Membership annual renewals.

82% of annual fees have been received, thank you. Just a reminder, if you are in the 18% that has forgotten.

Hangar news.

Our 4th E-mail committee meeting was held on Saturday 11/07, again a successful exercise in this method of emergency communication.

The main items of business were the acceptance of motions addressing the postponement of the November 2020 A.G.M. until November 2021 and maintaining the current committee members until that date.

Acceptance of the monthly funds statement.

Our annual asset audit and financial report will be carried out as usual

Mr Greg Wood from Mildura has donated a restored “Tug” for our use in and around the hangar. This will be particularly useful for moving the Liberator in and out of the restored Hangar 1. It will also be utilized to transfer visitors between hangars 1&2.

It is recognized that a plan is required to recover from losses due to the lockdown impact.

Museum precinct news.

On Monday 20/07 correspondence was received from Melbourne water reassuring us preparatory work for the re location of Hangar 2 was progressing as planned. We have been asked to prepare a timeline auditable history of our occupation and use of Hangar 2. This will assist Melbourne Water on their application to Wyndham Council seeking XXXX.

Liberator, 2020 work plan.

Work continues off site at a volunteers shed.

This is a Liberator trim tab hand control wheel that required manufacturing plus knurled splines around the edge after machining to size. As this was a one off exercise some “old time” knurling expertise was required.

The development engine air intake duct template is also progressing at the same location.

The air duct template is now located in a support jig to allow rigidity during surface machining of the metal final assemblies.  

It is satisfying to see the development work continuing on Liberator parts in spite of the difficult situation.

Oxford, 2020 work plan.

The Oxford elevators were returned, fabric covered from Bacchus Marsh the day before the lockdown and are in safe storage.

Museum arrivals.

A casual observer at the hangar may have noticed odd arrivals of formed metal tubing of various shapes and sizes. In addition formed, damaged sheet metal parts with yellow paint adhering. These parts belonged to several R.A.A.F. Avro Ansons that will eventually become, our third planned exhibit.

Avro Ansons were once a common sight on the airfield that adjoined our hangar.

If you have any Anson parts, drawings or technical manuals you may wish to donate or loan them to this project we would love to hear from you.

Just for information.

In September 1940, during the Blitz in Britain it took an average of 20,000 AA shells to shoot down one German bomber.

Forthcoming events .

None planned.

For Gabrielle.

Ah well !!!!.

I went into a pharmacy and asked “what gets rid of coronavirus?”. The assistant replied “ammonia cleaner” I said “ I’m sorry, I thought you worked here”.

Right.

When you look for something why is it always in the last place you looked?. Because when you find it you stop looking.

The French connection continues.

Further correspondence from Monsieur Claude Bernard makes interesting reading.

I am sending you some written material and a photograph of the man who was born just after the landing and bombing of A72-133. He was very pleased when I told him the date the aircraft had landed so now he knows his birth day…

Just for your information:

He believes his father was a Japanese soldier based in his village.. This is why in every picture he likes to wear a military hat.

So the history of A72-133 lives on.

As A72-133 was based in WA with 25 Squadron I would ask anybody whose relatives were members of that Squadron to have a search of old family photo records for a photo of A72-133. The aircraft number will be on the fuselage near the tail.