Bart Bear's Blog

 75 years ago the war in the Pacific ended. It is a wet and cold day here in Canberra and the big ceremony that would have taken place on the parade ground in front of the Australian War Memorial was instead a much smaller one held in the Aircraft Hall, so we stayed home and watched it on TV. The highlight of military ceremonies for this small bear is the flypast. Today it was by 2 aircraft that were in service with the RAAF throughout WW2, a Lockheed Hudson bomber and a CAC Wirraway trainer. We saw them in the distance from our bedroom window, but you have to look hard to see them :) So here's some photos that I took at their home base at Temora a few years ago. For more photos you can search Temora on my blog. The great thing about the finish of the war (for me) is that my grandfathers and their brothers all came home safe.

Labels: aircraft, Temora

Dad & I have just finished that big job of dusting, repairing and shelving 1300+ model aircraft. It is amazing how many small bits get broken, eaten or otherwise lost when models are left sitting for years. Anyhow, it is done and they are all stored on view, behind clear plastic sheeting. I found 2 models there that I really liked, because they are of an aircraft named after the city I live in. They are models of the English Electric Canberra and the US version, the B-57. If you look carefully at the middle picture you will see some obvious changes that the Americans made when they produced their licence-built version (that's the black model). It mainly shows in the area of the cockpit canopy and nose. The other model is the Australian version; yes, we built them in Melbourne. The model is of a Canberra that I have seen flying at the Temora Aviation Museum. You can see the real 'plane in the top and bottom pictures. I have been allowed to see into the cockpit of the real one, but not to run around in there. The other aeroplane in the bottom picture is a De Havilland Vampire, and yes, we have models of several versions of that as well. I love aeroplanes and it's great building models of ones that I've seen. It's also very special to have an aircraft named after the city you live in. There have many ships named after Australian cities, but not many 'planes.

Our next big job is getting ready for our next big trip. Dad is the Enrichment Speaker on "Celebrity Millenium", sailing from Hawaii to Sydney in November, talking Astronomy of course.

Labels: aircraft, Canberra, models, Temora

Even though Fighter World has steps near lots of the exhibits so that you can see into the cockpit, these steps are built for people. That is a bit of a problem for small bears. As you can see in the top photo, I just couldn't get high enough to show Blu and Milkshake what the inside of the Sabre looked like. Fortunately, Dad and I have several Sabres in our model collection and I could teach the others about the aircraft using one of these when we got home. The Sabre at Fighter World is a CAC Sabre, built right here in Australia in the 1950s. Although Australian Sabres look like the North American F-86 Sabre, they are much more powerful. They use a Rolls-Royce Avon engine and, to fit this engine in, the fuselage had to be redesigned. It is wider and the air intake is 25% bigger than on the F-86. The Avon Sabre also has two 30mm cannon instead of the machine guns of the American version. Sabres are superb in the air. I see the one at Temora Aviation Museum sometimes and it is almost as beautiful as the Spitfire. Our model is pretty good too, don't you think?

Labels: aircraft, models, New South Wales, Newcastle, Temora

Wow, it's hard to believe that I have been writing this blog for 4 whole years! I didn't think that anybody would be all that interested in the doings of a small Aussie bear and his Oldies, but at last count people from 15 different countries were reading my ramblings. Over the four years I have shown you some of my favourite places, like Fiji, Norfolk Island, Hamilton Island, the Great Barrier Reef and lots of places on mainland Australia from the beaches to the central desert. I hope my travels by car, boat, plane and train have been fun to read about, and I hope the Oldies keep us travelling. And of course I haven't been able to resist bragging a bit about the craftwork and models that I help the Oldies with. Thanks for reading my blog; I really do enjoy your emails and occasional comments.

Labels: aircraft, airshow, animals, astronomy, beach, Captain Cook, family, Fiji, fish, Hamilton Is, lighthouse, Norfolk Is, Queensland, Temora, train

One of the rarest aircraft flying today lives at the Temora Aviation Museum. It is a Lockheed Hudson and is the only flying example of the thousands that were built during World War 2. This one started its service in 1942, on anti-submarine patrols along the coast of Australia. Later it operated out of New Guinea on bombing and reconnaissance missions. After the war it was an airliner with East-West Airlines and then a survey 'plane with AdAstra Aerial Surveys, until being restored to its WW2 condition between 1976 and 1993. You can see it flying at just about every Temora museum flying day, a living reminder of the vital role that the Hudson played in the defence of Australia way back in the dangerous years when Dad was a baby.

By the way, the week-long gap in my postings is not due to my being on another interesting trip. Instead, I have been helping the Oldies with running some of the National Australian Convention of Amateur Astronomers, held in Canberra over the Easter weekend.

Labels: aircraft, airshow, New South Wales, Temora

This aeroplane was the reason that we decided to go to Temora for their January flying day. It is a Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk, an aircraft type that has a special place in Australia's history. Back in World War 2, when the Japanese were moving towards Australia, the only fighter aircraft that we could get in any quantity were Kittyhawks. By that stage the Kitty was an old design, but it was tough and dependable. Even after Spitfires arrived, the Kitty remained in the front-line squadrons. They almost disappeared after the war, but now some of them are being salvaged and rebuilt. Temora is one of the places where you can see one flying whenever this one visits. Of course Dad and I have built model Kittyhawks, six of them so far, but it is really special to see a real one in the air.

Labels: aircraft, airshow, models, New South Wales, Temora

Last Sunday we went to the Temora flying day. The Aviation Museum at Temora is a great place. They have lots of historic aircraft , and they are all in flying condition. It is the only place where you can see TWO SPITFIRES flying. There is new Sabre jet fighter there, as well as a Hudson, Canberra, Boomerang, Tiger Moth, Ryan STM, Cessna Dragonfly and Meteor. The flying days are "must be" places for small bears and Oldies. This time there were a couple of special visiting aircraft, a Curtiss Kittyhawk and a Catalina flying boat. I really like the Catalina. It is the only one flying in Australia and it belongs to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS). Catalinas were one of the most important aircraft in WW2. They hunted enemy ships and submarines, dropped bombs, mines and supplies (not at the same time), and kept an eye on thousands of miles of ocean, keeping the convoys safe. This is one of the slowest aeroplanes that I have ever seen; it's slow but it can fly for ages. And guess what. This Catalina is marked up to represent the aircraft that Dad and I made a model of! The only differences are that the big one is still missing its nose turret, and the original OX-Y was a true flying boat and could only operate from water, while the HARS one is an amphibian and can fly from water or land. My model is like the original. I love aeroplanes and it's great when you see one that you have made a model of.

Labels: aircraft, airshow, models, New South Wales, Temora

I promised you this last time I posted so here it is, Australia's newest flying Spitfire, and I am here with it at Temora. This one is a Mk XVI, one of the last Merlin engined ones. It is great to have a place where small bears can see two Spitfires flying. Mum says a day at Temora gets me higher than a day on too much red cordial.

Labels: aircraft, New South Wales, Spitfire, Temora

On Saturday we went to the flying day at Temora Aviation Museum. This is where you can get really close to come interesting aeroplanes. They fly really close to the crowd and after the flying is finished for the day you can go out on the tarmac and talk to the pilots. Dad likes the old 'planes like the Ryan STM behind me. Mum likes the jets, so she was really happy when an FA-18 turned up unexpectedly. I like all of them, especially the Spitfires. I will put a Spitfire photo on the page tomorrow.

Labels: aircraft, New South Wales, Temora