Warbird Restorations at HARS

Warbirds Online visited the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society Museum at Albion Park NSW for an update on recent progress of the HARS current projects. 2019 has been an excellent year at HARS for aircraft preservation with the acquisition of the RAN Historic Flight aircraft including two Grumman S-2G Trackers, two Bell UH-IB Iroquois helicopters, two Westland Wessex HAS.31B helicopters, a Douglas C-47 Dakota, Hawker Sea Fury and de Havilland Sea Venom.

One of the more challenging restorations from the RAN collection to date has been the static restoration of the de Havilland Sea Venom which when received was in a fairly distressed state having been on the “backburner at the RAN flight for some years. A massive effort by HARS volunteers led by Bob Delahunty has seen a pretty rapid transformation of the aircraft from a collection of disheveled parts into the makings of an excellent static display aircraft. The RAN aircraft, FAW.53 Sea Venom, N4-895 is now largely assembled and resembles a complete airframe again for the first time in many years. Internal fit out of the aircraft is underway and most of the external components have been refurbished and will soon be ready for repainting. The fuselage pod is as most readers will know constructed of wooden laminates and required particular attention as it deteriorated over time but is now looking resplendent in primer.

The Hawker Sea Fury is now assembled in the main display hangar and awaits commencement of its restoration this year which will be a complex and time consuming task as we reported in our news item Hawker Sea Fury WG630 on Sept 16 2019.

Another of the RAN aircraft at Albion Park,  Westland Wessex HAS.31B helicopter Ex RAN  N7-222, WA222 832 is now on display at HARS as a static exhibit and looks to be in great condition, the other Wessex acquired by HARS from the RANHF, N7-203,WA203,883, 813 is now on display at HARS Parkes Museum and restoration is progressing well. One of the Bell UH-IB Iroquois helicopters acquired by HARS from the Navy is also being readied for a flight later this year.

Regular readers will be aware that we have reported on the operation of the only MiG21 to ever fly in Australia in our news item of Sept 2015  Fighter World Aviation Museum . It is exciting to note that this aircraft which has spent some years on external display at Fighter World, RAAF Williamtown, NSW has been donated to HARS and is currently in the process of being dismantled and transported to Albion Park. At the time of our visit the aircrafts rear fuselage and empennage was already in the engineering hangar awaiting the rest of the components. The famous supersonic cold war Russian Jet will then be restored and placed on static display.

Another of the RANHF aircraft transferred to HARS was Grumman S-2G Tracker N12-152333 S-2G 844. This aircraft was once a regular airshow performer and the mainstay of the RANHF but has been grounded for some years. The tracker has undergone all necessary maintenance work and was prepared for its first flight which occurred in September 2019. The Tracker has now taken up residence at HARS Albion Park and is part of the flying aircraft line up in the collection. The aircraft is a sight to behold and we hope to see it at many airshows in the years to come.

Great progress has also been made on some of the longer term HARS projects with Douglas DC4 (aka C-54, Skymaster) 44-9126 VH-PAF, VH-EAY continuing to make its way to flight. The aircraft has undergone considerable structural and cosmetic work with final finishes being applied this year. There is still no set time for completion but progress has been significant.

Likewise Lockheed SP-2H (P2V-7) Neptune which was  566 was one of 31 operated by the French armed forces and recovered by HARS from Tahiti is nearing its first flight and is virtually airworthy lacking only completed paperwork to join RAAF A89-273 (VH-IOY) on the HARS flight line again.

Work also continues apace on the Fokker FVIIB “Southern Cross” Replica, awaiting two more engines before it flies again.

Hawker De Havilland Vampire DH-115 T-35 A79-637 is being restored to airworthy condition and it too is approaching a first flight soon with engine runs having been carried out this year. HARS has a second aircraft, A79-665 which is not airworthy but is taxi-able on display both these Vampires are immaculate.

The above represent a slice of the restoration work currently being undertaken by the awesome volunteers at HARS and are only our chosen highlights. There is much more to see and do on a visit to HARS and given the ravaging the region has seen in the Bushfire crisis a visit to HARS would not only be a great experience you would be supporting the local community. HARS needs your support to grow and prosper, so we can highly recommend a visit in 2020.

Warbirds Online will continue to visit and report on HARS Warbird restorations in 2020 and we thank the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society team for their assistance with our visit.

© John Parker 2020