August, 2013 News
A Permanent Home
David Sammut (Places Victoria) has been given control of the River Walk project & will be working with the Fund. We are pleased with this development. We had the meeting with PV & MW at the hangar on 16th July. Andrew Elsbury also attended. Gordon Rich-Phillips, after Andrew has completed some preliminary paperwork, will present to Treasury the proposition that the land surrounding Hangar 2 be surrendered to the Crown & the Fund will, after due diligence, be nominated as lease holder & Committee of Management.
The anticipated process will be:
· Land surrendered to Crown
· Land & building leased to Fund
· New hangar built
· Liberator moved to new hangar
· Refurbishment of Hangar 2
We will then be able to build the Memorial Wall & garden which will become a focal point of the complex. So, at last we will be able to use the pavers that have been in storage for many years.
Once the Fund has been granted the lease & gets an address we can then apply for the many grants that are available from government & philanthropic sources. It is not possible to apply for grants unless long term tenure on a property is secured.
Accepted policy is that Government will give dollar for dollar support in acceptable projects but we will have to raise lots of money.
Heritage Victoria is not fully in support of this process as they want the entire heritage strip & buildings retained. Our next is meeting: 8th October
Liberator Update
The shroud situated at the tail of the aircraft has been built & fitted by John Balas. It sits at the rear of the fuselage with the tail turret at the back & the tail on the front. He has done a great job.
Shroud in place.
Below: The men are working on the trailing edge of the outer wing in preparation for running aileron cables. It looks a bit sad now, but it will improve!
The bomb racks are being fitted in the bomb bay. Visitors now have plenty to see when we take them into the bomb bay as part of their tour.
The white room, built to keep radios clean while being refurbished, is under-utilised so it is currently being altered. It will become the area where cataloguing can be done. We have a large number of books & artefacts which we want to enter on the Museums Victoria website so they are more easily available for interested people & they need cataloguing in a specific way.
Work on the oxygen system is getting close to completion.
Not the work of a demented spider! It is oxygen tubing from the fuselage waiting to be re-fitted in the aircraft.
Forget Newton & Galileo: here are the real rules:
Law of Probability: The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of the act.
Variation Law: If you change lanes the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now.
The Coffee Law: As soon as you sit down with a hot cup of coffee your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.
Oxford Update
Work is proceeding with the Oxford. Ken Hindle & Doug Sinclair are currently working on building the framework for the tail. Had to build a template so they could bend the wood in the correct arc.
Doug hard at work.
The Template
Recent Events
We entered the WCC Business of the Year Award (Tourism) & are finalists! Will know the results in September. A panel of two judges visited the hangar. They were very impressed with the project & the workers. Both commented on the WOW factor when first seeing the Liberator.
Jason Butcher & Geoff Fox quite impressed with us.
We put on a display at the Ballarat Gun Show early July. There was a lot of interest shown in the exhibits & the project.
The Display.
In the 380th Bomb Group’s newsletter: A Commemorative brick, as a 380th memorial, has been placed in the footpath outside the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans.
R.A.F. Liberator KL654
We have had several inquiries about this aircraft. KL654 went missing on a special duties flight over Thailand in August 1945. Enquiries from the U.K. have suggested that a party of Australians visited the crash site in 1996 and removed some parts for a restoration project.
The Fund has searched through its correspondence and financial records and cannot find any reference to activities in this area approved of or planned by the Fund. If there are any other queries or if you have additional information please contact: Dave Miller: hangar@b24australia.org.au
Calender of Events
- Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally: 3rd & 4th November (subject to volunteers offering to attend).
- Bayonet Model Exhibition & Competition in the hangar 10th November, 2013.
- AGM Saturday, 16th November. A Committee nomination form is at the close of this newsletter.
- Hangar break-up 19th Dec. 2013
- Return to work Tues 7th Jan. 2014
Hangar Visits
Have had a few clubs through. One was a first. A group of enthusiastic bicycle riders turned up and had a great time. They have assured us they will pass the word to the cycling fraternity that the hangar is a good destination.
Off to lunch at a winery; what a life!
Law of Logical Argument: Anything is possible if you don’t know what you are talking about.
Law of Physical Appearance: If the clothes fit they are UGLY!
Committee Nominations for 2014
The nomination form to be used when nominating candidates to the 2014 Executive and Committee of Management is set out below; which can be copied and pasted. Completed forms are to be posted to Phil Taylor, Returning Officer; or placed in the voting box situated in the hangar.
Please remember, to be nominated or to vote you must be a financial member of the Fund. All directions are on the nomination form.
Under the new Act a quorum at the AGM must be 10% of membership which equates to just over 40 people. We need you to attend the AGM so we have a quorum.
Committee Nomination Form:
B-24 LIBERATOR MEMORAL RESTORATION FUND INC
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 16th November, 2013
FORM OF NOMINATION
FOR OFFICE BEARERS AND ORDINARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS
I, ………………………………………………………………………………………………..................
of ………………………………………………………………………………………………….………
being a financial member of this Association hereby nominate
…………………………….…………………………………………………………………….….………
for the office of ……………………………………………………. of the Association.
Signature: ___________________________________________________
============================================
being a financial member of this Association second this nomination.
Signature: ___________________________________________________________
============================================
I …………………………………………………………………………………………….. the nominee
named above, consent to this nomination.
Signature: …………………………………………………………………………………………….
IMPORTANT:
The nominee shall attach to this form a brief resume of experience which he/she considers relevant to service in the office for which the nomination is made.
Notes ;
A member may be nominated for one office only, that is, either President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer or Committee Member.
The nominee’s written consent must be completed.
The completed nomination form must be received by the Returning Officer, Phil Taylor, 4 Chatswood Place, Wyndham Vale, Vic, 3024, no later than 1st October, 2013.
