & 851 remain hangered at HARS Albion Park and remain in very good condition.  844 continues to have her engines run weekly (scheduled for 07 November) and her folding wings cycled. 844 is programmed Sunday 10 November to participate in the Centenary of Lawrence Hargrove’s first flight with a fly past Bald Hill Stanwell Tops.

Tracker 851 is being steadily restored to taxiable status.

845 remains in open secure storage at Air Affairs with external paintwork improvements planned for some time in 2020. Our longer-term intention is to repaint 845 at HARS Albion Park, and then use it as the first display aircraft on the block of land next to the FAA Museum when this is granted by Defence Estate Infrastructure Group (EIG).

Wessex 832 remains hangered in HARS Albion Park Hangar 3. 832 is looking very good with new blue and white paintwork and with its painted rotor blades fitted in the stowed position.

Wessex 813 remains on display at HARS Parkes. No update on this aircraft.

Sea Venom 870 continues to have incremental improvements with the addition of various parts in the cockpit. The current focus is restoring the various instruments, gauges etc into the cockpit.

Sea Fury 110 has not been worked on since its move to HARS Albion Park but it has a very nice information board stationed near the aircraft. The Sea Fury remains in Hangar 1 adjacent to the F111.

Dakota N2-90 remains wingless in open secure storage at Air Affairs Nowra. It’s wings remain stored at HARS Albion Park. With the generous sponsorship of Chris Sievers at Air Affairs the C47 will move to HARS Albion Park for refurbishment work. Eventually this Dakota will be returned to the new HARS facility adjacent to the RAN Fleet Air Arm Museum.

Iroquois 893 and 898 remain in hangared storage at Air Affairs Nowra. This week 893 and 898 were moved to separate them from crated aircraft spares and stores to allow the Iroquois Project team to move the crates up to HARS Albion Park and the Creamery storage facility. 898 remains the first airframe to be worked on to return to flying status. 893 will be relocated to the Air Affairs training facility at Flinders Industrial Estate Nowra to eventually be worked on by company apprentices/HARS members.

Auster 856 is also being worked on to get it to the stage where it can be certified for flight.

We are continuing the dialogue with Defence EIG to negotiate the allocation to HARS of the block of land adjacent to the FAA Museum reconfirmed for the building of a future hangar and admin complex for the HARS Navy Heritage Flight. A meeting with EIG is set for this coming week.

Don’t forget that donations of money to HARS of over $2 are tax deductible so please act now, and if you can assist in any way, please email me at:- harsnhf@hars.org.au or contact me through our HARS NHF Facebook page.