Warbird Information Exchange

Wirraways are interesting. Does anyone know if a Ceres agricultural plane can be converted back to a Wirraway as is? DOes it used the same centersection, possibly modified. That would make a kind of fun project I would think. Maybe not so fun, more callouses on the hands, and oily clothes.

Hi Chris,
A Ceres can definitely not be converted back to a Wirraway as is. The wings were modified Wirraway units and can be modified back although there is a fair bit of work to do (that's all I'll say about this because I could go into a lot of detail).

The wing centre sections are very different between the beasts. For a start, the Ceres unit is about 4' wider as a result of having to fit a hopper opening in there somewhere. The Ceres had a fixed undercarriage and no hydraulics. Numerous internal structural details are different as well. In short, it'd probably be easier just to build a new centre section. It's even easier just to use a T-6/Harvard centre section.

The tail feathers are a bit different but could probably be modified back to Wirraway configuration without too much difficulty.

The fuselage structure of the Ceres is the same as the Wirraway in principle but differs greatly in detail. The forward fuselage frame is essentially a VERY modified Wirraway unit. There are still a number of these frames lurking around so you'd never even consider modifying a Ceres one.

In summary, doing a true conversion of a Ceres to a Wirraway would be extremely difficult and due to the rarity of the Ceres (only 20 built), there'd be many people screaming at anyone who attempted it.

Hope this is of some interest.

Cheers,
Matt

Hi Matt:

Thansk for the info. I saw a Ceres for sale for pretty cheap, so maybe it would be feasible. Possibly convert one to 90% original.

Chris

i thought that certain components of the t-6 were utilized on wirraway, but i could be wrong. me??? naw!!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Chris, you probably saw that Ceres for sale in Classic Wings. It has recently been sold for a very cheap price and is now flying again (last flew in the early to mid 90s). It's gone to a good home and will be kept as a Ceres. It's currently the only airworthy Ceres.

Tom, technically no T-6 parts would have ever found their way onto a Wirraway during the production stage as the Wirraway entered production before the T-6. However, because they're both members of the NA-16 family, there are some (unfortunately quite minor) parts that neither CAC or NAA decided to change and hence you will find an identical item on both T-6s and Wirraways. Now if we're talking about recent time restorations of Wirraways then there have been a few instances of actual T-6 parts being used for different reasons. So you're technically not incorrect!

Cheers,
Matt