December News
Happy Christmas to all Fund members from the hangar crew.
A Permanent Home
We finish the year on a more positive note.
Met on the 6th December with the representatives of Places Victoria, Melbourne Water and the Fund. It was an interesting meeting.
We can’t discuss details as we are still in negotiation but, early in the New Year, we hope to be in the position to make an announcement.
It has been a long, hard slog but we can at last see some resolution.
Watch this space!!!
A.G.M. 2012
The meeting was held on 17th November. 25 people attended. This low attendance is a concern particularly as, under the new Act which will be in force for the 2013 AGM, a quorum for a general meeting is 10% of the total membership. Next year we will need an attendance of 40+. You’ll be reminded again before next November and hopefully we’ll see more of you then.
The existing Executive and Committee were returned unopposed. The Executive and the Committee members for 2013 are listed below:
Executive 2013
President: Doug Lindsay;
Vice Pres: John Temby;
Secretary: Judith Gilbert; and
Treasurer: Robert Mikolajczyk.
Committee 2013
Nat Eichler; Ken Hindle; Tony Maher; Dave Miller; Tony Muller; Dan O’Connell; Ron Platt; and, Ron Taaffe. Cyril Curtain is the National Trust representative.
President’s Report to the AGM
During the past year there has been a small increase in visitor numbers and there have been more small group bookings. Our thanks go to the band of volunteers who conduct tours for these groups and
to the dedicated group who run the shop that caters for these visitors.
Thanks also to the generous members who give their time to present talks to various community groups during the year. Also, thanks to the members who took displays to various venues including Ballarat Gun Show, Scoresby Steam and Tractor Show, Kyneton Model Show, the engineering Faculty at Monash University and the Nhill fly-in. Next year we can add Avalon Air Show to that list.
Early November Ron Taaffe and I went to Canberra for the annual meeting of the Aviation Museum’s National Forum. The Australian Gliding Museum at Bacchus Marsh, as a result of the conference, will now hold a seminar in wood gluing and aircraft fabric covering which we will attend. Delegates toured the War Museum storage warehouses. A problem identified there is radioactivity in certain aircraft and instruments, a problem we may have to look at.
Before the end of 2012 there will be a new Act introduced which will apply to volunteer, not-for-profit organisations. Under this new act we will need to rewrite our Constitution. Members have attended training courses so they are well aware of the new requirements. A sub-committee has reviewed the existing constitution and the new Model Rules. They will write a new Constitution based on the protocols written for our Business Plan. When complete this will be presented to the Committee for approval then submitted to the Justice Department for ratification. We have 12 months to complete the work.
The quest for a new home for the B-24 has not been resolved despite several promising leads. We thought that Avalon might be the answer but the Fox organisation has plans which do not include us. We are now following other lines of investigation which may prove fruitful. We will keep you informed.
Sadly we lost two of the hangar crew during the year; Ted Tilling and Ken Bullen. Their dedication will be sadly missed.
George Toyes also passed away. We purchased the fuselage of A72-176 from George in 1994.
Doug Lindsay (President)
In Memory of:
Ken Bullen, long time member of the Fund. Ken was responsible for the great sheet metal work on the nose of the aircraft. He took measurements then built the components in the tiniest workshop at his home in Inverloch. He will be sadly missed.
George Toyes: in 1995 we purchased the fuselage from him. A72-176 could not have been restored without this.
Liberator Update
Good progress is being made on the rear fuselage. Ammunition chutes and boxes have been fitted and the ribbed floor installed.
The cockpit fit-out is proceeding. The instrument panel installation has commenced in conjunction with the flying control wires and the hydraulic pipes.
One of the Norden bomb sights is functional for public demonstrations and will be taken to the Avalon Airshow 2013.
The test bed engine run is a great attraction and we’ll continue with that next year. However, due to the cost of running this engine we will have to charge an extra fee for people attending an engine run.
Particularly pleasing is the fact that 4 new volunteers have started work in the past 2 months.
A big point of interest for hangar visitors is “Hazel”. This is a wreck of a front turret which has the name “Hazel” written on it.
This turret with the accompanying story and letters is very popular.
Oxford Update
On the Oxford centre section the main attachment points have been dismantled and restored. The crew seats are now ready to be painted.
Cheetah Engine Update
Our first Cheetah has been set-up hopefully for an initial run early 2013.
The strip down of the second Cheetah has commenced.
Silly Hat Day
Once again we have supported this fund raiser; the proceeds going towards men’s health. Click here to see Phil's Silly Hat.
Bayonet Model Club Competition & Display
On 10th November the Bayonet Club ran their annual show at the hangar. Over 300 people attended. The standard of models entered in the competition was high & some of our Youth Club members won awards in their division. 2 of our hangar crew, Colin Hancock & John Gilbert also won awards.
At the end of the day the Fund had over $3000 in the coffers.
We appreciate the support of this club & welcome their involvement in the hangar; especially since they leave the hangar looking better than when they arrived.
Avalon Air Show 2013
We have accepted an invitation to attend the Avalon Show and will put on a display for 3 days.
As well as being at Avalon we will open the hangar on each day of the Avalon display week (26th February to 3rd March) from 9am to 5 pm to allow visitors to the airshow the opportunity to also visit the restoration. Our thanks to the organiser of the Avalon Air Show for this opportunity to showcase our work.
Giggles (Thanks Lindsay)
- Tower: "Delta 351 you have traffic at 10 o’clock, 6 miles." Delta 351: "Give us another hint. We have digital watches."
- After a DC 10 rolled an exceptionally long way down the runway after touch down: Tower: "Delta 62, turn right at the end of runway; or, take the Dallas exit off 'Highway 1', turn right at the lights & return to the airport via the carpark."
