WIRRAWAY aircraft have landed at Nhill Aerodrome many hundreds of times.
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But when another Wirraway lands at Nhill at the end of the month, it will be to jubilant applause from onlookers.
This aircraft will be at the end of a one-way flight and at the end of its time in the skies.
The plane, regarded as possibly the best presented Wirraway in the world, is due to land at Nhill on Saturday, April 28 about noon.
Admission to this historic event is free. Food and drinks will be available.
The plane's arrival will signify the end of a campaign by the Nhill community and aviation historians and enthusiasts to purchase the plane – a training aircraft type used at Nhill to train Royal Australian Air Force pilots during the Second World War.
Its arrival will also signal that a fundraising campaign has almost reached the $300,000 purchase cost for the historic aircraft which is set to take pride of place in Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre.
Wirraway aircraft were used at Nhill RAAF Training Base and was one of several military planes used to train pilots.
The aircraft will sit alongside an almost-restored Avro Anson donated by Graham Drage of Lah and a de Havilland Tiger Moth built about 1930 and owned by Len Creek of Nhill.
A Link flight simulator restored by Neil Thomas completes the four main training aircraft used at Nhill during the Second World War.
The simulator helped pilots learn to navigate at night, in fog, cloud or other adverse conditions.
Aviation centre board of management member John Deckert said most of the acquisition cost was raised from private donations.
Government grants were unavailable towards the cost of the plane because it failed to meet guidelines.
Mr Deckert said the owner, Borg Sorensen of Tyabb, was keen to sell the plane to the Nhill community.
“He could have achieved twice that price by selling it elsewhere,'' Mr Deckert said.
“But he's keen that the plane not fly again because that would accelerate deterioration and he knows it will be well cared for in our aviation centre.”
He said Mr Sorensen had been 10 years sourcing parts for the plane which then took another eight years to construct.
Mr Sorensen has flown it 14 years without incident.
Special guests welcoming the Wirraway are expected to include Second World War pilot Max Carland and navigator Merv Schneider, both of Nhill, as well as Bob Andrew from Hamilton who has logged 200 hours in Wirraways.
The fighter aircraft, named after an Aboriginal word meaning “challenge”, was the first mass-produced training and general-purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia during the Second World War by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation and used in combat for the defence of Australia and in other areas including New Guinea and surrounding islands.
It is considered the basis of Australia's aircraft manufacturing industry and flew until the late 1950s when phased out by the jet-powered de Havilland Vampire.
The Aviation Heritage Centre is at Nhill Aerodrome which was also the site for the wartime training base.
The NAHC committee is dedicated to the preservation of Nhill's aviation and military history and aims to display, protect and record historical memorabilia with focus on the wartime air school.
The base was home to about 20,000 trainee pilots over the war years with up to 800 at one time and at its height had 32 Avro Anson planes and 18 Beaufort and Hudson bombers.
Mr Deckert said the site, set up in 1941, was a township in its own right with accommodation, kitchen, theatre, hospital facilities, dentist, post office, mechanics shop, fire station, parade area, tennis courts, slaughter house and vegetable gardens.
The centre's valuable collection includes a photographic display of Australia's first armoured vehicle which was created by a small group of First World War soldiers.
Ivan Young of Nhill donated his Daimler car for the conversion which was used in the Middle East.
Mr Young transferred from the Light Motorised Division to the Royal Flying Corps and became Nhill’s first aviator.
He flew with many of the well-known aviators including Keith and Ross Smith, Bert Hinkler, and Charles Kingsford Smith.
Amy Johnson, Nancy Bird and Jimmy Mollison are among many other well known pilots to land at Nhill Aerodrome. The training school closed in 1946.
Volunteers are also restoring a nearby building used during the Second World War as a radio navigation centre.
It had the first type of radio guidance system used worldwide and is the sole remaining building in Australia on its original site.
The nationally-significant building houses equipment from the period it was in operation and will be a unique example of Australian aviation radio guidance systems.
Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre is open every weekend and most public holidays from 10am to 4pm.
Group bookings and other opening times can be arranged; phone 0490 657 770.
He's keen that the plane not fly again because that would accelerate deterioration and he knows it will be well cared for in our aviation centre.
- John Deckert