December, 2013 News

Restoration Home

Once again there is little to report.  We did have a visit from a Heritage Architect who is preparing a report for Places Victoria.  He is planning on visiting again before the end of the year & hopefully the report will be ready to present to Heritage early 2014.

At the last meeting of the sub-committee we were asked to seek letters from supporters to give an indication of public interest for the restoration to remain at its present site.  We approached several individuals & groups & were pleased with the results, receiving letters from several Wyndham groups/individuals, clubs that had recently visited the hangar & individuals from several businesses Australia wide. 

In particular we received great endorsement from members of the 380th Bomb Group in America.  This group represents the Americans who were in Australia, in Liberators, during WW2.  Their letters of support clearly show the respect they feel for the aircraft & the crews & the importance they place on a permanent memorial at the Werribee site where many of our airmen  did their early flight training. We thank all the people who took the time to assist us in this matter.

2013 AGM

This was held at the hangar on 16th November.  Special guests were Andrew Elsbury (MLC) & Dot Bullen & her family.  Dot attended to represent her late husband, Ken, as the award for hangar workers made in his memory was to be presented.  This award is presented by the hangar workers to one of their number for outstanding achievement in technical, maintenance, finance, administration, planning, and/or commercial areas during the preceding year.

It was not necessary to hold Committee elections so the Committee for 2014 is as follows:

Executive:

President:  Doug Lindsay

Vice President:  John Temby

Secretary:  Judith Gilbert

Treasurer:  Lyn Gorman

Committee of Management 

Ken Abbott, Nat Eichler, Ken Hindle, Tony Maher, Tony Muller, Dan O’Connell, Ron Taaffe. 

Cyril Curtain will continue as the National Trust representative. 

During his report, Doug Lindsay commented on progress on the Liberator & Oxford.  He outlined the progress to date on the ongoing fight to remain in our present location.  He thanked all hangar workers for their dedication to the restoration & for the quality of their work.

Two motions were passed: 

·         the name change for the organisation to B-24 Liberator Memorial Restoration Australia Inc.; and

·         the acceptance of the new Constitution. 

Life membership was awarded to Ian Young.  Ian has been a long time member of the Fund & a hangar worker. There are few areas of the restoration where he hasn’t worked. He started at the hangar in about 1995. His Life Membership is well deserved.

Two candidates were nominated for the Ken Bullen Award:  John Keevins & Judith Gilbert.  John is also a long time hangar worker well regarded by his peers.  Judith has been the Secretary since 2004.  The award went to Judith. 

Liberator Update

At last, the first of our successful perspex mouldings has been trial fitted to the rear turret assembly - see below. Visitors have commented on how good it looks.

Below, hand crafted aluminium ducting has now been fitted between the turbocharger and the air-cooler assembly on the starboard outer nacelle.  

Below, the mould for the aircraft Radome is now complete & the fibreglass assembly will follow.  Any information or photographs of the extension/retraction on this item would be greatly appreciated.  We have not succeeded in finding guidelines & need help.

Hours of work filling, sanding, and polishing!  Doug Lindsay has rubbed his poor little fingers off!

The area to be used for cataloguing & evaluating our artefacts is now commissioned & is being used by the team working in this area. Two more workers have finished the training course run by Museums Victoria so we have several people now competent to handle this work.

Their research will aid our future application for museum status accreditation.

The area is fitted with a computer, printer/scanner, a camera and an area dedicated to taking accurate pictures of the artefacts.  Completed records will eventually be placed on the Museums Victoria website for public access.

Ian Burston, hard at work in the evaluation centre.

Oxford Update

The horizontal tailplane is now complete and is exhibited alongside the Liberator.  Visitors have been intrigued by the work being done here.  One woman commented on the “voluptuous” curves, not a word ordinarily associated with woodwork! See below.

In Memory

Elsie Eichler, wife of Nat, passed away late November.  Nat, a Liberator veteran, has been a vital part of the hangar crew almost from the beginning & Elsie helped him with hangar matters.  We offer Nat our condolences & support.

From the Committee

Thanks to Robert Mikolajczyk and Dave Miller for the work they have done for the past several years on Committee.  They have willingly & with enthusiasm taken on extra tasks & added to the overall service provided by the Committee.  However, they have not left the hangar so we will still be able to access their expertise.

Welcome to Lyn Gorman and Ken Abbott, two younger members of the organisation.  Lyn is stepping into the Treasurer’s role, brave lady:  Ken will serve on the Committee of Management.  Ken is currently working with Dan O’Connell in the clean-up & re-organisation of the hangar.

Events

The Lake Goldsmith display was a success. We spent 2 days there and had many visitors to our exhibit. Several members gave their time to take the display to the venue and to present our display to the public. Usually the same crew turns up for these displays but we took a couple of “new” volunteers to this one & they were pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoyed the interaction with the public.

Once again the Bayonet Modelling Club held their competition & display at the hangar in November. This year there were almost 50 display/trade tables, a sausage sizzle and a great competition between all sorts of modelling projects.  Bayonet donated over $3000 to the restoration. We thank this club for their ongoing support of the restoration. It is a pleasure to have them in the hangar

Calendar

Hangar closes for the Christmas break, Sunday 15th December 2013

Hangar re-opens for visitors and work, Tuesday 7th January 2014

B-24 display at the Geelong Vintage Machinery Show 11th, 12th January 2014.

2014

We are already taking bookings from groups wanting to come to the hangar for a visit. Many of them  are prepared to pay the extra cost to have an engine run.

Remember, if you are a member of a group wanting an interesting venue to visit we are happy to host such events.  Contact the Secretary if you are interested in making a booking.

Entry $5:   morning or afternoon tea $3:  an engine run $5:  so costs as low as $5 or as high as $13.

We can also provide BBQ facilities for a sausage sizzle.  That will cost a bit extra.

Have a giggle time.

Aspire to inspire before you expire.

Frustration is trying to find your glasses without your glasses.

Nothing as bad as that moment in an argument when you realise you’re wrong!

Bad decisions make good stories.

Shirts get dirty, underwear gets dirty, pants NEVER get dirty & you can wear them forever!

I love it when a whole line of cars teams up to prevent the idiot coming up the inside cutting in at the head of the line.

What if there were no hypothetical questions?

If a turtle loses his shell is he homeless or naked? 

Powerful Punctuation

An English professor wrote the words: “A woman without her man is nothing” and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.

All the males wrote, “A woman, without her man, is nothing.”

All the females wrote, “A woman:  without her, man is nothing.”

Did you know that “listen” and “silent” use the same letters?

We never grow up, we just learn how to act in public.