I was tipped off by a colleague that there was a CAC Wirraway forward fuselage frame that was in danger of being sent to the tip due to a business split up. Strange as it was, the fuse was located in a meatworks in the south eastern suburbs. The places that these things turn up !!!!
Anyway, I don't have a trailer or towbar so a couple of panicked phone calls around and I found a more than willing person to go and pick them up.
I got a text message about an hour later followed by a phone call - "Do you realise how much stuff there is?" Me : "um, one maybe two sections" My Collector - "Nope, try four and there are also parts for what looks like Oxford or Anson as well "
Uh-oh.....
So Sunday arrives and we are entertaining friends who are back here from overseas on a flying visit. I am out in the garden for some reason when I hear one of the kids screaming "There's a big hairy man at the door and he looks like Hagrid" - out of the mouths of babes...most embarrasing.
I walk out and just about faint on the spot....there is a massive amount of metal tubing all twisted together. These frames came from the aircraft scrapping ops at Tocumwal some fifteen years ago and you can see that the farmers had got to them prior as there are lots of bits cut out etc. Some is rusted beyond saving but I work out I should be able to get a close to complete frame...
But how many different aircraft are there in this lot ?
After "Hagrid" had gone (sorry Norm - I know they don't mean it" I look at the over full driveway and start assessing. I quickly realise much to my delight that there are no less than seven different CAC Wirraway frame parts here. Most are around the rollover frame and rear gunner seat mount. Pretty cool. Then I find what is tantamount to gold - one has an ID stamp on it - dated 21st April 1942. So I will be able to work out the exact aircraft this part came from. And the other frame parts turn out to be part of the rear fuselage for an Avro Anson. What a haul !
Bear in mind that these frames are 70 years old and have probably spent a long time outdoors after being stripped, so I am happy to work on them and get them back to life. To save them from the tip is equally as important as there is not much of this stuff left and once its gone, its gone...so for the price of a trailer for a few hours its worth its weight in gold.
I have managed to get all bar two frames into the garage - grandad would have most pleased with my efforts though the rest of the family are now convinced I am bonkers...the other two frames are in the garden where I am working on checking the missing pieces from diagrams and making plans accordingly.
Till next time !
