Warbirds in the Hangar-Australian War Memorial

Warbirds Online recently visited the Australian War Memorials new storage facility constructed adjacent to the Treloar Resource Centre, Mitchell, ACT.  Our visit was a planned event as part of the 2019 RAAF Historic and Heritage Publishing Symposium in Canberra.  This storage facility was constructed over the past 18 months and adds a sizeable 5240 square meters to the Treloar Centres available storage space.

The growth in space is a part of the total redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial proper. The growth in storage is a natural consequence of adding to the Memorials collection over the coming years. Recent acquisitions have included a Lockheed P3 Orion and a General Dynamics F111, which of necessity required large expansions to the storage facilities.

The new facility is largely given over to the storage of Aviation related items and is in fact referred to in the Press as a “Hangar”. On first sight the building is huge with its large doors to allow for the entry of very large items such as the P3 Orion.  Once inside even with most of the stored aircraft and exhibits in place it is still a large space (no doubt the imminent arrival of the P3 will reduce that perception). Most of the Aviation material stored in the older Treloar Facility have been transferred recently with a few smaller items still to transfer this allows the previously overcrowded area to be better laid out and give enhanced  access to the  exhibits stored there.

Currently all of the aircraft airframes are arranged in the centre of the building with some of the smaller aircraft and exhibits located in racking on the walls around the building interior which offers excellent visual access to them.

Aircraft currently in the facility include Westland Wessex N7-226 WA226, General Dynamics RF-111C – A8-134, Bell OH-58A Kiowa A17-054, Sikorsky S-70B-2 Seahawk N24-003, Douglas C-47B-20-DK/Dakota Mk IV, Gloster Meteor Mk 8 A77-368, De Havilland DH-82A Tiger Moth A17-704, CAC CA-27 Sabre Mk 32  A94-954, Fairey Firefly WJ109 AS.6, CH-47D Chinook, A15-202 , MiG-15bis, Deperdussin Type A CFS5, PC-6 B1H2 Pilatus Porter A14-690, De Havilland (Canada) DHC-4 Caribou A4-140, C130E nose section, Bell 47G-3B-1 Sioux Helicopter A1-404, Bell UH-1H Iroquois Helicopter  A2-773, AS350B Squirrel N22-017, Lockheed AP3-C Orion aircraft A9-659.

Aircraft still in the older facility include the V2 rocket, DAP Beaufort, Oscar and the under restoration North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco, Tail Number 67-14639. An F/A 18 is scheduled to join the collection in the near future once the type is formally retired in 2021.

The new facility is a huge gain for the Memorial as it allows for the proper storage of the Aviation assets in a safe and secure facility and safeguards future growth for the collection. It also means that the hard working staff have better conditions and access to their workplace and may even result in better public access to the facility in the future.

With the imminent building work taking place at the AWM, we expect that many of the Aviation exhibits will be moved to the Treloar facility and some will no doubt undergo some restoration work whilst others currently in storage may be rotated to the new Memorial when it has been finished. The new site even includes the provision of a $150,000.00 roof top solar storage installation.

Warbirds Online thanks the Memorial staff for allowing the visit to the facility.  We hope it goes from strength to strength in the future – it certainly seems to be headed that way. We look forward to future visits to Australian War Memorial new storage facility at Mitchell to report on progress.

© John Parker 2019