RAAF Amberley Open Day

Mirage - not my photo - all the rest are.

The RAAF Heritage Centre at Amberley had an open day on Sunday.

They do this once per month (3rd Sunday I think) and it's a great way to view some historically significant aircraft.

The concept of displaying aircraft at specific (well-advertised) times works better, in my opinion, than a permanent display. The advantages are that there is no need for a constant flow of volunteers around the clock, and more time can be spent on maintaining the displays than showing them.

Maintenance is a never ending task, and the standard of the displays here was the highest I've seen.

The display is staffed by uniformed RAAF reservists, and as a consequence was run very efficiently, although I was surprised by the very high level of security evident. There was also a scattering of returned service personnel. The bloke manning the Iroquois was ex 6 RAR. 

I had to remove my dash cam before driving through the base gates into the parking area.

USAAF Boston. My dad worked on the RAAF version in New Guinea in WW2.

A Canberra and my bride. Not camouflaged as they were in SVN (the aircraft - not my bride). 

The driver of this CAC Sabre was a very lucky man.

 One of the more interesting displays was this CAC Sabre which struck high tension power lines whilst flying a navigation exercise near the Lamington plateau. The jet jockey's misfortune is recorded for posterity.

 The lines weren't marked on the map.

Delfin

Wallaby Airlines Caribou

There were warbirds. this is a Yak.

Another warbird. Texan?

Beautifully restored chopper.

This brought back a few memories. Actual chopper had served in SVN. Maybe I'd ridden it before?