The Easter Flying Weekend is growing closer, and plans are in place to attract many visiting aircraft to the event on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th April.
From the Museum’s fleet, we expect to fly the Spitfires, Tiger Moth, Wirraway, Hudson, Ryan, Cessna 0-2A, Boomerang, Meteor and Vampire. We are also expecting aircraft to visit from the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS). They are bringing their Super Constellation (Connie) and Lockheed Neptune, with the possible inclusion of their PBY Catalina.
Visitors will be given the opportunity to explore the interior of Lockheed Super Constellation VH-EAG, while it is here in Temora. The Connie and Neptune will also have a slot in the flying programme on both Saturday and Sunday.
The aircraft has an interesting restoration history, which began back in 1991. HARS started the extensive restoration project on the Connie when it was based at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. Due to the Connie being overseas at this time, the restoration project proved to be a costly and time-consuming venture. All work was carried out by volunteers, who would travel to Tucson to systematically overhaul the aircraft. Five years later, on the 3rd of February 1996, the Constellation arrived in Sydney after an incident free crossing of the Pacific, taking 39.5 hours flying time. It’s amazing to note that 16,000 volunteered man-hours were expended on the Constellation restoration project, with $800,000 cash raised, and approximately $1.2 million being raised in sponsorship services to fund it.